Coming Home (Free Fleet Book 2) (3 page)

“You will remain in the brig until we reach Parnmal station and judgment can be rendered. Do you have anything to say in your defence?” Takahashi took a breath before talking to the floor.

“I manipulated Yasu. After Chaleel I didn't believe there was any way that he could be a commander. Looking to how he had gotten so many people killed at Parnmal I didn't want my people to die for his mistakes.”

“Did you look at the video footage?” Henry growled, he'd lost too many good people there.

“Yes, but I thought it was faked, or made to seem as if the battle was bigger than it was.”

“It was different in one way, it was much, much prettier than being there.” Henry's voice took on a hard tone, his eyes making Takahashi continue looking to the floor.

“I wanted to show that he couldn't keep his marriage, so why should he be a commander. Or use Yasu to kill him and allow the position to be open. I just wanted my people safe.”

“So you would kill our leader.”

“I've killed many people now.” Takahashi looked to Henry and Bok Soo who nodded. They were all veterans now.

“Here's something else to think on. Your stunt to get into power and look after your people didn't just hurt you, it hurt Yasu and him. James believes in marriage, she’s his wife and he’s faithful to her, but now, well, now I don't know if he doesn't want nothing to do with it, or Yasu.” Henry saw something like pain in Bok Soo's eyes. He'd lost the woman he'd been married to on Chaleel.

“That man, who controls the fate of everyone in this fleet and has earned the position, will trust people even less than before. You better hope that me and Henry can fix it before he wraps himself with the security he finds in isolation. If you told him your issue he would have listened and you could've kept your commandership. Idiot, I fought with you on Chaleel, but I didn’t know you where this stupid.” Bok Soo looked away, clearly done with Takahashi. Henry signalled for the jailer to close the cell.

“I will take into account your statement,” he said as the door shut

“Will I be on the assault to free Earth?” Takahashi asked, his voice tight.

“No, you’ll remain in your cell for the duration.” Henry's voice was unyielding.
I don't want a backstabber in my ranks.

Henry barely heard Takahashi's parting remarks.

“It looks like I made the wrong decision. He’s much stronger than I thought.

***

I spent seven hours in the armouries, fixing up my armour and helping Eddie fix others.

“Commander, we’re about to meet up with the fleet.”

“On my way, Rick.” I qued another Wake Up and all of my fatigue was washed away. I sighed as I stood from the chair I was sitting on.

“The luxuries of command,” I said as I picked myself up.

Eddie nodded at me knowingly as I left, walking back to my captains quarters as my four man protection detail helped me into my mecha. I powered it up, feeling the familiar systems come to life as the familiar HUD came into detail. My four man detail stayed with me as I entered the bridge

“Alright, Rick, lets get those materials sorted out.” I mostly watched as the reactors fed power into the hyper jump generators while shuttles madly rushed between the ships of my original fleet and those that had come from Parnmal.

“Shift into formation entry four,” I said to Rick as he sent Commands to the new ships, those that had been part of the original force moving into position.

I looked at the roster on my personal screen, we had one barely functioning battle cruiser which it’s commander, Bregend, had been driving his people to fix up as well as his chief, and they’d done miracles. We had a fresher battle cruiser from Parnmal,

but more than half of it’s weapons where out and it’s structure was - shaky.

Then there was the Resilient, two destroyers, three cruisers and eight corvettes all

with problems though with at least three quarters of their weapons online and most armour plating fixed or patched in some way. Most where missing power plants or had issues with their critical systems, and all of them had two fifths of a full crew if they where lucky.

The two troop transports we had were actually converted merchant freighters. We’d slapped more armour onto them and personnel defence. They would carry more AMC and personnel than all of my other ships combined and were nestled behind the umbrella-looking formation of the rest of the fleet.

“All shuttles recovered and ready for worm jump,” the combined arms officer said. They communicated between me,  a team that was working with mostly the shuttles, and the AMC, as well as the limited air fighters we had picked up from Chaleel.

“I want those missiles and ordinance being moved the entire time. Get the AMC to help out in their mechas. Bring everyone to full alert and administer Wake Up as needed,” I said, Marleen turning my words into action as she rode Tactical, getting the combined arms officer to move the AMC.

Twenty minutes later a blue light and siren signalling hyper jump in thirty seconds sounded.

I had already checked the navigation, had locked in our jump point, as well as the rest of the ships, and we were all linked in together - ready to make the jump as one body with a backup jump point already plotted.

“Secure all weaponry and personnel!” Marleen yelled as the communications officer passed this on to everyone in the fleet.

The hum that had been building for the past ten hours reached it’s crescendo as I could feel my teeth vibrating. Then there was nothing.

“Adjusting shield configuration!”

“Scanning immediate area.”

“All weapon systems are green, continue moving that ordinance!”

“Close vicinity clear.”

I watched as my team worked through the sequence of emergence protocols we’d made.

“Emergence of all shield forces confirmed,” Rick said.

“Troop transports have arrived. First Fleet is all accounted for and all ships are green.”

“Thank you, COS. Sensors?”

“Nothing detected in two light minutes.” Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. At least now we would get two minutes of warning before someone hit us.

The miniature hologram beside me, as well as the main one in the middle of the bridge, began overlaying what scans had picked up with the last saved scan of the system.

“Take the fleet into the system. I want everything scanned before we move into Sol System.”

Ships sensor commanders where communicating with one another, breaking up the system into grids for their people to search and relaying the information to everyone else as the map started becoming populated with imagery faster and faster.

I had taken off my helmet which sat on a rack beside my chair. I had only once jumped into a new system when not in a mecha and I’d had my leg cut off, which was not a pleasant experience let me tell you. Eddie had made me new armour, my third since training with scrap mechas to enhance me new strength and abilities. It was a scaled down version of the ones the Avar used. I still had my sword and my rail gun and pistol, and limited flight thrusters had been added after the space acrobatics the AMC had been called on to perform.

My battle computer synced with the ship was throwing up information in the projected HUD with my helmet being off.

In a half hour the system was declared clear.

“Tactical, I want to know the minute all of the ordinance is secured in the correct place. Comms, signal the fleet down to twenty-five percent. Navigation, plot us a course to the Sol jump point. Helm, as that’s plotted and the other ships are in sync, take us there.”

I opened a channel to Eddie.

“Alright, Eddie, do what you can. I want the priorities on-”

“Weapons, armour, and propulsion, I know, we’ve been over it enough times,” he said in an exasperated tone.

“Then I’ll let you get to it,” I said with a smile.

“Thank yee, sir!” he said, his tone eliciting a small laugh from me.

Rick was calling me on a private channel. “It’s Commander Hoi’s watch. Should we get some food while he takes over and switch off some of the personnel that have been up for the majority? We’re going to need our first line crew.”

“Understood, Marleen is to let people go at her own discretion as I don’t want another group coming in and not knowing what the hell's going on.”

“I concur.”

Commander Hoi was sitting at one of the VIP chairs along the wall which also could serve as any one of the stations in the ‘pit’ as we called it, because the lowered areas on either side of a catwalk in front of my chair split into vital areas. At the front was the helm and navigation side by side then in the right pit there was communications, tactical, and sensors. In the left there was the combined arms, engineering, damage control officers, and the science division - there basically to answer any problems and to brainstorm ideas.

The view screens made it seem that we were on top of the curving hull of the ships, but in actuality we were buried in the centre of the ovaloid vessel.

“Commander Hoi, you have command,” I said as I got up from my seat.

Rick was finishing up talking to the people in the pit with private channels and he stood up too.

“Thank you, sir!” Commander Hoi said, jumping from his seat as we exchanged two finger salutes, mine more of a general point in my Mecha. I grabbed my helmet, following Rick out of the bridge and to the nearest mess. Rick made me sit as he got the food. I was already dozy when he came back with the trays.

“Sir, you need to get some sleep.”

“Not damned well lucky right now.”

“I have to insist. The doctor said that your body can’t take anymore Wake Up, it could kill you.”

“Everything’s trying to kill me.”

“Oh shut up and eat.”

“I don’t want to break the cutlery.”

“Don’t be stupid. You’re the best handler of a Mecha, you could pick up a fly without crushing it.” With a half grin, I slurped down some of the greenish soup we’d been having since we began training and some chewy meal supplement we’d added to the bland meal. I’d gotten used to it, having eaten it for so long, my last solid meal being made from a food compiler on Parnmal. After a few minutes of silence Rick began talking again.

“James, you need to get some sleep and have a talk with Yasu.” If there was something I didn’t want to do it was have a talk with Yasu.

“Hear me out.” He said. forestalling my complaints.

“You’re going to have the Wake Up drained from you and a solid eight hours then have a talk with her when your head’s clearer. Non-optional, I’ll have your security detail hold you down if I have to.” The intensity of his eyes showed me he wasn’t lying. Thinking about being dragged to my room, kicking and screaming, did not paint a pretty picture.

“Fine, I’ll have some sleep as long as I can sleep in my Mecha.”

“I don’t know how you can sleep in that thing, but fine.” We finished off our food quickly. The sooner I finished the sooner I could sleep and wake up I thought as we went to my room, a doctor waiting outside of it with a detox injection to clear my system.

I really need to just get them added to my auto injector,
I thought.

They put it into the injector port in my Mecha, the auto injector system putting it everywhere in my body. I started to not feel so good on my feet as I stumbled into my room and lay on the floor, not even able to make it to the bed.

“Help me roll him over.” Rick said as two Mechas turned my body so I was lying on my back on the floor.

With that, I let sleep take me and the ghosts of the brothers and sisters I’d lost visited me.

***

Yasu had been thinking again when another meal was passed under the hatch she’d broken. The hatch was lifted up and then the tray was tossed in. She ate it slowly. Without any exercise, she’d put on weight, though it didn’t matter. None of it really mattered after she’d seen the look of hatred and sadness in James’ eyes. How she’d felt his trust leave her. She felt like such an idiot for listening to Takahashi and the ‘old ways’. She’d messed up anything she’d had with James and he’d never trust her again. Takahashi had been wrong about James. All he saw was the gamer. He didn’t see commander Salchar. He hadn’t seen what James could do up close. He had no respect for a man that deserved it.

After the talks she and James had had about his inability to trust anyone, her understanding of how paranoid he was, she’d stabbed him in the back and, in his eyes, tried to kill him. She felt miserable. The food was bland and tasteless as she stared at a bulkhead she’d sliced through with her plasmid sword. She thought of the looks from Janice and Dave that they’d given James, of sorrow and pity and then the rock hard emotionless masks they’d worn as Janice and Calerd pulled her from her Mecha and placed her in James’ closet. The hatch moved to the side, Rick standing in the doorway, and the hatch closed behind him.

“Why did you do it, and no bullshit.” His tone brooked no argument, she could see how Rick and James had grown, Rick becoming a confident, reliable and joking commander, while James had sully embodied Salchar, being a calming force when needed, but ever the leader who charged with his people instead of staying back.