Coming Home (Free Fleet Book 2) (40 page)

Salchar said something to Shreesht and Krom, who took off their helmets but kept them in their arms, ready to put them back on in an instant, marching towards the arrayed Commandos.

They wandered around through the Commandos, who didn’t move an inch.

“Borg’s boy?” Krom asked an Avarian bigger than himself and a few feet and wider in the same manner, he would take up three quarters of a service hallway.

“Yes, Commander Krom!” the Commando bellowed, sweat appearing on his face.
Wish I had someone like him to strike fear into them before we started training,
Dreckt thought, thinking of the mess the Avarians had been before the ex-Special Forces Sarenmenti showed them they were worth listening to.

“That would make you Brik, correct?” Krom asked as the Avarian was looking more like he'd taken a shower.

“Yes, Commander!” he said without flinching.

“What is your weapon of choice, Brik?”

“Modulated cannon, capable of shooting fletchette and rail gun rounds,” Brik said, a grin appearing on his face.

“That’s one hell of a shotgun,” Krom said, rocking back on his boots.

“Yes, sir.”

Shreesht stood in front of a squad leader.

“Inneal,” he said, sizing up the Chaleelian.

“Yes, Commander Shreesht?”

“Say Commander Salchar will die without your assistance but has ordered you to take the reactor core of the ship you are on. What do you do?”

“Protect the commander.” Shreesht made a disgusted sound.

“You have saved the commander’s life, but the Syndicate's have blown the ship, now you and he are dead.” Shreesht moved on.

“Bilge, you are part of a mixed species squad and the cowardly Kuruvians are to take point with you on communications. What do you do?” Krom asks.

“Tell my leader of their oversight and take the Kuruvians position.”

“Wrong!” Shreesht pushed the Avar back with his helmet.

“Best way to take down a Sarenmenti in a Mecha?” Shreesht yelled, pointing to an Avarian as if his finger was a pistol. The Avarian didn’t move an inch—others barely restraining themselves from flinching.

“In Commando or pirate Mecha, and which race?” the Avarian replied.

Shreesht hid his grin as he stood straighter. “Pirate.”
They only have one armor type, if you don't remember...
Dreckt was not unhappy as Kolum answered.

“The leg joint, specifically groin, then head. They’re sensitive to even getting hit in the helmet.”

“In Commandos armor, Kuruvian?” Shreesht picked out another victim.

“Arms then legs, finally hips, aiming for their primary and interlinked secondary convulsive sacks located in their stomach.”

“Good,” Krom barked, nodding to Shreesht, showing his respect between two warriors. Shreesht worked his way to the side as Krom stood at the front of the formation.

“You, like I, before training are nothing.”

“You were an Awakened!” an Avar growled from the rear.

“Pull your neck in!” Avar growled, his eyes flashing as backs straightened even more.

“Yes, I was Awakened. Yes, I was powerful, but I was an individual. The Armored Marine Commandos are  not individuals; they are a unit. One might be stronger or more technically inclined than another, this serves to improve the unit. As an individual, I could take on many opponents at once. With a veteran Commando unit…” He paused, leaning forward as iron filled his voice. “I could take Avar Hermanti Internmi and Chaleel.” Growls came back from the Commandos.

Dreckt let a grin appear on his face.
You’ve got their attention now.

“You 
will
 follow orders. You don’t and you and your brothers will die.” Krom began walking in front of them as he continued talking.

“You will be more trained than the Commandos were when they first took the planet Chaleel, but do not think that training trumps experience at any time. You will learn more than you thought possible in a short time, and they will ask to know what you do. In the Free Fleet we must help one another and defeat our enemies totally.” Krom stopped his walking as he grinned hungrily, his eyes cold. Shreesht had the same hungry grin appear in his own face.

“Mark my words, though, in this battle, our battle master 
will
 throw us at the enemy,  AND WE WILL SHOW THEM WHAT HAPPENS, WHAT COMMANDOS CAN DO!” Shreesht added his own hungry growl to the other Avarians, the Chaleelian's tongues hissing out in response.

“WE WILL CARVE INTO THEIR PIRATE SOULS, SENDING THEM INTO THE DARK TO AWAIT US AND OUR BATTLE COMMANDERS!”

Krom relaxed, lowering himself into a fighting stance as he thumped his foot and beat his chest. Shreesht did the same as well as the other Awakened, the other Avarians looking in shock as the Awakened thumped one leg, thumping their chest, causing the hangar to rumble. Excited and blood lusting growls came from them as they grinned hungrily and joined in.

Dreckt had studied the Avarian history on the Awakened. They could swear to any leader they desired, but none had made the blood and war oath that tied them to their chosen battle master in hundreds of years. Here, hundreds were making it alongside their already sworn warrior brothers.

I wonder if he knows what kind of power he wields,
Dreckt thought as the oath began.

Chapter Blood and War Oath.

I was with Eddie, talking about the special surprise I was concocting for the Syndicate fleet that wished to come into my territory as I felt the ship begin to vibrate.

“Eddie?” I asked, a note of confusion in my voice as I checked my pad for alerts.

“It’s nothing engineering related,” he said, looking up and listening to it. He knew enough about Resilient that he didn't need to look at his pad to know what the noise was.

“It’s a beat,” he said as I looked up and listened.

Boom, thump, thump.

Boom, thump, thump.

Boom. Thump.Thump.

BOOM, THUMP, THUMP.
 I walked closer to the noise as I came out of a service corridor and into the main walkway. Avarians were getting into a fighting stance, hitting their chests before stomping the walkway. The noise reverberated through the ship and some primal part of me desired to join in.

Then they started their oath:

“Give us war;

Give use death,

And know despair.

We are Avarians.

We are shadows,

Blades, and claws.

Hear our chant.

We are war;

We are death;

We are despair.

We serve battle,

Masters lead us

Not to victory,

But to death.

I felt my blood racing as they started over again. I saw Commandos joining in as I lowered myself and joined in, repeating with them their oath. It became fevered until the third repetition when they continued their beat for a few moments before chanting again.

“Battle Master,

Battle Commander.

Salchar,

Salchar.” There was a pause of three beats before they spoke again.

“We serve.” Then there was ringing silence as Avarians stood, inclining their heads in servitude.

They didn’t say anything more as they kept up the new beat for a few more minutes before the ship went completely silent. I could see hungry grins which in my time being a gamer would’ve scared me. They were grins of hunters.

I found myself grinning similarly. I was one of these hunters. I hadn’t been born one, but through the fire of battle I had become one. I had earned my place. I didn’t welcome a fight but I knew I would leave a mark on anyone that tried to take a piece of me now. Armored Marine Commandos of every races and species I saw had a similar grin. I did not welcome the upcoming battle, but now I wasn’t nervous. After all, I was taking my Commando brethren and Free Fleet with me.

“You Commandos are crazy,” Eddie said, shaking his head, unsure as to what just happened.

He didn’t know the brotherhood of Commandos. It was cruel and unforgiving, but it was like a cloak, one that made you feel invincible, like you could trust another Commando instantly even if you knew nothing about them, and you would do anything to protect their back as they would do the same for you

“You wouldn’t understand,” I said as I felt the adrenaline still rushing through my veins.

Life started returning to normal and people began moving through the halls, grim looks but focused and steeled eyes as they went about their work.

Eddie grinned; he didn't and he was fine with that, and he knew I meant no ill with my words, either.

“These bastards will know when we hit them,” I muttered under my breath as I walked to the nearest rail car, my eyes dark, not seeing the golden lights of floors as we passed them to the bridge.

I stepped off the rail car as it reached the personnel deck and I walked straight into my quarters. My touch-sensitive desk display glowed a light blue as it recognized me walking in, the rest of the lights still off.

“Low power lights,” I said as I waved my hand over my desk, the pounding in my head from multiple Wake Ups dimming slightly with the lower lighting.

I pulled up the desks display into a hologram as I sat in my seat, studying the latest of the sensor readings Monk had sent to me. The Syndicate fleet was now moving into the system towards Parnmal; it seemed they were happy with their sensor readings.

“Just need you to hold out for another five days,” I said to myself, knowing that five minutes, let alone five days, was a lifetime for those fighting.

Chapter Patience is a Virtue

Mad Monk sat in his command chair, his eyes transfixed on the main screen as the Syndicate fleet began moving.

“Send the First Fleet the newest scans and estimates of Syndicate ship paths,” Monk said in a soothing calming voice, as if he was commenting on the fall of a cherry blossom.

“Comms, could you get me Felix, please.”

The veteran comms controller just nodded, making Monk think about how most veterans before a battle grew quiet as they prepared to unleash hell upon their enemies.

“Connected,” he said simply.

Monk stopped his line of thought. “Hello, Felix. Are all the preparations made?”

“The last crews are coming in now,” Felix said, sounding every bit as tired a man that had been working for weeks ought to.

“Make sure you and your people get some rest; you’ve earned it. Plus, I have a feeling that we’ll be needing your people’s help soon enough.”

“Understood.” Felix’s voice become grim like the comm controller. “I could-”

“Get some rest.” Monk’s voice was still calm but with thread of iron to it.”

Felix sighed. “Alright, I’ll get some food and rest.”

“Good.” Monk’s voice was light and soothing once again as he sent a message to Commander Chen, making sure that Felix and his people got some sleep and were left undisturbed.

“Get me if anything happens.”

“Naturally.”

With that Felix cut the channel and Monk continued to focus on the star plot of his carefully laid defenses and decoys. Felix’s people had stopped all their secret projects and repairs and turned to making decoys when the Syndicate arrived. The decoys were ECM projectors made to imitate weapons platforms and attached to asteroids with air jet nav-packs. With the interference of the asteroids and the low emission of the nav-pack, Monk only knew where they were due to the real-time projections of the nav-packs guidance system. They were simple to make and there were tens of thousands of them littering the asteroid ridden space around Parnmal, all away from the actual weapons platforms which were heavily shielded and not powered on.

He sat there silently as he regarded the timer; it’d be eighteen hours before they came in range of the decoy live weapons system.

“I’m going for a walk, Akatsuki.” Monk bowed his head to the stations second in command.

“Commander Kim,” Akatsuki said, bowing his head in return as he moved from his seat to Monk’s. He studied the room before walking through the opening bulkheads in a reflective light, seeing the work that had gone into the walls to hollow them from the asteroid Parnmal called home. He got on the rail car, nodding to those on it as he secured himself in with a harness and was hurled through the station. A few got off before he got to one of the undeveloped areas of Parnmal waiting to be expanded into a habitable area for those that dwelled in her rocky exterior. He walked through the rough corridors, reaching a hatch—one with a red light indicating that there was no atmosphere on the other side.

 Monk pressed his hand to the scanner on the wall. It connected with his identification chip and beeped open. There was no rush of decompression as Monk continued into a roughly finished corridor, the door shutting behind him as he repeated the process with the second door and walked out onto a cat walk that connected to a rail car. He stepped into it as it shot out from a tunnel and into the expanse of a pressurized space dock.