The Recruitment: Rise of the Free Fleet (56 page)

“Bucking cables connected.” Eddie said directly into my ear.

Every muscle and fibre of my being wanted to continue onward, I was one bulkhead away from the gun team yet the promise I’d made to myself that I was going to protect these people came to the forefront.

“Thank you.” I said to Eddie and changed to the general bridge channel as I pulled out my data pad studying the position of the destroyer.

“Tactical, target the destroyer hiding behind the battle cruiser.”

“Helm ready port and underside manoeuvring thrusters for full power. On my mark, tell me when ready.”

“Ready Commander.”

“Tactical, are we ready?”

“Yes sir.”

“Helm, fire thrusters, quarter burn.” I felt the vibrations of the massive thrusters as the Resilient turned itself and the Battle cruiser.

“Tactical this will give you a full broadside on the destroyer.”

“Yes sir moving to gunnery deck.”

“Understood, good luck Marleen.”

I thought she’d become an engineer after her time spent as a Mechanic back on Earth. Instead she was riding Tactical while her husband Rick was my COS. She said it was because she wanted to keep a better eye on him, but I knew she just loved the damned cannons. She spent more of her time on the gunnery decks and checking the missile tubes than at her tactical station.

I changed to my protection details channel.

“Keep them entertained, thirty seconds.”

“Yes sir.” A gruff and angry sounding voice came back that sounded familiar but I couldn’t place it. I forgot it as I heard the increased chatter of rail gun rounds.

“Good luck Marleen.” Rick said the only crack in his veneer as he co-ordinate with Helm his wife’s progression to the gunnery deck gave her bare seconds.

“We’re ready commander.” Marleen said breathlessly.

“Helm full burn! Gunners, light those fuckers up!” I tossed the data pad away as I plunged my blade into the last bulkhead.

One of the three man gun team noticed my blade, opening fire on the wall. I reversed my grip on my sword so I could balance my rifle on my forearm while still pointing my sword ahead of me. I finished off my hole with the rail gun. I elbowed the bulkhead, it gave way as I dived through the hole I’d created. I fired into the mecha in front of me, my rail gun making his chest a blood

The second heavy rail gun loader brought their plasmid sword down on my rail gun, just missing my forearm which supported it as I drew my plasmid sword across their chest, catching on the thick armour. I left it in his rib cage as he died his weight and armour took the sword down with him.

The gunner was scrambling for their pistol as I roundhouse kicked them throwing them off balance and over the front of the gun. A ping went off in my implant, still connected to the bridge.

“Targeting picture acquired.” I heard as I dropped behind the rail gun, stroking the butterfly trigger. Puncturing the gunner’s torso with supersonic rounds.

“All batteries,” Marleen paused, the destroyer had nowhere to run as the full port broadside of the Resilient came to bear.

“Fire!” The ship shuddered as rail cannons fired and the lights dimmed as the laser cannons followed suit. The massive firepower sapped power from the ships fusion generators and massive stored power cells. My protection detail had caught up with me at this point as I walked back through the hole I’d created and grabbed my data pad.

I took a knee and watched as rail cannon rounds ripped into the Destroyers armour, the laser cannons focusing on the breaches as they ripped apart the internals of the destroyer. In mere seconds the destroyer was turned into an expanding fireball by the overwhelming broadside of the Resilient.

I used a general channel, able to be heard by both sides.

“All weapons are unlocked; stop trying to conserve ammunition, fire at will unless they surrender.” At the same time I sent a text message to the ships to fire every weapon they had as well as decoys that could imitate a weapon to make it harder for a missile to hit a real weapon.

My fleet of ten fired thousands of rounds into space in a second each ship a cloud of destruction spraying at everything and everywhere, rotating so that every weapon system could be brought to bear. Even point defence systems were brought to bear, being used as offensive instead of defensive weapons.

The corvettes that had been part of the syndicate fleet were pushing hard for the jump point. Their lack of maintenance and the upgrades on my corvettes showed as my own ships accelerated for all they were worth, they’d get one pass at the enemy before they were able to jump.

“Leave some of them alive. To those that survive, take this message to your masters. The free fleet patrols this area. Any act of piracy or criminal activity in our area of operations will be dealt with severely. Anyone found aiding a criminal will also face similar consequences. The Syndicate will in one way or another cease to exist, I so swear.”

“If I see any of you again committing criminal acts I will personally see you get the harshest punishment possible. Commander Salchar of the Free Fleet out.” I changed from the general channel back to my protection details.

“Moving out, we have to clear this deck.” I said taking a rail gun from the security man of the gunner’s team’s corpse checking it with practiced motions.

Krom who’d been placed on my protection detail as it’s leader, Shreesht another Avarian
 
 
had also been added Calerd a tough Sarenmenti filled the last position.
 
 

The old squad had gone back to being a squad instead of my babysitter. It meant I had protection all the time now, and a group that would get used to me and my habits. Instead of only being there when I went into battle. Which was one of the things that they were supposed to keep me out of.

Krom was able to walk much faster than me and quickly walked in front of me placing a hand on my chest.

“Get out of my way Krom.” I said looking up at him my voice cold as space, I hadn’t forgotten about the awakening or my own state by a long shot as I looked at the still two foot taller than me Avarian.

“Commander, please think, you don’t have armour and you’re more important than any of us. You need to use us as shields.”

“I will share in the same risks that you do. We need to kill these attackers or they could kill us all. My life isn’t much compared to the entire crews, which we are putting at more risk just talking.” I said pointedly pushing past him as he held onto my shoulder that even my newly enhanced strength couldn’t shrug off.

“Commander Salchar without you this ship is a small loss. The fleet wouldn’t be able to continue without you.”

“Of course it would.”

“Sir I don’t think there is anyone that could do so.” He said in a quiet voice. For the first time since the fight I really looked at the man. In his eyes I could see intelligence underneath the veneer of a brute.

I thought about it for a second, seeing a few flaws immediately in my plans if I was to die, though I wouldn’t be really caring about it all that much if I was dead. With an agitated flick of my hand I acknowledged his statement.

“That doesn’t stop the attackers in our hull.”

“No Commander it doesn’t.”

“And if I was to die then someone would step into the gap and the fleet would continue.”

“It probably would, but it wouldn’t be the same.’

“Who knows it might be better.” I muttered Krom looking at me in shock. I finally shrugged off his arm.

“We’re going to move on, not because I have a death wish but because I hate goddamn party crashers. Especially party crashers on my damned ship and to my damned party! So let’s go show these syndicate bastards what armoured Marine Commandos can do.” I finished with a growl, sharing hungry looks from my protection detail, taking off at a jog, looking at the sensor readings which showed the position of the next group of intruders.

They fell in around me, I grudgingly let them. If it gave them one less thing to worry about I was willing to be babied, they’d lost their leader and friend when Jeremiah had saved all of our lives. It was my job to push them through and get the mission completed, and then they could rest, cry and mourn. I had no time for that.

***

Enemy at the blast doors.

Henry pulled the feed from the Commando on his side of the blast door, peeking out before pulling back as ion bolts riddled his corner.

“So, who’s got some grenades?” He asked as he moved away from the corner which was being cut down by continuous rounds.

They’d set up three ion cannons in front of the blast doors that lead to the bridge and they were good. They’d had a similar setup in Engineering; it had cost Henry two squads worth of people to take the single ion cannon there. Here they had three and they could cover one another as they reloaded.

The blast door was the only way into the bridge. He’d had teams go around coming from every side only to find it was as thickly armoured as the Resilient’s own command centre which even a plasmid sword couldn’t cut through properly.

He had Avarians using their natural mono blade claws to dig through the armour but it was slow going.

“They’re linking the computer systems together for firing control!” One of the techs under Henry’s command said as he felt cold dread flow thought him. They could create a rogue AI linking that much computing power together. They needed to get through the blast door—now.

He opened up a channel to Resilient herself.

“Possible AI formation.”

“Understood, readying information packets.”

“Everyone pull back. You stay.” Henry said to a passing Avarian wearing a grenade bandoleer, they loved the damn things taking them even if it wasn’t needed, like on a ship where a grenade could do a lot more damage than it could help.

“Program them for a four three and two second delay then toss them to me in that order as fast as possible.” She nodded prepping the three grenades.

“They’re ready.”

“Alright, as fast as possible.” He took the first one as she held the remaining two. He thumbed the activator flinging it around the corner turning as another was in his palm he hit the activator again, and then the third and he turned.

Henry got a metre before the first exploded the second and third less than a second apart. He was turning checking his weapon as he was already ordering his people.

“Up and at them ladies and gents! Get in the damned bridge before they can recover!”

The Commandos that had pulled back from the blast now surged back in the room metal burning that had been Mechas and weapon systems.

Yasu and her group including the Sato sisters and Avarians dove over the white hot burning and melted metal that would’ve stuck them to the floor if they paused. Henry watched Yasu as she ran up along the wall, the captain of the ship taking a chunk of the wall out behind her with their heavy stubby slug thrower. She ran upwards onto the ceiling, disorientating the captain as she flipped off of the ceiling her blade cutting through the captain as she landed beside his body.

Avarians and the Sato sisters were fighting in the main command area of the bridge. Yasu kicked the Captains corpse away from the captain’s chair as she turned to survey the scene.

She had blood of various colours on her armour as she brought herself from her fighting stance as she surveyed the room the remaining syndicate crew dead or being secured by Commandos.

Henry walked in the room and was struck by how powerful she looked. It was something she and James shared—they had this ability to command loyalty and respect wherever they went. They were always confident, had a plan and knew what was going to happen. Well with others at least, with one another Yasu and James were clueless as Henry very well knew from the talks he and James had, had together.