Coming Home (Free Fleet Book 2) (30 page)

The man studied the blades intently. “Yes, they must be quite effective.”

“I have heard about your own blades. May I see one?” Krom asked, sheathing his. There wasn’t even a hint of a smile on the mans face, but I could see it in his eyes as he pulled out a kukri. We all studied it intently. I had seen it before on the internet but never in person. I thought of how it could be used to pull apart a Mecha.

After a few minutes, he put it away.

“So, what do you want?”

“For you to fight along side us in the Free Fleet as Commandos, or whatever you choose to be, to keep Earth and the other homesteads and races of those under our protection safe.”

“What about our families?”

“They would either stay on Earth until accommodations can be made for them at one of the Free Fleet bases or they can make their own place in the stars. They will be assisted of course.”

“Training?”

“Given by current Commandos. The band with me are veterans, but they are not fully trained Commandos. We have units training at one of our bases with Special Forces. I have high hopes that the training will be to the highest standard.”

“If we are injured?”

“We can fix up nearly anything, re-grow it, or give someone mechanical parts until the originals are re-grown. Or one can change trades or return to the civilian side as needed. Though, at this time, we are unable to release anyone into the civilian population from their term of service, which is a minimum of five years, as you will be gaining age treatments we believe this to be fair.”

“How do you battle?”

“Mostly hand to hand with plasmid weaponry and a Mechas fists.”

“Would we be a single unit or a mixed unit?”

“It would depend. I would want to have mixed units, as then our allies feel safe without us having a unit that could be potentially more loyal to Earth than the others under the protection of the Free Fleet.”

He nodded, looking thoughtful. “I will tell others.”

I nodded as he wandered off. I grabbed my drinking straw, taking a long pull as I tried to clear my dry throat. I thought I could feel all of the weapons around me pointed at my head. I could smell the gun oil and sweat with my heightened senses as I took a seat.

“What do we do now?” Calerd asked in his hissing voice.

“Now we wait.”

Krom nodded as he began making a watch shift and Dave got back inside the shuttle so he and Janice could switch off in a few hours so they were always ready to book it. I took a watch myself, taking in the sights and sounds of the Himalayas and the natural terrain.

It took three days before the old man came back.

“So, anything we should know?”

“We have decided to agree if you agree to a contract.”

“What is it?”

He told me that the Ghurkas wanted to be treated equally, their people given a place to live in the stars that they would call their own as well as their homes in the Himalayas. They wanted to be able to carry certain ceremonial artifacts, like the Kukri. He also asked if we would be putting women on the front line. I agreed and said we would. He looked at me, thoughtful again. “How much would we be getting paid per year as Commandos?”

“Approximately a quarter of a million pounds, without a mecha. With closer to three quarters of a million and the Mecha is worth ten million-ish with all of your implants and such.” He nodded his head before turning around.

“Who will carry the Kukri into battle once more for the Free Fleet?”

The hills seemed to sprout people as they ran down to the open area around the shuttle, getting into ranks and coming to attention. I pulled my hand away from my holster as I looked at the recruits standing in front of me.

“Well, let’s see if we can turn you into Commandos now.” I grinned as I looked at the sturdy, impassioned faces which looked directly ahead. I broke them into groups of fifty, giving them numbers.

“Okay, group one, on the shuttle. Buckle up. Shreesht, show them.” He nodded, barking at them to get moving as they rushed up the lowering ramp. I pulled my data pad from the small of my back. It had all of the information on it that the older man had asked me. I took off my gauntlet with Krom's help, placing my thumb down on it. I passed it to the old man who did the same.

“Dave, get me a print out copy as well as a digital one, should be coming from cockpit.”

“You do not believe our word?” The man asked and everyone looked to me.

“I believe your word, but I would rather that no one can argue with our agreement later, or interfere with it,” I said with a smile, the corner of old mans mouth lifting.

“Yes, best to cover all of the bases.” 

Dave gave the man the two copies. He checked it over, there were actually copies in multiple languages. Always best for both sides to have proof, not just one with ownership. I had a feeling he was referring to the way in which the British used the Ghurkas, sending most of them home, or accepted them into Britain with little in the way of money and benefits due their station.

“I will send down a shuttle an hour if I can manage it to pick up the rest of them. They’ll go through basic testing on Hachiro. If they pass, they’ll be shipping out with the fleet to Parnmal to be trained into Commandos. Private mail will be monitored but allowed, though slow, as it will be done on a ship to ship basis, going through the systems to get here.”

“It’s understood; we’re used to sending ours to far away places.”

“Would you want to send a group with us to find a place for the Ghurkas to claim as their own or do that at a later time?”

“We will see if our people are ready to become Commandos and decide later when we wish to move out into the universe.”

“I still can’t believe this is happening. Ghurkas fighting for the Free Fleet. Damn!” I said, grinning like a kid as I presented my hand. He took it and we shook. Dave raced down with the paper copy as I took out my data pad.  I frowned as I accessed it and opened up the information database, adding a few military things but keeping it mostly civilian.

“Data pads?” I asked my detail and they produced theirs. I cloned mine onto theirs as I handed the small stack to the man.

“Hopefully, these will answer any questions you might have, and what was your name?”

“Anil, Commander.”

“Well, it’s been good meeting you, Anil.” I got onto the shuttle with Krom, sealing it behind me as I reattached my gauntlet and made sure it would hold pressure then I sealed my helmet and took my seat.

“Shreesht?” Janice asked over a channel to all of us.

“All secure.”

“Krom?”

“Hatch secured.”

“Alright, firing thrusters.” Slowly the shuttle picked up, clearing the trees before accelerating and taking us high and Janice added more acceleration until we were hurtling into space. The shuttle buffeted and jerked a bit and then we were free of Earth’s atmosphere and turning to Japan, Europe, and the other countries that were badly hit and with people looking for jobs.

Chapter: Time Waits For No Man or Woman

Rick greeted Commander Hun as he walked on board Hachiro, trading lazy two finger salutes.

“Good trip?” Rick asked as Commander Hun shook his hand.

“Uneventful.”

“Good, everything good?”

“Chaleel and AIH are growing in leaps and bounds. We have thousands that have joined up already from both planets.”

Rick nodded as he began walking into Hachiro, indicating for Hun to keep up with him as Wruck followed in the distance.

“You've got a lot going on here?” Hun continued as he made the statement a question.

“It is quite the mad house. Got Nancy eating asteroids and fixing ships. While people are putting ships back together from the inside, others are training or patrolling. It's more madness than planning,” Rick said with a grin which Hun returned.

“So, where are the people I brought going?” Rick took a breath as he collected his memories.

“Most are to be on Nancy. The Commandos are filling holes in their structure. We're moving the veterans over from other ships to command roles on the new ships we have and then we'll put the newbies underneath them.”

“Sounds like a lot of moving around.”

“It's a friggin headache,” Rick said as he rolled his eyes, Hun grinning.

“Well, after we're all checked over by the yard, we'll start back for Parnmal and grab some more people for you.”

“Sounds good, we'll also have people rotating out, visiting Earth. All people, including those from other planets are allowed.” Hun nodded to Rick's words.

“I'll figure out a rota for my ships and personnel and pass it over for your confirmation.”

“Giving me more work are yah?” Rick asked, putting his hands on his hips as Hun looked unsure. Rick laughed as he patted the commander.

“I'm joking, yeah that'll be fine. First, let's grab some food,” Rick said as Hun grinned. Rations were still the same crap as the Syndicate had given them, which made real food worth it's weight in gold.

“Lead on COS!” Hun said as they talked about less work and more about one another and of people the other knew.

***

After four days of shuttling around Earth, I finally got a shuttle back to Hachiro. I spent most of my time helping to get the ships back to battle readiness. The rest of the time I was in one of the holo rooms that had been finished in Hachiro for the Syndicates personal pleasure but we'd turned into training facilities.

The rooms didn’t have gravity, so I floated there, my battle suits sensors and nerve taps allowing me to manipulate what was projected in front of me. On one side I had constant streaming updates from Earth and from Nancy. In front of me I watched information packets from every ship we’d stolen, every recreated battle in three dimensions.

I watched battles, I played them, I had my crews part of the recreation within their ships sitting in dock. A fire burned within me. We had one advantage over the Syndicate—it wasn’t our ships, it wasn’t our numbers—it was our skill. We had to become the best damn fleet in the known sectors to beat the Syndicate. We needed to exploit every weakness, use every trick we could think of. Everyone was drilled, everyone would wake up for the daily games. Sometimes they could last as long as three days, sometimes I would make them watch games as we worked, but every single one of them learned and grew.

I moved back onto the Resilient and we moved toward Nancy, our hull filled with resources.

We went through a continuous series of simulations as we traveled and continued them as we got there, changing from single ship to entire fleet simulations.

“Game complete,” I said as the latest battle ended.

“Good work, go over AAR.” Commandos HUD’s cleared and they found themselves in mid-space when they had thought they were inside of a ship. The first time it had happened it had been… interesting when the Commandos realized they were hanging above the deck of the shipyard instead of firmly attached to metal. Now they returned to the deck with the use of their Mechas, maneuvering thrusters, magnetically clamping themselves to the floor.

It filtered up so that smaller groups talked over their problems then the leaders of these smaller groups talked about the larger picture. With me, I talked to the captains on how they worked their ships. Though, more often than not, everyone tuned in for my AAR kept me on my toes and scrambling for military sounding words, but after my share of games, I was getting rather good at it.

“Alright, that was great formation drill, and the synchronization of PD weaponry was great. Captain Ishtar, that was great intuition on your part, moving to cover Captain Kim while communicating with your battle group your idea and having them move so that you could execute the maneuver.” Captain Ishtar, my newest Sarenmenti captain nodded his head. I thought back to the time when I met my first Sarenmenti, Taleel, how I’d been truly terrified and scared, thinking that Taleel only wanted to kill me and my people. Not how he was hardening us up so that once we were in a battle it would seem easier than our easiest training.

“Everything else was good. I didn’t see any problems. Comments? Questions? Captain Geroud?”

“Thank you, Commander Salchar, I was wondering why we don’t practice with full weaponry and our ships in full fighting trim?”

It was a good question but I was prepared for it. “Our ships aren’t at that level. I want us to be ready to deal with a threat with what we’ve got, not what we might have. If an enemy jumped in right now, would simulations with fully refurbished warships help?”

“No, Commander,” Captain Geroud said, looking shame faced.

“Good question, though, and hopefully we’ll be simulating with fully ready warships soon enough.” This brought more than one grin to the faces of the captains projected in the conference room and doubtlessly around the warships.

“Okay, back to what you were doing, then. And let’s show up back at Parnmal with a fully repaired fleet.” I grinned, nodding slightly before cutting the channel. I left the conference room, finding Shrift outside.