Free Fleet #03 No Rest for the Wicked (10 page)

Now, time to get some information out of Gogs,
Min Hae thought as he returned to the section that housed his information department. It had taken time to get some one-on-one with Gogs. He'd been herded in with the other prisoners so Min Hae arranged Gogs to have an accident, for which he was being attended to in med-bay. It was nothing dangerous and Gogs had already been fixed up, as if he was brand new. He waited with his massive goggles looking around the room. Min Hae could tell the little creature wanted to rip apart the room to find its secrets.

“He's been quiet, not very pleased about getting roughed up, but he understands,”

“Does he also know we have a time constraint? And that it might slip that he's working for us?” Min Hae asked in a mild tone, as he studied the paper that listed what Gogs had done since being held in the intelligence department's cell.

“Yes, sir.”

Min Hae nodded and handed back the papers. The expressionless mask—which he'd adopted from Salchar when shit really hit the fan, and was now his iconic look—settled on him as he relaxed and walked into the room.

“Gogs, I need to know everything you know,”

“You must be the Merchertevak,” Gogs said. Min Hae brushed away the nickname as he took the offered seat in the room, crossing his legs and looking completely at ease.

“Yes, that is what some call me,” Min Hae said as Gogs studied him.

“Don't look like a bird.” Gogs stared at Min Hae as if he could figure out his composition with his eyes alone.

“I don't have all day, Gogs. What do you know?”

“Foshunti is coming,” Gogs said.

Shit,
Min Hae thought, nodding as he remembered the files he'd read on the sadistic sounvabitch. Gogs was searching for a reaction, but looked displeased with Min Hae's nod.

“Anything else?”

“I know you're from Earth. Though Lady Fairgate probably hasn't connected the dots right now. Also her right hand Captain is out skirting the Kalu line.” Min Hae's eyes tightened and Gogs looked excited at Min Hae's break in his mask.

“Why?” Min Hae asked. Gogs looked distinctly uncomfortable and he wrung his hands in thought before looking up.
He wants a deal.

“I want assurances,” Gogs said as Min Hae nodded.
Bingo
.

“Naturally, but why should I give you any such thing?”

“I was press ganged into the crew. You know my history from the ship’s records. All I did was live in that room. If I left my pain implant was activated. I want to join the Free Fleet.”

Min Hae was slightly surprised at this last request. It would put Gogs directly under his supervision.

“My..,” Gogs hesitated, his nervousness heightened as he looked to Min Hae and then the clearly one-way glass behind him. Min Hae looked back at Gogs, the information he'd already told him stored away in his brain as he wondered what else he could get from the small man. Gogs studied Min Hae,
really
studied him, as if weighing if he should tell him or not.

“My planet is also one of the middling planets, but we can't meet demand. We're going to get wiped out soon if we don't have help. I want the Free Fleet's help.” Gogs looked directly into Min Hae's eyes. Min Hae had learnt a lot about body language, how different creatures relayed the truth. With his knowledge of Gog's species he was fairly sure Gogs was telling the truth. He knew that Gog's home planet was inside the middling line, making his story all the more feasible.

“I will bring it up with Commander Salchar. The Free Fleet's intention is to free all planets from Syndicate oppression. I have no doubt the Commander will be happy to assist,”

Gogs nodded as he kept looking into Min Hae's eyes.

“The Kalu weren't completely destroyed. That's why Lady Fairgate's moving everything to Sol. It's the furthest system from Kalu territory,”

Min Hae felt ice run through his veins and Gogs sat back at the change in his expression.

“Do you have proof?”

“Why do you think all of those resources were sent to Sol system? Why is her most trusted adviser and his fleet off in Kalu territory instead of protecting her from her side? She's also been beefing up systems weapons close to the Kalu sector. It's rather easy to piece together with all the information,”

“She could be consolidating her power,”

“She's had it for a hundred and fifty years. It's consolidated now,” Gogs said and Min Hae had to agree. But the Kalu being alive certainly changed things.

“I will accept you to work for the Free Fleet, but it will be under my command,”

“You've got it,” Gogs said, actually looking excited at the proposition.

“Now I need to know everything you know about the ships and resources around this sector. The information logs from the Syndicate fleet are terrible.”

Gogs grinned.

“Just get me to my station. I have something you'll really enjoy,” Gogs said. Min Hae thought on it before paging the intelligence agent that had met him outside.

“Commander?” The man asked as he opened the door.

“Get a detail of Commandos and take Mr. Gogs here to his old quarters. He has some data I very much want.”

“Commander,” the man nodded stiffly as he talked into the lapel of his grey and blue Intelligence Department battle suit.

Min Hae stood.

“Very well, Mr. Gogs. Welcome to the free fleet.” He held out his hand as Gogs admired it.

“You take it and shake it,” Min Hae said. Gogs lifted his hand up to Min Hae's, who grabbed it and squeezed hard.

“Do not even think of betraying me,”

Gogs nodded dumbly as he looked to the floor. Min Hae released his hand as he walked out, activating his own comms unit.

“Salchar, we have an issue,”

Chapter - Moving out

I looked around Resilient's bridge feeling at home. She still wasn't at one hundred percent but her missile, rail, and PDS magazines were fully loaded and the crew was ready to be moved towards the mysterious planet where the communications were coming from. Bregend was on his way back with the ships he'd picked from Cheerleader's fleet. She was going to be incharge of scouting the surrounding systems, before linking up with my fleet.

Everyone was transferred, including Shrift who still had a month and a half to make up his mind and was working on getting more of Resilients weapon systems online. Edwards was being walked around the ship. I just hoped the walk would last a long time. Rick had talked about how the man had become more vocal and spoke daily about how his people would be charged for treason, or some other threat. No one paid him any attention and most people just wanted to get rid of him. But until I got back to Earth I was stuck with the bastard.

Monk appeared on one of my armrest's screens.

“Good luck, James,” He said as I smiled.

“Thank you, Monk,” I said, bowing my head as he returned the gesture.

“When we're together we'll have to have some drinks again,” he said.

“Sounds like you’re buying,” I said as he smiled serenely. I winked and cut the channel as I moved in my chair, only finding edges.

“Do these things ever get more comfortable?” I complained quietly, moving my perch. It always seemed like my legs went to sleep in the damn chair

“Nope,” Rick said, looking at his station. Clearly it wasn't quiet enough.

“Gotta use a cushion sir. Engineering hasn't even come close to the chairs up here,” Walf shrugged.

“Don't blame them with the silent killers you keep releasing into the wild,” Milra said, Walf's gassier moments had made more than one person cringe.

“Well there's a human saying, something like it's better to keep it out than in,” Walf grinned.

“There's something about letting it out, then forcing it out like a damn rail cannon gunner,” Rick said, I couldn't help but laugh.

“At least it isn't like the bed shaking warbles you let out at night,” Marleen joked.

“That was told to you in confidence,”

“Nothing was said, you just did it! Shook the whole bloody bed,” Marleen replied, the two couldn’t help but slip on goofy smiles.

“Woke you up didn't it,” Marleen looked as if she was stuck between being annoyed and laughing.

“Alright calm down you lot, or else we're going to find every last open wire in this place and go up like a damn Cruiser,” I said.

People got back to their work, the atmosphere light as I turned to my reports. The first one a summary from Min Hae on the information he'd found on the Kalu from our Syndicate prisoners. The information Gogs had given us had shaken me. The Kalu were a race that lived for war. Other than their physical make up. In many ways they were similar to the Avarians. But while the Avarians had actually brokered a peace, while having only small skirmishes and organized battles with one another. The Kalu had no thoughts about peace. They lived to fight and had done so for as long as the Union had looked back into the history of their race. The only reason they had made it into space was because a Kaluian commander realized that the clans with the higher elevation always won. So he created a class of makers and turned them towards getting him and the clan into space.

Other clans learned of this and this brought on a space race. Then once in space their territorial nature took over and they began claiming everything in sight. Fighting one another for every damned inch of territory, whether they needed it or not. Then they had crossed paths with the Union, and naturally went to war. Yet the Kalu had fought the Union and then secondarily one another. They would take a planet then set upon one another to get the rights to the planet. Every planet across the space they already owned was continually fought over. They were at war with each other as much as they were at war with the Union.

The Kalu that had survived through their ability to breed like crazy. Kalu young only took a few years to mature, becoming full fledge warriors and joining their clan against the Union. The Kalu fought in space as they fought on the ground. They worked in packs to decimate the enemy using numbers and stealth to cross great distances before they pounced from a parent drifting and used their fusion bomb acceleration systems coupled with their regular engines. Once they closed with the enemy they battered them until they could gain entry, allowing their Vahsnu warrior troops to ravage the ships in their black exosuits.

I looked to my people, the mismatch of races all working together to get the Free Fleet to be a force that could change this messed up universe. The Kalu might come, but it might just be the machinations of Lady Fairgate. They hadn't been heard of in centuries. For now I had to concentrate on getting my people organized and ready to deal with the threat of the Syndicate. I needed more people to fill my ranks and more allies to help build my hulls. Hopefully this mystery planet could help me.

While the ships were under crewed we found ways around a lot of problems, including Parnmal. However, the refineries, Nancy and all the infrastructure that fed the Free Fleet needed hundreds of thousands of people as well. The Free Fleet was mining and refining more materials than ever before. Factories were quickly turning resources into necessary equipment. And the Free Fleet wasn't the only entity having a boom either. It had passed onto Earth, Chaleel and AIH. All of the planets had adopted factories, while Earth had just changed theirs over.

We created incentives for companies that were building items which would speed up the Free Fleet's own production. Parnmal was training over three hundred thousand people from AIH, Earth and Chaleel. Half a million people from the planets under the Free Fleet's protection were in the system, being tested on their planet or being shipped on the massive training freighters, which, instead of taking the slow routes, were powering to Parnmal. By the time all of those people were trained, the Free Fleet might actually be somewhat close to being at full strength. Though by then the new designed Battle-Carrier's should be done and the Super-carrier slip should be setup, all requiring thousands more.

Two watches is better than one,
I reminded myself as I looked at my crew, amazed at how the Free Fleet had become the massive war machine it was. It was as terrifying as it was exciting, just thinking of all I could do with the upcoming resources. I looked to my screen, my grin fading.
All of the damned reports too.
I thought, sighing before looking up. It was about time Resilient got moving. Which I hoped wasn't just a way of saying that I was trying to stave off having to do my paperwork.

“Ben?” I asked.

“We're plotted for jump limit and ready to go,” he said from his navigation table.

I nodded, “Milra, I think it's about time we stretched our legs, if you please,”

“With pleasure Commander,” she began feeding power to Resilients’ engines. We glided through the asteroid field which surrounded Parnmal, shuttles moving around us at a furious pace, dodging between the massive warships as we headed out.

The refineries that had been built out of asteroids were now online pumping materials right into Parnmal’s holding areas. They never stopped, even after filling all of the ships and Parnmal's bunkers, the three two kilometer long asteroids getting hollowed out at a surprising rate. The prisoners had made incredible progress. Free fleet drones cut the material out as the prisoners grabbed the slag, sorted it out into useful and not, then sent it to the refiners. Soon enough that material would be coming back to lay down hulls. Felix was building the modules that would go in the asteroid once the prisoners were done.

I turned to my reports, finding them still waiting for me. I read the first one. Earth was just under a week from being connected to the FTL communications, linking them, AIH and Chaleel together.

“This is the life,” Rick said, smiling. He was fully reclined in his chair. It was quite a change in atmosphere from from when Resilient had jumped into Kelus’ fleet. We all knew our jobs now.

I sent a bunch of reports to Rick. His terminal pinged, and he made a fuss of getting his seat back to normal as he looked through the reports. He looked to me, his eyes thinned with a mildly sour look on his face. I just grinned, turning to Resilient. A report had caught my eye.

“So LaRe is thinking about joining us?” I asked the AI’s holographic form.

“Yes, well he's rather interested in us all. I also think that he wants friends and to have peers. If he stays I doubt that he will remain a battle cruiser for long,”

“Because he's lonely he'll join us?”

“AI's get lonely too. We take on all the knowledge of the systems we are born into. There are very few races that are in space that like being completely isolated,” she said.

“Makes sense. So how are things?” It had been a while since I'd had a one on one with the AI.

“Much better than when you found me. I'm about to exceed my previous housing facilities. My hull might be patches now but it would take a full overhaul to replace all the panels back to new. The weapons are coming online nicely, but the best part is my primary and supplementary systems. Nearly all of them have been fixed. I still need the new reactors and to have my first two replaced or heavily serviced,” she said, repeating the same things Eddie sent to me daily. I think he just copied the report, re-sending it to me when he had a second.

“So we'll be able to route systems a lot better without having to make routes around damaged areas in the middle of battle,” I said as her eyes smiled.

“Indeed. I daresay I picked the right person to lead this fleet.”

“I hope you did,” I growled as her holo-image glowed, her version of laughter.

“Have you found any memory blanks, or things hidden away in your memories?” I asked, the AIH thing had snuck up on us. Forewarned was forearmed, but when we didn't know what we were missing it made one a bit nervous.

She took on a serious look.

“I don't think so, but then again I didn't know that I had the coded channel that the Avarians were asking help from. I don't know what Planner has hidden within in me,” She paused, her brow creasing. “It makes me rather anxious. If he was able to hide something like that in my memories, then I don't know what else he hid. He might have even fabricated a few things,” she said.

“We'll get through this together, and if we find Planner, then we'll ask it,”

“Thank you. Your words are comforting. I will leave you to your commanderly duties. I'm helping with some remodelling as well as a few holographic training simulations. It's quite taxing,”

“Very well,” I said. Her eyes smiled at me and I felt something like pride in her gaze as she disappeared.

I looked to my fleet, which moved on the main plot. We were arrayed in a pyramid formation, Cheerleader in the right section. Bok Soo was in the upper and Resilient led the way.

Heston and Xing were in the right and lower quadrant respectively. There were twenty one ships in the formation. Twelve were Corvettes, mostly the ones that had been liberated from the Syndicate and rushed through Nancy before being sent back to Parnmal. There were four destroyers, Heston and Xing's carriers, Cheerleader's Battle Cruiser and Turek's. The Sarenmenti had proved himself in Cheerleader's reports. The spark I had seen in him when I had been under his command on Chaleel was still going. He was quiet and kept everything running on his ship in fine form. Many of the Captains were great people, doing their job as needed. A few stuck out, but that was because of the crazy situations they had gotten themselves in, and then out of.

Turek was a good tactician and had followed orders to the letter. Cheerleader had gone so far as to make him her second in Command. It showed not only that she was willing to look past his history, but that the Sarenmenti were welcome in the Free Fleet. We had however left behind a swarm of ships at Parnmal. We would've taken them with us, but they were in terrible condition. Being used by the Syndicate, battle damage and entry/exit issues with wormholes had left the ships in the state that made them unsafe and almost unusable.

I looked at Parnmal and the ships in a holding pattern around it. We had lost too many people there, for the second time. Now we would go out and poke the Syndicate. We had played the defensive game and held on, but no more. They had come for our homes, now we would wrestle the middling Union planets from them, take their resources and pound them into nothing. I changed my armrest view to the image captured by Bregend’s cameras.

Looks pretty grey and modernized.
I thought as I looked at what seemed to be massive cities which dominated the planet's surface, rising from the grey of the land and the blue of the icy water. Min Hae had been able to use light and colour detecting equipment to pick up that the water was largely ice, the land similarly freezing. The cities however were a fountain of heat. I was pretty excited to find out if we might be able to convince one of the Syndicate's middling planets to join our cause. There had been hundreds of planets and races that had been a part of the union. Yet there were now only thirty seven recorded surviving planets. Some races had become extinct, while others had just fled. This planet was not only a potential powerhouse of production, trade and people. It could also show us what we could expect from the other middling Union planets.