Coming Home (Free Fleet Book 2) (32 page)

I put Yasu down just as we stopped. We straightened our appearances as our hoods retracted and our battle suits unsealed. We had a speed walking competition to the ship. I gave a two finger salute to the airlock guard who was at attention, saluting me. He dropped his salute, turning back to the airlock to hide his grin as me and Yasu rushed to our room.

Janice and Dave were already waiting outside of our door, obviously being foretold by mine and Yasu’s protection detail. They hit the hatch release as me and Yasu rushed inside. Yasu hit the closing button as I pinned her to the bulkhead, our lips coming together in a rush as she hit the lock button. Our hands found the battle suits releases as we walked to the bed, our clothes falling away as our hands wandered over each other. Yasu pushed me back and I fell on the bed, falling on top of me as I pulled her to me.

“I think this is how I stopped you in training,” I said. She grinned wickedly, her hair falling on my face, making a curtain that closed us off from the world.

While we enjoyed in the, erm, physical side of one another a lot, we were pumped with endorphins and boosters through our food, and near death experiences definitely had an affect on our libido.

Chapter Recruiting Drive and Changes.

My implants and data pad went off, announcing that some new issue had arisen.

I got up groggily, looking at the bare back of Yasu. I played my fingers over her back as she nuzzled her pillow, unwilling to wake up. I grinned as I got out of bed and stepped into the head to take a shower. She’d been right. There hadn’t been much sleep, but the few hours I had gotten had been the most relaxing I’d had in a while. I had dreamed of Yasu instead of the many souls that visited me every night. I checked myself in the mirror, running my hand through my hair before letting it settle in its half slice. I put on a new battle suit as Yasu was shifting. She cracked an eyelid at the light from the head.

“Turn it off!” she said into the pillow. I did so, my eyesight adjusting to the minimal light in our quarters. “Now say goodbye,” she said with a smile. My face split in a grin as I kneeled down and she raised her head to meet my lips.

“I’ll see you in a bit,” I said.

“Yes you will, now get us the people we need for your fleet and hurry up about it. It’s about time we went and saw Monk. Also, remember to figure out how to house the families of those you offered accommodations to,” she said sleepily as I grinned at her reminders.

“Yes, dear.”

“I like the sound of that.” She smiled sleepily as I stood, shaking my head, not wanting to leave as I got to the hatch.

“Close the hatch after you!”

My grin widened as I walked outside and followed her instructions.
Who would have thought that I would actually enjoy married life? I certainly hadn’t,
I admitted to myself with a happy grin.

“Alright, well, let’s get to work then,” I said to my fully assembled protection detail as they fell in around me and guided me to the conference room turned office.

It was a few minutes until someone walked in.

“Hello, Shrift,” I said as I put down my data pad.

“James.” Shirft was one of the few people that still called me James, and only when behind closed doors. He took a seat as I sat back.

“So, I know you want to be kept up to date with what's happening with the ship yard and dock. Now, I would have my brother be here, but he's more like Eddie in this regard, the only time that he'll go to meetings is when it's for something he deems interesting.”

“We should have some coffee,” I said as Shrift's business like manner relaxed. While Kuruvians couldn't drink coffee, they loved the aroma, finding it relaxing. Somewhat akin to candles.

I ordered some from the mess. Rank did come with some privileges.

“So, did you find out anything about the rest of your family?”

“It seems that they all died when there was an outbreak of a 'virus' by some terrorists or another. It allowed the Syndicate to impose martial law and found a massive amount of troublemakers, sending them to the mining colonies.” Shrift looked to the table.

“Flor will be freed from the Syndicate as soon as possible.” My tone belayed the relaxed position I sat in.

Shrift locked eyes with me before nodding.

“I don't doubt it, Commander.” There was silence for a few moments before Shrift also lounged in his chair.

“So, how's the married life?” he said with a grin.

I returned it. “It's, interesting.”

“Even while you two were being pissed off at one another, the entire time training I knew that you liked one another.”

“There's no way you thought that.”

“Call it a Kuruvian's intuition.” He grinned as he tried to look all knowing.

“Why aren't you married, Shrift?”

“Well, Kuruvians don't marry, we associate with one another, but we move from partner to partner a lot. If we want to have a litter then we actually have to activate our reproductive organs.

“So, you can't have kids until you want to?”

“Exactly.”

“That's just cheating.”

“We don't cheat. We just don't stay attached to another for long, usually. There are always exceptions, like my parents, though there are only a few.”

“Why are there fewer female Kuruvians than male?” I asked.

Shrift grinned. “We can choose our gender. Most that are on ships choose to be male or neutral, as I am. On ships we're brothers. On Flor we're siblings.”

“That's got to be confusing.”

“Quite.”

The coffee arrived and someone from the mess put it between me and Shrift.

“Thank you,” I said as he made a nervous  bob before practically fleeing from the room.

“Strange,” I said as an alert sounded on my data pad. “One minute.” I sighed as I opened the channel.

“We found the reporter that leaked the video and such,” Henry said. The person was resourceful. They'd gotten from the Resilient to Hachiro, moving from the trainees to fixing up the video and sending it to Earth through the Free Fleet's communication system.”

I'd had Henry go through Hachiro. It had taken time, especially with his commandos being stolen for other jobs. “Who is it?”

“Evelyn Sparks,” he said.

I shrugged. “Bring her up.” I sighed as Henry cut the channel and I turned to Shrift. “It's never just one thing.”

Shrift grinned. “Shall we go over what Nancy and my brother are up to before she gets here?”

“Certainly.”

“Okay, so we've nearly cleared out the smaller ships up to destroyers. As you said, cruisers that are below a certain standard are being used as parts and then melted down. Shirley is doing a cracking job of mining. She's almost got an output a third of our own.

“Our miners and refiners times change due to their distances. With the fuel that they’re burning and the amount that we have at Hachiro, we've begun building an atmospheric dipper and refiner for Saturn and Jupiter.”

I nodded, taking a sip of my tea, Shrift's coffee releasing an aroma through the room. “What about the destroyers and bigger ships of the line?” I asked.

“Well, making the dipper and refiner has moved back our time line a bit, but we think that within three months we could get them to the standard that they were before the battle.”

“You mean the standard of the Syndicate which is, basically, it works, has armor and guns?” I crooked an eyebrow and he nodded.

“Pretty much.”

I nodded. “I want overhauls,” I said. I felt a twinge of regret for my words. Overhauls would take considerable time, but the ships would then hopefully be close to the condition they were in when they were really part of the PDF or system defense forces.

“Really? That with triple the amount of time.”

I nodded.

“We have one thing going for us right now—training. Add that training with ships that are actually close to fully operational and we have a force multiplier.”

Shrift nodded.

“Also, while we're doing these changes, we can make it so that the ships are all universal, making it easier for crew to move from one ship to another without needing special training.” Shrift nodded as he pulled out his data pad and began making notes. The door opened and a woman as well as two Mechas walked into the room.

“Thanks,” I said to the two Commandos, making it clear that they could leave as I reclined more in my seat and studied Evelyn Sparks.

***

“Listen up trainees!” Yasu said. They were all gathered in the massive running track dedicated to the trainees training and that Yasu had run on thousands of times during her own training.

Silence overcame the room after a few seconds of hushing.

“You are no longer on a war footing. You have stories and hopefully some training and useful information that you can share with one another.” She paused for that to sink in before continuing.

“But you are still trainees. You have a lot to learn and getting an inflated head is one way to get kicked out of the Free Fleet.” Takahashi and the training cadre behind Yasu nodded in unison.

“Keep that in mind when training.” She turned to her staff. “Commanders, take your trainees.” The training cadre broke apart as they took their isolated squads off to their squad pods and training rooms, and a few began running on the track.

Takahashi came up beside Yasu. They worked together, but there was a lack of personal interaction between them, for now it was only business.

He used me in order to try and prove Salchar's inability to command. He twisted what I saw until I only thought of him as a cheating bastard,
Yasu thought as she felt a nasty taste in her mouth.

“Shall we have people finish the battle damage training quickly?”

Because they've already been taught it,
Yasu mentally finished. “Make it so.”

Takahashi looked almost as if he was working up the courage to say what was on his mind.

After a few seconds Yasu turned to him. “What?” She was unable to hide the coldness of her tone as Takahashi's nervousness disappeared and he straightened as if under review like the trainees.

“I wanted to tell you I was wrong in what I did,” he said.

Yasu hissed. “Don't you think I
already
know that?” Takahashi didn't recoil from the words, but Yasu knew they hit home as the man kept talking.

“In wanting to look after my commandos, I thought that only I was the best commander for them. I thought that Salchar would just get them killed, that they were a number to him.” He looked to the floor. “And while a lot of them have died, I saw how every single life to Salchar is much more than a number. I saw how he uses everything in his arsenal to keep his people alive.” He turned to look Yasu's burning eyes, his own open as he smiled a little bit.

“I saw how he loves you, and that he will be there for you no matter what. You have found a good family, Yasu. Mecha Tail, while being great fighters, are no mere friends. They work so well together because of their complete trust in one another. A trust that few families of blood can reciprocate. Your father would be proud that you found people that you can grow with and not just train with.” With that Takahashi bowed before leaving an emotional Yasu in his wake, who turned to see the last of the squads being guided to some new training.

When did I become so caring about words and feelings?
Yasu thought as she wanted to run to James, have Salchar melt away and have his arms wrap around her and never let her go. She turned to go to the training commanders office.

How was I so blind?
She thought back to her time as the Blade Mistress and when training had begun and she had fought James.

She smiled to herself as she got into her office, its window overlooking the track.

“The one thing that went right was marrying that dolt,” she said, smiling and thinking of no other man she'd want to have by her side for the rest of her life.

She saw Takahashi giving a lecture off to the side of the track and her line of thinking soured.

“I'm going to have to figure out a way to look past his idiocy. He was doing it for his people, as blind as he was, and he also cares for me.” She sighed as she sat at her desk and opened her hatch.

“Natsuko, Taniko,” she said as the two sisters walked in.

Both of them were a couple of the deadliest people in existence, despite their girlish appearances, and completely loyal to Yasu.

“What are your thoughts on Takahashi?”

“Good fighter,” Taniko said.

“Emotional, makes him falter.” Natsuko.

“Preffered weapon...”

“...Sword.”

Yasu held up her hands as the two started finishing one another's sentences.

“What do you think of the man?” And for once the cold looks of the sisters broke as they looked at one another.

Yasu smiled, she couldn't help feeling motherly over the two. She was, after all, the one that had found them as toddlers about to be killed for not pick pocketing enough, by gangsters. She had raised them the only way she knew how, with fighting.
I guess it's time I taught them about people.