From Furies Forged (Free Fleet Book 5) (5 page)

              Salchar nodded to himself as if seeing the message had sunk into their brains.

              He looked to Carsickle.

              “Company Commander, get them sorted out. Their commanders will be with them to sort them out shortly,” Carsickle said.

              “Commandos, move to the armories as per your assigned rack,” the company commander said as Carsickle and Salchar talked between themselves before Salchar joined the Commandos going on leave.

                                                                      ***

              Orshpa's sub leaders were feeling anything but safe as he roamed through their ranks, his anger making his shoulders shake with barely repressed fury.

              “I waged a war, the likes of which had not been seen in generations, see the fall of Edvasho and Xentar claim my position as war-leader and leader of all clans and find that you have lost me five Star-Destroyer YARDS!” His claws dug into the ship as his shaking vibrated the very decking he stood on, spittle dripping from his armored maw, his laser cannons itching to be released.

              He controlled himself and kept moving, the Kalu that had reported the losses, and the five star-warriors with him had been destroyed outright.

              He walked his home planet Ulri, all of the clan leaders had gathered eager for the second teaching war.

             
Prepared to run off and attack the enemy with no thought of the supplies we will need to support that kind of battle!

              It was time that he used some of the tactics he'd learned from the Union against this damned Free Fleet. He hunched his shoulders, moving as if stalking a prey on the plains that lay outside his clan's settlement.

              He also knew the danger of giving such orders. Getting them to just have a few ships patrolling had taken all of Edvasho's considerable clout.

             
And he isn't around anymore to use that 'Hero from teaching war' excrement.

              “You will rally your clans and you will put no less than thirty percent of your Star-destroyers and Star-warriors into the dark hunting grounds and prowl for these creatures. I will have them destroyed and stop these hidden attacks,” his voice came out as something between a growl and gnashing his teeth.

              The cowardly Fleet had shown their trickery again as transition points appeared, presenting large asteroids instead of valiant warriors and smashing shipyards apart.

              The latest attack hadn't even used asteroids. Instead the transition point appeared
inside
the yard. The yard had been ripped apart by the transition point. Missiles had emerged, turning anything not immediately destroyed into useless debris.

              Orshpa had two options, spread his forces as far as he could to try and track down these creatures and the yard that they had claimed as their prize. Or attack the Free Fleet and the inhabited worlds of the Union.

              If he didn't get rid of the Free Fleet in his clan lands, then they would continue to hammer his rearguard, making resupplying his fleet damned close to impossible. If he was unable to find them, which was a possibility, trillions of Kalu and millions of ships were impressive, but the dark hunting grounds were massive. Even those numbers would be small.

              Clan leaders would start pressuring him for battle, a loss couldn't go unanswered! They had waited long enough and Edvasho had promised them a second teaching war! So what if they couldn't get resupplied with missiles or fuel. They would take the planets from the Union dwellers and Free Fleet and then look to the small matters of fuel and weapons.

              Many didn't believe the stories from the bloodied Kalu of Heija and Rosho. Kalu culture looked down on them, even as they had gone into battle. That blindness and dismissal of what the Free Fleet had done would be deadly.

             
Stuck between a Kalu and their prey.
He thought angrily as Clan leaders shook their masses in annoyance at the orders.

              “The Kalu do not need to roam the dark hunting grounds like lost pups when there are ripe worlds open to us,” the clan leader of Vastal said proudly, gaining the agreeing growls and pawing of other clan leaders.

              Orshpa casually cuffed the clan leader, bowling them over and holding their upper paws out of the way as his teeth dug into the clan leader's throat.

              “You
will
do as I say, or I will destroy every ship that claims to be part of your clan and tries to join the true Kalu on their path to the second teaching war.” Kalu's angered spittle fell from his teeth onto the clan leader’s chest, above their manipulating hands.

              Orshpa lowered his mouth to the leader’s audible organ located above its manipulators. Dragging a sharpened and armored tooth through its armor slowly.

              “Yes,” it growled, slowly releasing its paws and pushing its head higher in a sign of disgusted defeat.

              Orshpa stayed like that for a moment, driving the point home to the other clan leaders.

              “See that my orders are carried out, those that find me the hiding Free Fleet will join me on my war path to Worshun.”

              Guttural noises of anticipation rose from the Kalu throats around him.

             
You know how quickly that agreement will turn to them trying to rip out your throat.

Chapter Rest, Rearm, Refuel and Reattach

              “FuuuUUUUUCCKKK!” I bit into the bite guard as my nerves were reconnected down my spinal column.

              My hands gripped my restraints as Krom and Shreesht looked over the whole operation with detached professionalism.

              I looked at the floor with palatable anger. I was in one of the new medical chairs which let me stare at the floor rather than the ceiling. The medics said that it made their work easier, I was beginning to think it was because their victims might remember their faces after the whole ordeal.

             
Much safer to make me look at the floor than their faces.

              I caught the occasional nervous foot movement from Krom and Shreesht as a new nerve came back online.

              It was
very
fucking painful and without any damned anesthesia, only muscle relaxants that made everything from my chest down as limp as chicken noodles.

              “Buy me dinner first!” My throat hoarse as I breathed in short painful breaths. The pain disappeared in a number of minutes, reminding me of the surgeries I had while being trained by the Syndicate. They hadn’t bothered with anesthesia watching as your bones were snapped back together, or your wounds fixed became a familiar hell.

             
Or in Marhtu's Kaaorv's care.
I felt my face go harder, thankful that none of the medics could see it.

              I grunted as the last nerves were connected. The pain focusing my mind as I remembered those hellish halls hidden under Daestramus' surface.

              Marhtu had been summarily executed for his crimes and those underground bases now held Free Fleet reserves that were training in case their planet was attacked.

              Many had pressed for him to receive the same punishment he’d subjected to others; all he had gotten was a firing detail.

              The government of Daestramus showed the people how sinking down to his level would only taint them.

              Once dead they’d dumped his body into the recyclers, turning him into fertilizer.

              I knew that I would survive this pain, but it didn’t dso anything for my immediate pain.

              I didn't know when the hellfire was added to my intravenous, but I sure as hell
felt
it. My muscles tensed to the point where I couldn't even scream as my body realigned itself and the hellfire's mixture of medical nanites and chemical compounds put me back together.

              The sounds of having my new vertebrae welded into place were the only thing I could hear cause I was as straight as a person being tasered.

              Then it stopped, leaving me drained. I looked at the floor in a pissed off haze of exertion, drugs and quickly dissipating pain.

              “He's going to need a few days’ rest. His ration plan has been updated to suit his needs. No exercise until he's been checked out again. Any complications, hellfire him up and bring him back down here.” I could hear the main doc working on me, talking to Shreesht and Krom.

             
Might not listen to me half the time, but they'll make sure I listen to the doc's orders.

              “Would a few sleeping aids help?” The doc asked.

              “I think that would be quite useful,” Krom's voice was a comforting deep bass.

             
Cowards!
I thought with a grin turned lopsided as the doc was pumping me up with some damned good painkillers.

              I would be lying that if I thought a dreamless sleep wouldn't be nice for a damned change.

              I felt my eyelids getting heavier.

             
I have to... Rick and the others can handle it.
I waved it off, letting my body relax and stopped fighting the drugs in my system.

                                                                      ***

              Krom looked at his new limb, the only thing that showed where it had been reattached was a pencil thin line that was already fading.

              He looked up from his position inside Salchar and Yasu's room as Shreesht buzzed him. Krom sealed his powered armor as he closed his visor, linking to Shreesht's feed.

              Monk, the commander of Parnmal and one of the members of Mecha Tail was walking up with a cart covered in different food.

              Krom stood silently, glancing to the bed where Salchar and Yasu lay. His Battle Master laid on his back, out cold, his chest rising and lowering rhythmically, one arm stretched towards the intravenous bag, with a patch pushing the contents into his blood stream.

              Yasu lay next to him, taking an arm and leg hostage.

              Krom let a rare smile flutter across his face.

              He had first met Salchar when he had taken Ursht's position as battle master of Asul. Krom wasn't about to let some outsider take his brother's position without a fight.

              So he and Salchar had brawled it out and no matter Krom's monstrous size compared to Salchar. The little bastard was a damned good opponent.

             
Best not to tell him that.
Krom turned, queuing the room's blast doors open.

              Monk was at the door by the time he exited the room.

              “Thought you might like some food during your wait. I also got Salchar's meds, checked them, though I have no doubt you will as well,” Monk smiled in a way that conveyed his understanding and agreement with their ways. “I also came upon this.” Monk pulled out a chessboard.

              “I swear this whole fleet is going chess crazy,” Shreesht said, popping his visor.

              Krom grinned, he and Carsickle had made it a habit to play a game, or at least put in a few moves on the chess game they had running in Resilient's rec room, whenever they could.

              Others had taken up the game across the fleet. Card games were also coming out in a big way.

              “Ahh, you just don't know a real game,” Krom said, popping his own visor.

              There were few people that he considered as close to him as his own brother Ursht, Monk and Shreesht most definitely fit in that category.

              “I'll take the watch while you two play your game,” Shreesht said, taking a steaming plate of food from the cart.

              “Salchar's drugs don't need to be changed for another seven hours,” Krom said, glancing to his timer.

              “Plenty of time for a few games,” Monk said.

              “Definitely,” Krom waved to the room across the corridor, Krom and Shreesht's room.

              Monk and Krom got situated.

              Monk's head was as bald and shiny as a waxed tabletop. He looked as if he was about to burst out into a smile at any moment.

              Of the Four members of Mecha Tail he was the most reserved. He had been training to be a Monk since a young age, but when he found out how gaming was a hell of a lot of fun and he was good at it, his vocation to be a Monk fell apart.

              Some might take his kind features for softness.