Coming Home (Free Fleet Book 2) (25 page)

“Yes, it's one of five that Lady Fairgate has.”

“The hecks it doing here?”

“I have no idea.”

“Did you get any other information?”

“Yeah, I sent a recording to the Intelligence Department. The station has no fighting capabilities and there's only a handful of Syndicate forces on it, other than the Kuruvian workers.”

“They know anything about the ships?”

“Not really, the Kuruvians on those ships are being quieter. They're with us, but they don't want to be killed or tip off the Syndicate or the Sarenmenti. These Sarenmenti’s parents were raised by the Syndicate; they're as loyal as it gets.”

“Alright, thanks.”

“No worries, Salchar,” he said, closing the channel.

Better, but I'm still dealing with massive forces.
Even if the ships didn't have Sarenmenti Mechas on them, the personal crew could still fight the ships pretty well. The way they rigged their ships was something that the Free Fleet had copied with our man power issues.

Though, I didn't know anything other than the shipyard had marginal Syndicate forces on it, and that the Orvunut had a lot of powerful ships. Weapons, their condition, and all of that was still to be seen.

It's not as if you haven't fought this blind before,
I thought as I called up Commander Verlu to ask him the way Mecha's were transferred and see if I couldn't limit the effectiveness of the ships I faced even more.

“Combined Arms, Sensors, I want something covering the ships from the last battle. We don't want them recognizing parts from other ships.

What else do I have to worry about?

***

Evelyn Sparks had been a small-time reporter before the Recruitment. Sure, she had some stuff that aired from her risky journey's. She'd been to every war zone across the world, but only a quarter of her stories had been posted. Yet, when the Recruitment happened and the PDF took over, Evelyn had risen in popularity as she had risked everything to bring her viewers some of the views into the shuttles that took kids to the station.

She'd flown drones over the sites to get more for her viewers to see while large news networks practically died overnight and there was little to no use for them anymore. Evelyn had always thought that the big networks only existed to push the political ideals of a political party.

News wasn't about the news anymore, until the recruitment came, and Evelyn spiked as one of the most watched news reporters.

It was one of the things that had gotten her onto the trip to Hachiro Station. Her abilities had gotten her free from the pack of VIP's, into a battle suit, and rounded up onto the Dreadnought Resilient. Home to Commander Salchar.

The shuttle bay devolved into chaos as personnel began checking over different items and pilots rushed to check their machines. The two squads who had looked over the delegation were hard pressed to get everyone onto the shuttle and didn't notice her slipping away.

Evelyn worked to make herself as invisible as possible with her normal stature, her plain face, and even her unremarkable hair, being confused for either blonde or brunette by the majority. Few knew that Evelyn had colored her hair just so it was unremarkable. Her appearance was her camouflage, and it had allowed her to get to places where others couldn't or wouldn't dare to go.

Which was why she was learning how to replace power circuitry.

She'd already got some shots around the ship, such as Commando's doing physical testing or sparring.

She had been impressed, though she hadn't gotten anything to send back to Earth yet.

So, for now, she ate the terrible food, learned how to affect battlefield fixes on a dreadnought and waited for the oncoming battle and settled people's fears that the Free Fleet was just the PDF in disguise.

After having been in some nasty places, Evelyn always believed in the worst news which, by what she'd seen of the PDF imposters, was not the Free Fleet. They actually gave a crap about the people around them. The PDF/Syndicate only saw them as nothing more than machine parts to replace old parts, to be replaced by another in time.

George Everez, her squad commander, hadn't said much about his time as a recruit in Salchar's squad. Though, Evelyn could tell the man, no matter his real age, had seen some terrible things in his time. Evelyn wanted to hug the man sometimes as others disregarded it. Only Connolly saw it too. Evelyn knew the Captain of the failed American takeover of Resilient and Hachiro.

She touched her data pad pouch, there were still the two recorders from a Mecha there as well as a wireless transmitter she'd mangled together.
At least these battle rigging lessons came in some use,
she thought as she began planning how to get it planted in the Resilient's bridge.

Chapter Riding On Luck and Lies

After the Orvunut's talk, none of the ships had tried to contact us which, while being normal for the conservative Orvunut, still made me nervous.

We'd figured out a plan to try and get the Sarenmenti off of the ships and to get our own people on them.

It was two days after the Syndicate forces had appeared and my fleet was falling in around the shipyard. The trainees hadn't slept since they'd come to the ships, yet they'd learnt quickly.

How well would only be seen in battle.

“Coming into position,” Combined Arms said as I watched the main plot. Resilient came alongside the dreadnought the Orvunut captained as the rest of the Free Fleet dispersed throughout the remainder of the Syndicate forces.

“Nothing, no weapons powered up or shields raised,” The sensor commander said. I nodded as I considered my own un-powered shield generators and weapons. We were on the same standing as the Syndicate ships. Hopefully, we would be the ones to power up first if we came to blows.

We had just three days left until the fleet reached the orbit of Mars and Hachiro.

“Rick, I want you to personally make sure that everyone stays to their sleep schedule.”

“In that case, I think it's time you went and took a nap, Commander.”

“I..”

“You've been up since the Syndicate entered the system, boss,” he said as he turned in his chair. He wasn't going to back down.

“Okay, I'll take a nap if you do too.”

“You're on! My onesie is calling me,” he said with a grin as a few people chuckled around the room.

“I always wondered why you were so attached to your onesie,” I said as I stood, grins around the room. If we'd been in a regulated and ruled strict military like the ones on Earth, someone would have probably said that we were unfit to lead or something. I didn't understand it. People needed to blow off some steam before battle, and that was best done with laughter and a relaxing atmosphere, instead of having to keep everything bottled up and fear that someone might turn you over for being unprofessional.

Some people did blow off their steam with weights and with fights, but it was in a calm manner. When we'd gotten to Earth, I'd bought every comedic movie, stand up recording, or anything remotely funny and had it played in the entertainment lounges and messes.

I got up as Rick stood up and strode over to my seat.

“Now I see why you wanted to be commander; this seat is so much more comfortable!” he said as he settled into it, flashing me a grin which I returned before making my way to my room.I stared at the ceiling, willing myself to fall asleep but finding myself wide awake, thinking of the enemy fleet all around me.

***

I watched as the ships began docking at Hachiro while the ship yard was towed along the asteroid belt, all of their scanners cranked up to max as they examined rocks and their composition.

When they'd begun, I'd been alarmed, but Shrift had assured me that they were looking for the best asteroids to park the ship yard next to and start pulling apart to fill their stores.

Thankfully, they weren't anywhere near Shirley and her group.

“I will go first,” Orvunut said as his dreadnought reached the station. 

Three battle cruisers and two corvettes joined him as they connected with the station.

The rest of the Syndicate fleet loitered around the station as they began sending shuttles with their old Sarenmenti Mecha's to Hachiro.

“Combined Arms, have our ships move into forty-five degree fans out from Hachiro.” I made a quick sketch on my hologram, sending it to her.

“Sir. Also, the dreadnought and the other ships are offloading their Mechas.”

“Good. Make sure everyone's guns and generators are ready for quick start.”

“How are we looking, Marleen?” I asked. She stood in her tactical section; I had seen her use her seat only during hard acceleration. Yet in battle she stood with her headset, working her table as if she was part of the ship. I'd never seen her stumble, even with some of the worst hits Resilient had taken.

“Ready as ever. All weapons are ready but uncharged.”

“Good work,” I said as I watched shuttles move Mecha's into Hachiro. Specifically, I had them funnel their un-armor Mechas into the squad pods, as I had my fully Mecha-wearing Commandos taking the role of the incoming Mecha's, stomp into shuttles or ships.

I was hoping that the Syndicates wouldn't look too closely at my Commandos; otherwise, they might notice that they were being given not only human commandos but Sarenmenti and two other races.

The first wave of shuttles picked up Mechas and took them back to their ships. Shuttles waited around the station as they connected, dropped off Mechas, and got Commandos before returning to their own ships and the other waiting shuttles raced for the airlock.

Watching the shuttles and ships butt for an attempt to get their cargoes changed over reminded me of documentaries that I'd seen on people in Europe and India of people driving cars.

It was a mess.

It also meant it was confusing as hell to know which ships still had a full compliment of Mecha's, those that had Commandos, or neither.

“Resilient, can you give me a real time measure of the Commandos or Mechas on the ships?”

“Certainly.”

A list of all the ships as well as a slider with Mecha and Commando forces appeared.

I had only around fifteen thousand fully trained Commandos while Orvunut and his forces were unloading around fifty thousand. It meant at sometime I was going to run out of Commandos. So I had taken a risk in order to face less Sarenmenti Mechas. I had asked for volunteers from the ranks of the recruits that we'd found at Hachiro. It had been a lot of work, but my Commandos had managed to train them up. It was one thing that had gotten me a lot of heat from the world as I chose to give these kids the training they'd need to be Commandos instead of the murderous, uncaring monsters that would do anything that the individual with their pain implant told them.

Becoming Commandos had given them back their ability to be themselves, but it also meant that they were the best trained forces I had other than my actual Commandos. I had asked for volunteers to just pose as Mecha's, and I'd gotten a further twenty thousand.

I'd armed them with stun rounds just in case anything went badly.

Just a matter of time,
I thought as my Commandos flooded the Syndicate fleet.

Chapter Second Battle for Earth Begins

Ughs rested on his specialized chair as he looked over the room with a bored look. The Welick slime had transferred it's credits for the Sarenmenti and their gear while it had filled Ughs ship, and the ships of the fleet with him, with Humans.

“Narest say debris is odd.” Mmnh said as Ughs looked to his planet brother. The Orvunut relied on communicating with their eye movements to conserve energy.

“Ships were being used. Weapon fire on hulls is new.”

“Power weapons, ask about the ships,” Ughs said and someone saw to it.

“Prepare to activate kill switches of the new Mechas.” His voice was painfully slow as he grunted. The Orvunut equivalent of ripping his chair up in anger.

***

I was sitting in the command chair, sipping on water from my Mechas internal water supply. Everyone on the bridge was wearing Mechas. I had made it mandatory for all personnel. The majority had gone through Commando training and could dial up and down the power of the Mecha, thus being able to use it to do fine motor control work, or turn and fight hand to hand if needed. I wouldn’t have my people defenseless. Weapons were, however, located at the rear of the double tiered decks where Rick and I sat.

I surveyed both floors with my visor open as I drummed my fingers on the metal of the armrest, making metallic 
clinks
 with each tap.

Rick walked in, nodding to me and I nodded back. He sat in his chair, which locked him into place with locking bolts—similar to those in the shuttles—as he made sure he hadn’t missed anything pertinent.

“Two hours until engagement,” the combined arms Sook called out. Even though she was a good five meters away, Resilient's sound conversion fields made it sound as if they were a few feet away—making the massive bridge, spread out as it was, feel as if it was the size of a corvettes, allowing orders and information to be passed at surprisingly efficient speed.

“Communications, begin the broadcast and defuse signal.”

“We have weapon power ups!” sensor pit called out.

“Send the command,” I said without batting an eyelid. “Tacitcal, shields, fire them up and put rounds into their shield generators.”

“Your online, Commander.”

“Syndicate forces, this is Commander Salchar of the Free Fleet, this system is under our protection. Surrender and you will be sentenced according to your crimes. Do not and we will be forced to reply with the force necessary to detain you or to eliminate any threat you present. Do I make myself clear?”

“We have a return broadcast.”

“We will burn you and your planet, Human.” The Orvunut closed their channel as I turned to Rick.

“Fighters?”

“Flushing, five minute till their out.

“Weapons hot!” Marleen yelled as she checked over her preset targets. Resilient's weapons came online and began firing at Battle Cruiser Foxtrot and Bravo as well as Destroyer Bravo.

“Fighters are to target the corvettes. All ships are to take targets of opportunity. Combined Arms and Resilient, work to make sure we don't hit the ships we need. Pass blueprints to gunnery crews. Comms, you running that jammer?”

“We are online,” Comms confirmed as my orders were passed out. Resilient bucked from her own weapons firing.

“Shields?”

“We’re programmed, ready to supercharge shields, estimate a hundred and forty percent for two minutes.”

I checked the status of the ships under my command. All of them were firing and most were just about getting their shields online. The Syndicate forces were still charging their weapons.

I accessed Bok Soo and Shrift's channel.

“Alright, go for the shipyard. Shrift, communicate with your brother and pass on anything useful to Bok Soo.”

“Done,” Bok Soo said. I cut the channel and looked at the chaos in front of me. For now, the fight was going for me, but soon the Syndicate would have their larger weapons online and my destroyers and below would feel it.

As I had Rick as my second in command I had put Kawaga in charge of the station, which was still charging it's even bigger weapons. It's shields would take a few minutes more than the weapons, time I simply did not have.

I knew that pressuring him for a faster result would be useless. I turned to figuring out the best way to incapacitate ships with shooting them and having my Commando's aboard.

“Nothing survives contact with the enemy,” I muttered as my head twisted from screen to screen, wishing I was with my friends instead of watching who had the fastest charge rates and hoping that the Syndicates ships were damaged enough to take them out of battle, yet not so much as to harm my Commandos.

I was dancing on a knifes edge, and I knew it.

***

Commander Heston was similarly moving between screens as Stephenson came over his earpiece.

“All fighters flushed.”

“Very well, Wes,” he said, cutting the channel.

“Keep it together, watch your wing man and hit those bastards where it hurts!” Heston yelled to his fighters. He changed to flight commanders in charge of four fighters a piece.

“Cleo, you're all over the place,” he said. He watched over his fighters much like a bear would their cubs.

God, I wish I was in a fighter. I understand why the commander is always getting in the middle of battle.
His hands reached for imaginary fighter controls as Commander Xing reported his fighters were also in the dark.

“PDS are online. Shit, Kar-” The line ended as the flight commander dealt with a renegade fighter going for glory.

“Pass to higher,” Heston said, pointing to one of his three comms team members.

He pressed an icon for a ship, connecting him.

“Pull your head in! Corvettes and targets of opportunity, not some slow moving PDS!” He cut the channel.

God, I wish I was in a fighter.
He repeated the mantra as he tried to keep his fighters alive by trying to yell down their ballsy moves while also trying to temper that with the confidence to do the ballsy shit they were already doing.

“Bravo, Charlie—launch!” Wing Commander three said as three Bravo and Charlie fighters fired their missiles and the entire wing veered off. The corvette rolled to displace the damage over its hull as the missiles detonated at a distance enough to rake the Corvette's armor and weapons, but not penetrate the innards, hopefully.

“Good hit,” Heston said as the corvette powered out and away from battle, it's one side cleared of weaponry.

A fighter went down then another.

“This is not time for show boating; this is the real damned thing,” Heston growled at them. All as the fighters stayed closer to their wing member and only dived in close to deliver their missile payload.

Heston felt as if he was riding a bull more than he was organizing anything as someone overrode his channel. “Weapons firing, Syndicate are hot.”

Then another override. “Shields are online, premature detonation.”

One of the comms personnel was already passing it up as Heston was talking to his fighters.

“Get those shields. I will relay if any shields come down. Targets are shield generators.” Heston reminded them all as their adrenaline was probably skyrocketing, no matter their race.

***

Henry was listening to Heston's comms. He was in the belly of the dreadnought.

Already, he and the Commandos had a blueprint for the ship and were moving to the personal quarters of the Syndicate personnel. The Mecha's had been locked away in the outer layer with no communications. The Commando's plasmid blades served to quicken their progress to transports that took them to key areas of the ship.

“Alright, commanders, we need these ships down. Their weapons are coming online,” he supplied as his transport reached the bridge of the dreadnought.

“Commander, we can't get in,” one of Henry's platoon commanders at the bridge said.

“Then go around it, and cut the lines in. We need to get this ship down now.” Henry's voice was rough.

“Commander,” the platoon commander said, as Henry saw his forces were already cutting through the ship.

Henry's protection detail was around him as he walked off the transport and found a cubby to sit in. He checked the progress of his other Commando groups.

Bok Soo was nearly at the ship yard. The groups throughout the Syndicate fleet were having varying levels of success. Some were engaged with Sarenmenti Mecha's, others were working with them, some were being wiped out because there was not enough of them to hold the ship. The corvettes were already taken, the ones that had been docked, anyway. The Commandos had them pulling back behind the station, it only took two ships out of the battle, and the least damaging ones at that—but everything counted at this point.

“Verlu, Erkshaw, how are those battle cruisers going?” He'd put them in charge of two of the four battle cruisers that had shuttled their Mecha's in exchange for the disguised Commandos.

“Verlu here. We've just left the Mecha's behind. We had to fight our way through them. We took heavy losses. I have people operating in strike squads to run through the ship and cause as much damage as possible. Once the Mecha's get free, we're screwed. I need reinforcements if I can drop this shield.”

“Understood.” Verlu cut as soon as Henry had acknowledged.

“Erkshaw, we have taken the port gunnery. We were able to subdue the Mecha's and are working to take out the shield hubs and cut power to the starboard.”

“Understood,” Henry said as he passed their information to Kim In Sook.

“Kawaga, are my Commandos loaded and ready to be deployed?” he asked.

“Yes, they are ready and waiting. There is a core group of two thousand Commandos, and seven thousand of the trainees,” he said as if commenting on a thoughtful novel.

“Thank you.” Henry checked on Bok Soo, who was still an hour away from the ship yard.
I can swear I checked that two hours ago,
Henry thought as he checked the progress on the dreadnought's bridge.

“Commander, I want you at the blast doors into the bridge,” Henry said, picking a squad commander that looked to be doing little.

“Sir.”

Now time to prepare to have my Commandos leave for the other ships. We need to get those damned shields down!
Henry stood and he began marching towards the bridge as he cut orders for his Commandos and trainees to lock up the Kuruvians in the same areas as the Sarenmenti. There was no knowing who was loyal or not and having a reactor blow up in his face was not high on his list of priorities.

***

I watched as Syndicate ships changed from orange to red.

“Syndicate weapons are online,” Sensors said as they updated which ships had their weapons online. First it was corvette's and cruisers then destroyers. The Resilient shook from impacts as every ship seemed to focus their fire on the dreadnought. When the battle cruisers and dreadnought came online, it was hard for me to not jump up and try to manage Tactical as Marleen was yelling to her gunners.

“Shields are at eighty percent, sixty-four.”

“Marleen?” I asked, trying to hide the near-panic in my voice.

“Roll!” she said. Helm rolled Resilient, putting new shields and new guns in the line of fire as Brusk's gunners let loose a full volley into every ships but the one Erkshaw and his people were on

“We have shield spotting!” Sensors said.

“Get those shields down, Marleen,” I said as I opened a channel to Heston.

“Heston, I need those guns and if needed, ships, taken out.”

“Hachiro is coming online,” Rick said. I nodded as I punched another channel open to Kawaga.

“Hit the battle cruisers.”

“Weapons are going down on the dreadnought. Henry is reporting command has been cut from the bridge. He's clearing house,” Rick reported.

“See if he can use those weapons against the rest of the Syndicate,” I said, remembering I was still live with Kawaga.

Resilient shook from another blast as shields called out.

“Forty-five percent and falling. They're focusing on us.”

“Prepare to roll!” I said, coming back to Kawaga.

“They'll turn their attention to you as soon as you become a threat.”

“Yes, sir, I have removed people from the outer areas already.”

“Good.”

“Shields are spotting,” Shields said.

“Roll!” I yelled as systems short circuited, someone swearing as Resilient shook violently.

“Talk later, Kawaga.” I cut the channel as Resilient was reporting her damage.

“I'm hit in a corridor, sealed and contained. Systems rerouted, also in second gunnery deck, area sealed, hull weakened.”

It had taken the firepower of the dreadnought, destroyers and some of the battle cruisers to do that damage which, while being a testament to Resilient's defenses, showed how even she was vulnerable.