From Furies Forged (Free Fleet Book 5) (18 page)

              “The Free Fleet should be able to put him through their courts,” Narvu suggested, the others agreed and that sentence was passed on again.

              “So how do these leaders become so?” Empress asked, she was much more interested in ion containment chambers than different governing systems.

              “The majority are elected; others use fear to intimidate others. There are a variety of ways,” Pidali said. She sounded like she had done her research on the matter. It only made sense being so close to Sol.

              “It seems that a number of groups didn’t participate in the attacks,” Elisati said, looking to the others to see if they refuted her statement or had information to the contrary, no one did. “What are we going to do with them? We can’t pass something on the entire planet, we’d be hurting the ones that kept their word.”

              “We allow them to continue on with their activities, though if we find out that a group we are punishing are using their activities then we apply a ban to them,” Narvu said.

              “That works, I also say that we actively try to get them to Mars. Best if we have all of the aggressors in one spot instead of having to mess around with different groups,” Elisati said.

              “Now, the aggressor nations,” Pidali said, no one was in a hurry to go first as they looked over the information they had on the aggressor nations, and it was a lot.

              “I think that it might be best if we have some time to think on the information we’ve been given, maybe a day?” Elisati asked.

              Everyone agreed, it was a momentous decision, one that would affect billions of people.

              That had been a day ago, now Empress, and the three other Union signatory members had to choose the fate of a people.

              She watched the plot of Sol. Salchar wasn’t going with the Fleet. Rick went in his stead on the Dreadnought Ashkoon. The Chaleelian fleet went as well. Half of the Chaleelian Commandos had been dropped onto Mars to assist with sorting things out there.

              Nancy was already coming back online; the Free Fleet people didn’t wait around. Hachiro’s damage was still being assessed and repairs being affected where they could be.

              It would be a day until Rick arrived in Earth’s orbit.

              Earth’s messages had become more frantic as time had gone on, now as the fleet approached every message coming from Earth seemed to ask what they were going to do and trying to make amends.

              The Free Fleet remained silent, their ships moving on without any sign of backing away. The Earth ships carrying their forces lay in front of them. If anyone was dumb enough to try and turn on the Free Fleet, then they’d hammer the unshielded ships into tombstones.

              The conference room dimmed as Narvu flickered into existence. He nodded to Empress in greeting, he looked anxious, it was understandable, this was one hell of a decision. None of it made easier by the reading of the information they’d been supplied.

              The reading seemed to raise more questions than it answered.

              Elisati and Pidali appeared in their holographic form. None of them looked like they had much sleep in the past twenty-seven hours.

              “Alright, well I guess we should be about it then,” Empress said.

                                                                      ***

              Rick looked over the message Salchar had transmitter directly to him, from the council of the Union.

             
So this is their decision.
He thought as he read through the document, it was shorter than he had expected but the words no less powerful.

              He transmitted part of the orders to the Intelligence department and let out a breath before turning to Ship Commander Drux.

              “The Commander has sent me the Union’s decision. I need to present them with a message,” Rick said.

              “Yule, prep a channel for the Chief of Staff. Sir would you like to take my seat?” He asked, standing up from his position. Drux had tried to get Rick to take his seat since he had come aboard. He felt that it was bad manners to have him in the most powerful seat on the bridge when the second-in-command of the fleet was aboard.

              “Just this once,” Rick said, a small grin passing over his lips. It faded as quickly as it arose, serious matters were afoot and it gave him little pleasure to deal with them.

              They switched places and Rick brought the information over the command screens.

              “Yule?” Rick asked.

              “Good to go when you are sir,” Yule reported.

              “Then I guess we should start,” Rick said, facing the camera at the front of the carrier’s bridge. “To the inhabitants of Earth, the Union has reached a decision on your crimes. The nations that did not contribute to the forces that attacked the Free Fleet and citizens of the Union and protected persons of the Free Fleet will be allowed to continue as they did before. Nations that did, you will pay an increased tax for the equipment you have destroyed and a blood price for the people that you killed.” His face was hard as he took a moment before continuing. “The Free Merchant fleet will reclaim their goods and any loans that they gave to various parties that betrayed their trust. Education and medical aid will remain free, by the grace of the Union. Recruiting centers will close and all trainees and personnel will be collected by ship. Anyone that tries to stop this will be prosecuted as thieves trying to hold onto Free Merchant personnel and property.” He looked to his screen, seeing the words that burned in his mind.

              “The Union and the Free Fleet hoped that Earth and the human race could move past their prejudices and come to think of others as their friends and comrades. We have been proven wrong. Through Earth’s actions you have proved that you do not wish to work with others, but rather exercise power over them. When Earth shows that they are ready to be a part of the Union through participating as friends and neighbors, working together to help the people, then hopefully an agreement can be reached. A planet is judged by their actions and their people. People of Earth, you have allowed fear and war mongers lead you, you, no one else can look to take control of your fates and your direction. Together you are powerful, take that strength and decide what you want to do. If you decide you want to join the Union and the other inhabited worlds in creating a better future then show it,” Rick implored the people of Earth with a reaching hand towards the screen as if to invite them to join the other planets. “We will not standby another attack on our people, our friends and loved ones.” The pleading and open hand disappeared behind the steel in Rick’s voice and the promise in his eyes.

              He twitched his right hand in a cutting gesture.

              Yule read the gesture right and the feed cut.

              “What now sir?” Drux asked.

              “Now we get our people back, and the intelligence department gets us the names of those that came up with this idea,” Rick looked to Drux. “And we take them back to Parnmal to face Free Fleet courts.”

              “Yes sir,” savage agreement in his voice.

Chapter Change of Scenery

              Yasu walked through Nancy, Commander Connolly followed with Commandos Tully and Moft moving ahead.

              Commandos and personnel moved to the walls, nodding to Yasu or tapping their fingers to their heads in recognition. She returned the respectful gestures as she walked, her powered armor adding to the noises of her protection detail. They were something that Krom and Shreesht had almost demanded, Salchar threw his weight behind it so Tully and Moft were at her door the next day. Tully was a Kuruvian that had found his calling with the Commandos. Moft was an awakened Avarian and seen as something like Krom’s cousin. Both were quite capable; she’d fought them a few times before she entered her current state. Word of her pregnancy had spread like wild-fire and it seemed like the entire fleet was seeing that she was cared for. She’d talked to other personnel that had been pregnant within the fleet. They all said the same thing. It could be a bit overwhelming, but at the end of the day it felt good to have all those people behind her no matter what.

              They reached another larger group, they parted for her, her own protection detail splitting as she strode right through the group.

              Salchar looked up, a look of interest and questioning on his face as he looked to Yasu.

              “Yes?” He asked as if he was walking some tight-rope wondering if he had done something wrong or forgotten something.

              She cocked an eyebrow and crossed her arms.

              He looked down to her stomach and back up. “Imaging,” he said in understanding, looking to Krom.
Why didn’t you remind me?
He seemed to say with that gaze.

              “Are you coming to see your kid or not?” She asked, pursing her lips.

              “Of course I am,” he said pulling his helmet off, there was a gleam in his eye as he pulled her close, kissing her.

              She pushed off.

              “We’re in public,” Yasu said.

              “And if others are staring they better enjoy the damned show. I am,” Salchar winked. There was still the sadness behind his eyes at all that occurred in Sol. The Funerals were planned to be done in two-day time.

              She brought him in for another kiss, they both needed to think about something else for a time.

              “Come on,” she said, pulling his arm and heading towards the medical area.

                                                                      ***

              I’d spent all of yesterday talking to Yasu after we got the imaging of the baby done. I was going to have a son; he was going to have some Avarian traits like I did but everything looked good. The kinds of emotions that run through you when you see a baby moving on a screen. It doesn’t feel real, it feels as if you’re watching this happen to someone else, but your mind works on that thought, and the facts come rolling in. It wasn’t until we were at Ms. Li’s shop drinking tea that it hit me.

              Yasu was talking about different reports and information she’d got and I’d reached my hand across the table, taking her hand in mine. She’d looked at me confused, my only reply was a smile. Her face smoothed into a smile as we looked at one another and then at the holographic walls of the tea shop. It had escaped a lot of the damage, the counter was messed up, as was a wall, but there were enough chairs and tables still left for Ms. Li to go about her business and she did.

              “So I guess we should start looking at baby names,” she said. I tightened my grip on her hand for a moment.

              “Yes I guess we should,” I said, and we’d talked about the baby, making fun of how the others would react with the kid. She’d kept my mind mostly off of the events happening around us and got me to go to bed at a reasonable time. A pregnant woman always wins.

             
That was yesterday, today, today we deal with Earth and my new super-carrier Hic Stamus.

              I walked to the front of the shuttle, looking over the shoulder of the pilots to see their massive view screen which showed the berth that held the massive carrier. Silly had not wasted any time on the super-carrier. She was the first of her kind, a purpose-built Free Fleet vessel with all of tricks that we could figure out packed inside her. She was no peacekeeping ship. She was built for war. Resilient rested in the dock beside her, her armor had been peeled back, sections donated to Hic Stamus.

              Felix and his engineers had passed on their pointers and information, throwing themselves into their work instead of reflecting on what had happened to them and their friends when they entered the system.

              Elshurvum wasn’t docked but her supplies, crew and systems were being put into place. It would be another three days before they were leaving for the destroyer yard. LaRe had been fitted into his place aboard Elshurvum and Resilient had been transferred over to Hic Stamus.

              Even with all of the engineers swarming over the ship, Eddie was clearly the master of his own ship. He’d driven his people harder than ever and they’d done him proud.

              Hic Stamus was two-weeks ahead of schedule and she was going to be the second most powerful ship after War-station.

              The damage to Nancy had been bad, but the shipyard was made from standardized units. It was a matter of pulling out the worst damaged sections, then replacing them with new sections.

              The other slips were quickly coming back online but most of the engineers weren’t looking to their ships, they were looking to the new armament program.

              After the attacks I had realized how minimal the defenses of our stations and infrastructure was. Every ship yard was gaining a number of Planetary Rail Cannons and laser cannons when they were available. Remote platforms were getting drafted up, slapped onto asteroids and floating them around the stations and positions.