The Recruitment: Rise of the Free Fleet (30 page)

“Alright listen up, we don’t know how long we’ll be on planet, we’ll be waiting for another fleet of ships to arrive and take over from us. In the meantime everyone will be doing sleep lessons and lessons in the field. Squads without a leader are to designate one by fair vote, or one will be picked for you. Leaders and Commanders—create shifts as well as training schedules based upon what you have. Salchar out.”

Reports filed in slowly from the groups around the planet on their readiness. I felt myself grin as I sat in my room. Finally we were getting somewhere it seemed. Someone kept on checking on me at irregular intervals no doubt checking to make sure I hadn’t gone and disappeared.

After being away from everyone for a few hours as the flood of reports slowed I picked myself up moving to the area around the shuttle where everyone was training in the time we had. We only worked on our hand to hand combat and weapons drills. No one was to train at the new station simulations such as sensors tactical or any of that. I didn’t need the Sarenmenti’s finding out we knew how to work something other than a Mecha.

Yasu saw me as I walked out into the open area.

“Here I’ll show you how to do an arm bar.” She said her eyes alight as she caught me.

I didn’t like the sound of that as I turned beating a hasty retreat for the firearms training area.

“Salchar could you help me demonstrate?” She said, he voice like honey. While her eyes flashing in malice.

Crap. This is going to hurt.
 
I said a smile on my face as I cringed inside.

“Yes baby.” Her eyes told me she was going to get me back for my words.

You just had to provoke her.

I removed my sword and the rest of the battle rattle I had as I walked into a drawn in the sand corridor. The other Commandos spread around to get a better view of the fight—all of them grinning.
 
Sadistic bastards.

“Advance.” Yasu said, breaking of my line of thinking as I forget everything else letting my body relax as I stepped inside the ‘corridor’.

I bowed Yasu a little shocked as she mirrored me.
 
Yes I know how to fight honourably in Japan as well as every other damned country.
 
I raised my fists as I studied her.

She stood facing me with her hands at her side a look of confidence and gloating. She thought she was better than me in hand to hand, and I was going to have to take her down. Though it meant I would have to actually fight, and not let her get the arm bar as she wanted. I wouldn’t get her respect by going down like a twerp.

I advanced.

She responded with a flurry of fists I blocked as she pounded on. She still wasn’t used to her Mecha I could tell as her hits were coming lighter than what the Mecha could put out. I rocked with the blows and the kicks which made me stagger instead of falling on my ass. What she lacked in the Mechas power she made up for in speed and number of blows she landed—she was pissed.

She jumped backwards as I brought my leg up in a kick aimed at her groin. But my practice spent using my nerve ports to change my power output over the manual controls paid off. Her grin disappeared as just my toe made contact with her Mecha—but with all of the Mechas servos behind it.

She was thrown into the air as I jumped forward. I went to land a punch on her shoulder but she turned, grabbing my arm and planting her feet in my shoulder.

The change of weight made me stumble as I used the clamps on my boots thankfully staying upright. I tried to curl the arm she was on but her legs fought me.
 
Well she got me into an arm bar.
 
I granted as my Mechas joints screeched at the pressure of being pulled apart and my arm felt as if it was going to snap from the pressure.

I jumped landing on her, using my free right hand to pound on her shoulders. Still she held on like the hellcat she was. I could feel the muscles and bones in my arm straining as well as the actual armour of my Mecha and the exoskeleton underneath.

I felt something twist awkwardly and release as my world became blinding pain in my arm. I thought about tapping—for a second, and then pain infused rage rook over. I looked at Yasu I could see that she’d felt my arm come out of its socket.

“You can stop.” She said over suit to suit comms.

“No.” I growled as I controlled my arm through my nerve ports, the exoskeleton acting like my own bone and muscle as I threw myself on my right. She still held on as I picked myself up. She applied more pressure. I tasted blood as I bit into my lip rising to my feet. I squatted as I got low she released her legs from around my arm and her hands off of my own.

You’re not getting away that easily.
 
I grabbed her collar as I Jumped, wrenching her around as my shoulder was on fire. Only Taleels constant use of the pain implants making me able to bear the pain. I flipped her, my fully weight falling on her.

I took a few breaths.
 
Idiot. Pulling her apart in hand to hands stupid. You need her to train the others.
 
I said selfishly as I rolled off of her before taking a knee and tapping the ground. I bowed to her, as she did too, getting out of her fighting stance. I didn’t see if she’d completed it as I opened my visor.

“And that is how you get out of an arm bar. Arm bars are good for any race as enough pressure and that arm is useless unless they can use their nerve ports properly. Something all of you should focus on.” I looked around getting some nods back as I grinned.

“Well then, I need to go and check on the weapons training
.”

Slowly I grabbed the battle rattle I’d put on the ground thankful for the exoskeleton and nerve ports. Without them then the others would see the extent of my injuries. I moved my arm trying to get a feel for how bad it was.
 
YEAH! Definitely dislocated.
 
I winced as I jarred it.

I did as I said and looked in on the troops working with the weapons team, I was thankful I’d put two teams of them in each squad not only giving us shooters we could rely on but also the ability to train at any point in time. They were worth their weight in gold; I watched as they went through FISEH. It was pronounced fish but stood for; fighting in someone else’s house, when I first heard the term explained more than one person had broken out grinning.

“Are you interested in having a go commander?” One of the trainers asked as I watched.

I wanted to say no and that I was in need of relocating my damned shoulder instead my mouth worked before I could think.

“If you’ve got room for me.” A grin on my face.
 
Cocky asshole, this trying to look like a leader thing is for the dogs.
 
I groaned, inwardly hoping that the trainer would say they didn’t.

“Always commander, the stack going in could use another man.” He said pointing to them.

I nodded to him as I slapped my rifle into the dislocated arms hand jarring pain travelling up my arm. I hid my wince as I thought about the stupid situations my big mouth had gotten me into. Dreading how much work would pile up as I was working on my fighting skills.

I wanted to be a damnde good solider, but a leader had to learn how to look at the overall strategy, not just develop their personal skills. I was good with my soldiering, but I was only use to commanding three others, not twenty thousand others.

I tagged onto the back of a stack; with nothing much else to do until someone had an urgent emergency.

I found a quiet corner that I slumped in after I’d been training for three hours of FISEH no sooner had my ass hit ground than Yasu walked in. I made to stand up as she put a finger to my chest, stopping me.

“Out of your Mecha—now.”

“I don’t think now is the time…”

“armour off, now.” Her brooking no argument.

I grunted as I pulled my helmet off. My grunts quickly turned to gasps as I tried to undo the straps that connected my shoulders to the Mecha.

“You dislocated your arm didn’t you?” I didn’t reply lying there trying to ease the pain.

“Then you felt it was a great idea to go and do fish for three hours!” She tossed her hands up in the air as she threw off her gauntlets and helmet squatting in front of me and removing the straps of my Mecha freeing my arm.

I could feel it swell as she released them.

“For someone that’s ten steps ahead of everyone you really are an idiot sometimes.” She said pulling my arm out of the Mecha as I breathed angrily at the pain.

“This is going to hurt.”

“Wait whaAAAAAAAT!” I yelled as she put my shoulder back into place with a painful
 
click.

“Please never do anything like that again.” She produced a needle and stuck it in my shoulder.

“What did I just say?” I said as I felt a burning sensation spreading through my arm as she pulled the needle out.

“That’s hell fire; you should be good in a few minutes.”

“Feels like someone stuck a hot poker in my arm!” I yelled gritting my teeth at the pain as I tried to find consolation in the ceiling.

“Interesting.” She said a smile on her lips. I looked at her sourly trying to look annoyed as I let a little laugh go the pain increased as she left. After a few minutes it died down to a throb and then nothing. I moved my arm feeling as if nothing had changed. I got back into my Mecha thinking of her smile as I walked around the station.

We continued training for the next few days until one day I was jerked awake by a red flashing of my HUD.

I opened the emergency channel without thought my body already moving as I checked my rifle and walked outside as everyone was scrambling for defensive positions.

“What is it?” I demanded as I reached the watch commander.

“We have an incoming craft from the population centres as well as land vehicles.”

“Major, the fuck do you think you’re doing!” I demanded on the comm channel for the communicator I’d had basically shot at them.

“This is General Carsickle with who am I speaking with.”

“Commander Salchar, now turn your crap around.” I said as I jumped onto the top of the shuttle in a single bound to get a better look of the situation dialing in my visors magnification to see the dust plumes of the advancing vehicles.

“Commander, you and your force will surrender to my forces or I will kill you.” He said surety ringing though his voice.

I looked at the incoming craft with my sensors as I felt the building thrum of engines warming up beneath me.

“I can’t stop anyone from shooting you if you attack us and if you kill me no one will surrender. They will rip you apart and move onto your population centres. By now you should know of our assets both orbiting your planet and the actual weaponized systems we wear and use. All of which will destroy you the minute I’m dead. If I’m not dead and you kill one of my own, even then I will use everything in my power to make this planet burn. So your options are to step down, or have your name on a plaque I will put on your planet as the man that led to its destruction.”

Don’t turn me into a Sarenmenti. I don’t want to kill you, you bastard.

“Get your people to stand down or we will destroy you.” I wish I could see his face to get some read on him.

Officer Turek jumped on top of the shuttle unlimbering his rifle. I couldn’t say anything that would get me unwanted attention from the Sarenmenti.

“You have invaded our perimetre, anyone inside in the next minute will be dealt with extreme prejudice.” Turek said through all of our external speakers. I brought my own rifle up changing magazines to live ones instead of stun. I changed to the private Command channel.