The Recruitment: Rise of the Free Fleet (9 page)

“Yeah but you have to name a meal not a dessert!” Rob exasperated.

For liking ice cream she does cut a fine figure.
 
I thought as I looked around the squad pod. The women looked like playboy models, their bodies lithe and strong with the men looked like body builders.

I wondered if the rest of the squad realized how good everyone looked, or if they were feeling the effects of having their bodies rush through puberty, with no hormonal cool down into adulthood.

I didn’t like where the stream of my thoughts were going. An eight year old easily gave into their desires, if they were more adult than most eight year olds they had the bodies of adults, which would be very hard to fight off, especially with the training I was going to give them.

“Representative from each team here.” A person ran over to me, I was happy to see they were all the ones I had elected to take leadership roles—though I’d tell them that later.

My team moved to the side so that the leaders could be closer, but that they could still easily hear.

“A new rule, no one is to make unwanted sexual moves on another, or they will be dealt with by us. That said, sex is not allowed, we don’t need a girl getting pregnant.” Horrified and uneasy eyes looked back at me as Rick raised his hand.

“Yes?”

“They’re kids, why do you think they’d do anything like that?”

“They’re just becoming teenagers. Do you remember how horny you were when you hit puberty?” All of them went red, only Choi and Rick met my eyes, sex and sexuality was a highly talked about subject in their previous trades.

“They haven’t set up any way to stop people having sex. With everyone at peak health, with all the hormones that come with being at that state. It’s best we look to stop such a situation arising.”

The leaders nodded and went back to their groups. Wiry and his bigger sidekick looking over at my briefly as I related the rules to my team, all of them looking mildly disgusted.

“It’s just in case.” I said, shrugging.

“You’re Salchar.” Charles said, as if that was the end of it.

“So what will we be doing for training?” Rob said, moving past it.

“Defense and using a person’s force against them.” All of them leaned forward in interest.

“How?”

“Well we’ll get Yasu to help us.”

“Alright everyone, into formation, one to the right five to the left.” Everyone lined up in a block in front of me except for Wiry and Yasu.

“You’re in need of training, thankfully we have one of the best trained fighters in the world.” I heard Yasu snort as I felt a grin spread across my face.

“Yasu Ono.” I gestured to her with an open palm as she looked at me in confusion.

“Everyone please turn and bow to Yasu, asking her to teach you to defend yourself.”

I did so, asking her as the others followed. I stood upright first, seeing the look of anger on her face.

She bowed to us.

“I will accept you all as students.” Her fighting style held onto the belief that no one should be without protection, if a person asked to learn then they had to be taught, unless they were to use their talents to cowardly murder someone, instead of a fair fight.

Plus now she can’t attack any of us except Wiry who didn’t ask her for training.

“Now it is time to turn you into something useful.” I saw the glimmer of a smile in her eyes as she began to truly train us. I had thought the physical training before had been bad, this was body shattering. Every exercise was made to inflict pain, in such a way as it was negligible in a fight, it was surprising how much the pain implants had numbed us to pain, our muscles quivered with exertion as they remembered the movements Yasu had ingrained in us with simple words. We ate, we slept and we repeated. I had the movements down and could see how they combined into the complex movements that Yasu performed at her own level.

I didn’t know how long we’d been awake and training when Taleel walked into the room. Everyone scrambled to get into formation. Wiry showing he didn’t care for the arrangement I had made, by purposefully taking another’s position.

“That’s my spot.” Yang pleaded.

“That’s my spot.” Wiry mock-whined as Yang rushed to another spot.

“Fuck head.” Yang muttered. We had moved past trying to get the kids to not swear.
 
 
 
They had grown up enough to have the right. Taleel stopped in front of us as we were all in position.

“We’ll continue fighting, you win you get treatment and food for the day, you don’t well you know what happens.” Taleel’s four jaws pulling back in a look of sadistic pleasure. “If you win, you’ll have the entire day to do as you wish.”

“Go.” He said as the door opened again and again I walked through it without pause like the others already shaking themselves into their own teams. We would worry about training later, we needed to focus on winning today.

We walked in this time facing a new team, this one sporting vicious cuts and bruises unlike my own team.

I walked to the center, “Clean fight, no low blows, gouging, biting or scratching? My rules.” I said putting my hand out.

One walked forward with a cocky swagger gripping my hand.

“No fucking way.” He smirked as he pulled me forward his left fist cocked. I dropped my weight yanking him to me as I dropped on my back he lost his balance falling towards me, I had my legs between me and him. His weight fell on them as I pushed, using his own momentum to throw him up and over me. He wind milled for less than a second as his head cracked off of the floor blood instantly welling up from the wound.

I picked myself up giving the man a glance. I wiped my hands turning to the other squad.

“Anyone else want to fight dirty?” My voice cold.

“We’ll fight fair.” Another large man said coming forward shaking my hand before stepping back a few steps as I did the same.

Looks like most teams are just going for the biggest guys to be their leaders.
 
I thought to myself the younger ones of the group shaking visibly.

“Alright, let’s get ‘em!” This time I rolled back as they advanced on us and my squad on them. I quickly found Yasu I breathed a sigh of relief as she and Wiry were as far from me as possible.

After a few seconds Charles found me and we joined the fight beside Rick. He was a ground technique guy. A lot of his holds were like those I’d seen in MMA tournaments. He would
 
 
 
wait till an opponent hit the floor and wrap them up, either making them tap, knock them out, or were left with painful injuries. Then push them aside and wait for another to fall.

I was a brawler. I punched, kicked and charged at every opportunity, my body taking a pounding as I got in close and laid a series of rapid blows on my opponents. My techniques used my opponent’s momentum allowing me to land vicious hits, or throw them-like I had their first leader.

My go to move in MAT was a punch that would knock off the enemies’ visor and then kill them in the gas of the habitat or allow me to hit them in the face. In reality it had gotten me a few knockouts.

I caught a fist to the face, I spun backwards out of reach spitting blood from my cut lip as I saw my attacker, the second big guy that had accepted my terms who was grinning.

I grinned back, a laugh coming from me as we came back together. I got my arms up as he pummeled me with shots. I came down low, striking upwards underneath his guard and catching him in the ribs. He pulled back, more surprised than hurt. A new attacker swung a wild round house at my head. I ducked under twisting my body, hammering him on the chin as he dropped to the ground.

I turned to look at my first attacker, seeing him and Charles exchanging blows. The boy glancing to make sure I was okay.

I advanced to help him as a voice came through the walls.

“Times up, move to separate walls.” I gave the man a two finger salute he repeated the gesture.

We retreated to our side dragging those that couldn’t get there themselves.

“We’ll fight according to Salchar’s rules.” The new leader of the opposing squad said, nodding to me as I nodded back.

“You aren’t going to win against us we’re too strong together!” I said in a singsong voice, riling them up, but hopefully they’d do just as my group had. I needed people to be able to work together after this if I had any chance of pulling one over on the defense force.

“Return to your pods.” We did so, not having to wait long before Taleel showed up.

Taleel came in, a grin on his hellish face.

“Good stuff squad, you’ll have another fight today. Same as always the med facilities as you need them.” After so many fights we’d grown into a routine which Taleel had accepted, he must have been making a killing betting on us. Which made our losses that much worse as he usually lost a lot of credits, taking every last one of them out on us.

Our food cart floated in as I went to the med room the arms awaiting me as I braced myself.

It seemed that the defense force didn’t believe in such things as anesthesia meaning you were awake for whatever work the arms did on you unless you gracefully passed out. Then it would wake you up afterwards.

The restraints came together around me and the chair leveled out as the arms began moving. Thankfully the med machine was quick as I was finished in a few minutes my body back to normal as I walked out rubbing my gums. I’d only had hell fire added to my system. The drug worked as a combat healer, though as its namesake it hurt like all hell with any wounds. Making my gums painful and itchy as my teeth went back into place with their connective tissue being reconnected.

Rob motioned me over, handing me my food and chopsticks. The usual goop replaced by purple looking noodle and blue pieces of something chewy and the added smell of vinegar to the previous play dough. Though even with the different looks and smells it still tasted like the metallic sour stuff we’d had since we’d been recruits. I didn’t know why it was noodles instead of the lumpy soup, but those with experience with chopsticks helped those who didn’t know which was the right end with some downright hilarious results. I still don’t know how Rick managed to send his chopsticks flying and end up wearing his meal. The man might be smart, but he is somewhat clumsy.

I wolfed down some of it, nodding to myself before turning to everyone.

“Leaders on me.” The representatives quickly gathered around with their own meals.

“Wish I could use these damned things.” Rick said as he held them in a fist and scooped the food into his mouth.

“After living in Korea for so long I was bound to pick it up.” I said before diving in again.

“Much prefer a knife and fork.” Marleen, one of the women I’d consented to being leader said. She had a hardness to her that I knew would give her team and the squad a rock to stand on, and would keep people in line, once she knew what the line was.

“What did you do before Marleen?”

“I was a Mechanic.” From her physique I didn’t doubt it, I did wonder if she had a jack in her shop or if she just preferred to lift the car as she worked on it by herself.

“Ah.”

I looked to the other leaders of the groups. Rick was mostly the brains behind it, and it had worked miracles. In the first ten or so fights after the new organization we did okay, but once people started relying on it we had gotten progressively better. We must have had one or two fights between every sleep period which made up our rough estimate of days we had been training since fighting which I guessed to be seventy.