From Furies Forged (Free Fleet Book 5) (33 page)

              I smoothed out her brow with my thumb.

              “Good morning to you too,” I said, my kiddo had woken up and was going for a round of football in Yasu’s stomach.

              I was rewarded with another kick and a groan from Yasu, one that made me look to her in alarm.

              “What’s wrong?” I asked as she took some deep breaths, pushing them out forcefully.

              “That was rather painful,” she said moving to get a comfortable position. I looked over her, seeing if there was anything I could do, that sudden pain had alarmed me.

              A few minutes later she cried out again and looked to me.

              “Oh shit, Krom!” I yelled, jumping off of the bed and helping her to her feet.

              Pregnancies ranged from five months to nine months now, which meant Yasu was in the prime range and it looked like the kiddo had decided to make an appearance.

              Instead of long and protracted birthing cycles it happened in quick succession. Which added to my haste as I picked her up, Krom opening the door, his weapon ready.

              “Med bay!” I barked, Yasu’s arms grabbing around my neck as she tensed again.

             
Thank god I’m a dude,
I kept that little thought to myself as Krom moved out of the way and I ran through the doorway.

              “Move it!” Krom yelled, the volume making my ears ring as I picked up my pace. It was near morning so Shreesht, Tully and Moft were there as well. They formed a protective square around us as I charged for the elevator. I had the map to the med-bay memorized at this point. People pressed against the walls as powered armor, a screaming Yasu and I raced through.

              We got to the elevator, overriding it as it sunk a number of floors.

              Krom’s voice bellowed again and we were off running.

              Fatigue didn’t touch me. I was having a kid!

              Krom and Tully moved out of the way as we entered the med-bay, the doctor working looking up.

              “Baby!” I said, her eyes going wide as she realized who was saying it, and who was grunting in pain, in their arms.

              “This way! Cho, I’m going to need Finnegan and Drweshe now!” The doctor said, guiding us into a room with a table and variety of machines. Battle wounds could be fixed with a medical chair, giving birth, we left that to sentient creatures instead of machines.

              I laid Yasu on the table which softened and contoured to her body, her hand grabbed mine. I didn’t have time to say anything as her grip made me wince and look at the wall in pain.

              “Working on your grip strength much?” I asked, thinking I might need some hell-fire to put my hand back together.

              My data pad buzzed and my face changed, going from light and playful to stone.

              “Answer it!” Yasu barked, another contraction taking her.

              “Her water’s broken! Get that battle suit off of her!” The Doctor said, a group of helpers that had flooded the room splitting between the various machines, hooking Yasu up, and pulling her clothes off.

              I pulled the data pad out, my face twinging with every grunt and grip she crushed my hand with.

              I looked over the information, the Kalu had been accelerating harder than we first estimated. Someone must have kept the information from me so that I could get more sleep.

              I had four hours until they emerged into the Nexus.

              “Shreesht, Moft, go grab our powered armor, and grab the crate,” I said, pulling out information on my data pad. I wanted to be part of the moment my wife and child was having, but so many lives depended on me, not only theirs but that of the rest of the Union.

              Yes, I was James Cook, married to Yasu Ono, but I was also Salchar, I had made a promise years ago and I wouldn’t be able to look my kid in the eye if I didn’t keep it. The Free Fleet was made to defend those that couldn’t help themselves, we stood to protect those that might end up like us. I had taken up the mantle of Commander, unsure of my ability to command. That anxiety was gone, and that mantle was part of me now.

              I opened a channel to Rick.

              “I need you to run the hot seat for me right now,” I said, Yasu yelling out in Japanese.

              “What’s going on?” Rick asked, his voice alarmed.

              “I’m having a damn kid! In three hours bring the Fleet up to readiness, have you contacted Whorst, Cheerleader and Boot?”

              “Yes.”

              “Good, should have assumed,” I said, taking the pause to ground myself.

              “Okay, as we talked about, keep the Jump fighters ready to go, but hold off if they come in their formation,” I said.

              “Then we pull back the ships and start operation wringer,” Rick said. “I’ve got it, see to your wife and kid. I’ll keep things running up here,” Rick said, he might be my second in command, but he was also one of my closest friends, he would rip into me if I needed it. He also had my complete and utter trust.

              “Thank you,” I said, cutting the channel.

              “What’s the status of my Commandos?” Yasu said another contraction coming on.

              I whipped through reports and found the readiness for her ship.

              “Connolly is reporting that they are at one-hundred percent, and getting in their powered armor right now,” I said.

              “Good,” she said, someone stabbed her arm with a needle and her grip relaxed. Yasu was now wearing a sheet and doctors were playing peekaboo with my kid.

              “He’s got good timing,” I said.

              “How do you know it’s a boy,” Yasu asked, the drugs making her dopey, relaxing her body for what it needed to do.

              “I checked the ultrasound,” I grinned.

              “Cheater,” she said, another contraction taking her, though her squeeze didn’t destroy my hand this time.

              Shreesht and Moft showed up, pulling two sets of powered armor and what looked like an armored box.

             
Well it is an armored box.
I thought, I’d had Eddie make it, it was the universe’s strongest crèche. It would protect my child no matter what happened.

              Yasu’s grunts and squeeze made me look away from the powered armor and box which were stuffed in a corner.

              People rushed around the room, Rick sent me periodic reports and Yasu dealt with our kid’s impatience.

              So it went on for what felt like a lifetime.

              Then the room went quiet as the doctors told everyone to stop making a fuss as the baby was starting to come out.

              Drugs had helped Yasu’s dilation and relaxation. The Syndicate had given us a bone when they’d messed with our reproductive cycle. Since kids hadn’t been inside for long they were smaller, meaning less dilation and less pushing.

              “Okay we’ve got the head, the shoulders are, good,” The doctor pausing as Yasu screamed, pushing as hard as she could.

             
Thank god I try to not face her in battle.
I thought,
weird thoughts come to you when your kids saying hi, and the goddamned fucking Kalu feel like it’s a good damn time to show up on your doorstep! I am so good with this poker face.

              Yasu grabbed my hand harder than ever before and I swore something snapped.

              “It’s a healthy boy!” A Kuruvian said, pulling
him
out, crying like, well a baby.

              Yasu laid back on the bed, tired to almighty hell, the cushions caught her.

              “If you’d like sir?” Someone asked, holding out a knife.

              “Krom,” I said, cradling my kid in my left arm, looking down at him, and my mind was blank. I’d known this moment was coming, but damn if it bowls you over like being tackled by someone in powered armor.

              My sword’s hilt touched my hand. I flicked it, cutting through the umbilical cord and holding it out for Krom to take.

              The Avarians were crowding around, I glanced to them, hailed as murderers in some systems and known in killers in all. They still looked at my boy with the same indescribable emotions rushing through me.

              I grinned to them and looked back to my kid who was settling down as my smile grew, I laughed, tears rolling down my eyes as I walked over to Yasu. Someone gave her a towel and I handed her our son like he was the most precious thing in the universe, which he was.

              The room had grown quiet, doctors and their people doing their thing. Our bodyguards looked in at our kid with quite possibly tears in their eyes.

              I looked at him, squirming in his mum’s arms.

             
Well you are one feisty bugger,
I thought, rubbing his cheek with my finger. It was rougher than humans, it seemed a bit of the Avarian awakening had gotten to him.

              My data pad beeped, and started increasing in frequency and time.

              “Commander, the Kalu have arrived,” Krom said.

              Yasu looked to me, a host of emotions running there, and understanding.

              “Commander Ono you’re going to need a few hours of…”

              “Get me a shot of wakeup and hellfire, run your tests but I’m going back to my ship.” That fire which made me damned proud to be called her husband, back in her eyes.

              “He’s going to be staying with his dad,” Yasu said, looking to me a smile crossing her face, the pure joy of moments ago now marred with the hardness of duty.

              “Commander,” the Doctor started.

              “Shreesht!” I barked, holding out my hand. Yasu gave me our boy, exhaling.

              “Can’t be as bad as giving birth,” she said moving the pillows out of the way by throwing them on the floor.

              I felt the syringe in my hand. I didn’t give a warning, slamming it into her leg. It injected itself and she started yelling. I pulled our boy to my chest, hoping to save him from his mother’s screams. She went rigid as the hellfire took full effect.

              I tossed the first needle and held out my hand again, again Shreesht put a needle in my hand. I waited for Yasu’s body to relax and her breathing come down.

              “You good babe?” I asked, honestly scared for her.

              “Feels like I’ve been awake for weeks,” she responded, grunting as the second needle went into her shoulder.

              Her look was not a happy one.

              “Love you,” I said, smiling and leaning down, kissing her.

              We parted, her laughter filling the room.

              “I love you too, Dad,” she said.

              “Thank you Okaasan,” I said, unable to stop the laughter that jumped from my body.

              Our kid not getting the attention he wanted started bawling again. We looked at him, resting in the crook of my arm between our two bodies.

              “James,” Krom said, he rarely used my first name.

              “I know,” I said.

              “Say see you inna bit to your Okaasan,” I said handing the boy over. Yasu took him, rocking him gently, touching him, as if memorizing his features down to the wrinkle.

              I nearly choked up at that moment, wanting nothing more than to get them both away from the violence. Yasu was a strong woman and she would beat my ass if I tried to push her to the rear when her people were fighting.

              As for my kid, well there weren’t many people I’d trust with my kid that weren’t part of the fleet and fighting right alongside us.

              “I need to get dressed,” Yasu said, getting up off the bed/table, the whole movement hard for her, not because of everything she’d gone through, but because she knew she had to say bye to our son.

              She handed him to me, Moft tossed her a clean battle suit, and she pulled it on and sealed it. We walked to the powered armor, never taking our eyes off of him.

              “Look after him, and yourself,” she said, looking to him, her body pressed against my shoulder to look at our son.

              “You too,” I said, looking to her, using my free hand to tilt her head and kiss her.

              She smiled somberly and turned towards her powered armor. I opened the crèche and put my son in. No matter what direction it was in, if it fell or was tossed, he would be kept against the bed of the crèche, the environment inside completely regulated and armored against anything outside.

              Tully was helping Yasu with her powered armor as I got into mine. Shreesht made sure I was secure, Krom stood over my son, watching for any threats.

              “Good to go.” Shreesht said, Yasu was already moving back to the crèche as my armor plates slid and locked into place. I opened my visor.

              “Keep him safe,” Yasu said, a wealth of emotion passing over her face. I could see that she felt like she was abandoning him.

              “We’ll be here when you get back,” I said, walking over and touching her shoulder, our powered armor touching.

              She nodded, unable to say anything. Then she walked away, unable to look back as Tully and Moft filed after her. I looked down to our son and closed the crèche, looking in through the side and top armored windows which armor would snap shut around if there was a depressurization.

              My boy looked about as comfortable as possible.

             
He’s so tiny!
I thought a smile coming to my face as I started out of the med-bay, my visor clamping shut as we marched.

              “Rick, status,” I said, my voice hard and missing the emotions of earlier. If my boy was to have a future, then his father was going to have to fight.

              People cleared out of the way. I kept glancing down at the crèche, thinking that I was throwing my boy around, every time he was moving around in some unexplained way, learning all about the universe he had been brought into.

              “The Kalu have arrived in the same fleet formation that they used to cross Kic’chss and Jasah, all ships are ready and awaiting your instructions,” Rick said as I used my HUD to look over a map of the system.

              We stepped on an elevator, Krom hitting the override as we whirred off to the command deck.

              A corner of my mind wondered if a military person had fought a battle with their new-born, literally hours old, sitting in the back of his bridge.

              I stepped on the thought as I checked the positioning of the Kalu.

              “Looks like the simulations were correct,” I said.

              “Yes it does,” Rick said, not without some satisfaction.

              The elevator stopped and I was off, walking towards the bridge.

              I checked over the reports that Rick had been sending me. The reinforced doors to the bridge were both open as I marched on the bridge.

              Everyone looked to me, we had spent so much time together, so many battles, and systems. We had done things we hadn’t thought possible and others claimed weren’t.

              They were my friends, my fellow Free Fleet companions.

              I held up the crèche and opened my visor, showing the biggest, stupidest smile on my face.

              “It’s a boy!” I yelled, the bridge erupting in cheers, laughter and whoops. I moved to my command chair. Rick peered into the crèche, his face lighting up, no matter the situation that lay beyond our main view screens.

              “Looks like you did well James,” Rick said, looking to me with a massive smile.

              “Now let’s see if we can’t do two things really well today,” I said, moving past the raised dais where my command seat lay and to the seats behind them.

              “I’ll make sure he’s secured,” Krom said, from my side.

              “Thanks,” I said, it was hard as hell to hand him that crèche. Krom took it from me, gentle as could be and secured it to the wall. Him and Shreesht taking a seat to either side, both putting a protective hand over their battle master, no,
friend’s
child’s crèche.

              I exhaled in a rush and went to my command chair, it was about time to kick Orshpa’s teeth in.

              “Let’s go and greet our guest,” I said, people moving to their stations as the entire fleet accelerated towards the Kalu.

              “Charging wormhole generators,” Milra said.

              I opened up a personal channel to Cheerleader, Boot and Whorst.

              “Heard that the boy’s finally here,” Cheerleader said.

              “Yes he is, and he’s probably looking forward to seeing his aunt right after we hammer Orshpa for showing up in our part of space,” I said, trying to pull her and the rest of them on track.

              “How are we looking for the bombardment?” I asked.

              “Everything looks good on this side, War-station’s been charging a couple of hours before they left Jasah,” Whorst reported.

              “Good, then we should give him one hell of a time,” I said, my hungry eyes finding my quarry on the main screen.

                                                                      ***

              It had been a few hours since she’d got off of her shuttle from Hic Stamus.

              The medics had given her a check over. Other than feeling like she’d been awake for weeks, she was in good health.

              She’d joined up with her Commandos, all of them asking how the boy was. Word had passed through the fleet like wildfire, the rest of the Universe probably already knew.

              The wormhole generators had charged and now the projectors rose from their armored positions.

              “Engaging wormhole!” Milra’s voice echoed over every ship in the Free Fleet, both in-system and the three supporting fleets that were two light years away.

              Five wormholes appeared in the Nexus, all of them surrounding the Kalu formation as they moved towards the Free Fleet.

              “Show them what happens when they fuck with the Free Fleet,” Salchar’s voice rung through the transmission.

              “Release holding cables!”

              “Braking!” Asteroids peeled around the ships, thrown through their wormholes. They came out like a flood all around the Kalu formation. The Kalu tried to move out of the way, but the wormholes were so close that some Kalu ships couldn’t get far enough away.

             
That’s what happens when you’ve got AI’s on your side that can plot a wormhole within inches.

              Asteroids spun out of the wormholes, cables split and thousands of asteroids spread through the Kalu formation, covering their path.

              The Kalu couldn’t do anything but blunder through. Explosions marked the death of Star-warriors and Destroyers as they struck the asteroids.

              There were a lot of Kalu, many of them still making it through all the chaos, only to run right into Salchar’s second surprise.

              He had been planting mines across that patch of space since the fleet had gotten to the system. People had wondered what the heck he was up to, they shrugged it off and let him do as he wanted, he was Salchar after all. What they didn’t know was that the Kalu were a very basic race with basic math. If their equations for wormholes worked once, they saw no reason to change it. Orshpa’s fleet was following the same equations on both Eltar, Kic’chss and Jasah.

              Salchar and the AI’s had figured out where those formulas would pump the Kalu out this time and they laid a trap.

              The dark of space was torn apart, like some fight between gods. Dark and light clashed, missiles set off their drives and powered for the fleet as mines single shot lasers plowed through armor and Kalu.

              This was no battle, this was a slaughter, a show of power and destruction. Alerts went out as jump-fighters were deployed from every carrier they rested in.

              The Kalu formation was in tatters, there was no semblance of order as they slogged through the unending chaos. The asteroids and minefield claimed over a hundred and eighty-three thousand, nearly two-thirds of the Kalu formation. Yet a hundred and thirty-three kept plowing forward.

              Even after all of that the Kalu still had enough numbers to make the Free Fleet experience a very bad day.

              Jump-fighters from all three Free Fleet’s appeared around their targets and piled fire into them. The battle went on for forty minutes, yet it felt like eternity and it felt like seconds. The destruction that had rolled through the Kalu fleet was incomprehensible.

              “Prepare for wormhole transition, take us to Parnmal,” Salchar’s voice came over the feed from Hic Stamus. His voice putting steel in Yasu’s spine, battle would come soon enough for her and her Commandos.

              The Jump fighters fought doggedly for twenty minutes before the last one exited through a wormhole.

              Silence seemed to descend over the Free Fleet as the numbers were totaled up. Barely a hundred thousand Kalu ships were still operational.

              Salchar’s continuous attacks, peppering them with asteroids, hammering them with missiles and lasers and letting six hundred jumpers free in the Kalu’s confused and scattered rear had been fast and brutal.

              It almost didn’t seem real.

              The Fleet waited till all fighters were aboard and jumped.

              Nexus lay behind them as they headed for Parnmal, chasing the other half of Falhu’s fleet they’d let past. Whorst would follow them, Boot and Cheerleader would be heading towards Ershue, passing Bregend and heading on to Oolta to hunt down Falhu.

              Hopefully they’d grind the Kalu invasion forces in space. They would have to fight on the ground, but down their things became a lot more even, and a lot worse for the Free Fleet.

              Yasu remembered Heija only too well.

              The fleet was now accelerating towards Parnmal.

              “Alright, get everyone out of their armor and on some rest. They’re going to need it before we get to Parnmal,” Yasu said to Connolly who was waiting by her side.

              “Yes Commander. If you don’t mind me saying, I think you could use some rest too,” he said.

              “Yeah, giving birth is tiring stuff, don’t try it,” Yasu said.

              “I’ll try not to,” Connolly smiled at the joke.

              “Talking about birth, I’m going to see my newborn son. I’ll be on the Hic Stamus if you need anything.”

              “Yes Commander, I think we can look after ourselves for a bit at least,” Connolly replied.

              She gave him a smile and headed towards the shuttles, inquiring if any were available to Hic Stamus, one was already prepped and ready to go.

             
I guess the fact everyone knows you just gave birth has some fringe benefits.