From Furies Forged (Free Fleet Book 5) (27 page)

              “The
joys
of command,” Bok Soo said, rubbing his face, feeling a lot older than his twenty-two years.

              They shared a look of two people that had been made to do something that people twice their age would have balked at.

             
We would have too in a past life, now we wouldn’t think of dropping this responsibility onto anyone else. It’s hard, it tears at your very soul, but it needs to be done.

              “So what do you think of Elisati’s plan?” Bok Soo said as his thoughts settled into the back of his mind.

              “I think my old mentor has a few screws loose, and if she succeeds then it’s going to help us out. The Kalu haven’t made planet fall anywhere except Inkal. None of the civilian populations or our units based on the ground have come into contact with the Kalu yet. The longer we keep them from doing that, and hammer the every-living shit out of their ships is a good thing for us,” Foshunti said.

              “Well look at the mouth on you, who knows, I might get you to say fuck yet,” Bok Soo said, his lips twitching at his own joke, unable to form into a grin with the gravity of what they were discussing.

              “My momma always said that I fell in with the bad crowd,” Foshunti said.

              “Eomoeni’s always seem to know what we’re going to do,” Bok Soo said, just a bit of sadness creeping into his voice as he thought about what might happen to his mother if he didn’t succeed. He played with the controls of the holographic table, bringing up a system map.

              “So Orshpa is moving through Kic’chss up to Jasah, hopefully Boot, Cheerleader and Whorst can hit them there. Then they’re on their way to Nexus, us.”

              “One-hundred-and-seventy-three ships of mean,” Foshunti clarified.

              “Of course, but we’ll be fighting Orshpa’s fleet and half of Falhu’s fleet. The other half of Falhu’s fleet is going to be off towards Kafam, splitting again for Doikaa and Quarst,” Bok Soo pointed to the different systems as he talked about them. Bok Soo looked at the systems Kafam hadn’t signed onto the Free Fleet. They thought that they could somehow defend themselves against the Kalu without Free Fleet help. Bok Soo didn’t understand it, but Salchar had made sure that they were given weapons and armor at a significant discount. A few trainers might have been posted at the recruitment center there as well.

              Bok Soo wished that the Free Fleet could be in every system defending all of the creatures that lived in them. They had to fight smart, thinning out their forces into packets that could be wholly defeated would lead to the Free Fleet dying, if it died then the newly created Union would die right along with it.

              “Well at least Falhu’s forces will be here in a couple of days, Orshpa has a lot of dead systems to get through before arriving in the Nexus, he’ll be a week at least,” Foshunti said.

              “Another week of Salchar preparing, I don’t think anyone’s going to like that,” Bok Soo said, memories, ones from when he had been a gamer instead of a commander, even before he had been a recruit, surfaced.

              Salchar could read his enemy with damned scary precision.

             
It might be why he put a minefield where he did.
Bok Soo thought. A lot of people were thinking that Salchar was loopy when he had designated an area nearly a light second big as a dumping ground for all the mines that he could lay his hands on.

              “That is true. With all the things that Edmund and Eddie are up to, it makes me wonder if that pacifist Kuruvian stereotype is just a mask,” Foshunti looked to Bok Soo with emphasis.

              “You might have something there my friend. I thought us Commandos were a destructive bunch, but we’re just playing with elastic bands compared to you space borne bastards,” Bok Soo said, shaking his heads as he thought of the plans that Salchar had outlined and given to Eddie and Edmund. They took all the data they could lay their hands on.

             
And by fuck they made something that would make any sane creature turtle in their pants!

                                                                      ***

              “Are you sure that we should have the fourth set of charges? I think that they might compromise the stability of the holding systems for the second stage of the system,” Edmund said to his brother as they looked over the conference table located in the Engineering command station. The carrier was so big that it needed an auxiliary center that directed the engineers to its tasks.

              War-station had four of them.

              “Look at the information from the first experiment to the more recent ones. With a big target we don’t need to have much breakdown. Here we’re going to have a lot of targets, all moving and being pains in our collective asses. Think of a fire, you going to squirt the extinguisher on a single point, one at a time, or throw a whole bucket over the entire area?” Eddie asked, using one of his large arms to move the brim of his cowboy hat up even with his manipulators crossed over his chest.

              “Over the entire area of course,” Edmund said, his gestures understanding.

              “Before there was a single area or it was packed, now we just want to get as much as possible as fast as possible,” Eddie said, his arms and manipulators unfolding, he was tired, hell they were both tired.

              “The last of our wormhole kits will be here in five days,” Edmund said, sinking into his chair, his manipulators searching for a wake-up patch while his arms massaged the sides of his carapace.

              “They were easier to put together than I thought. I wish we had them here in time for Falhu’s forces,” Eddie mumbled.

              “The one thing we haven’t learnt how to conquer is breaking time, at least going backwards in it,” Edmund said, putting on the wake-up patch, he knew he’d feel the after-effects ten times worse, but he had been up since Salchar had come to them with a plan. They’d worked with the engineering heads, gunnery, Felix’s people, Silly, Shrift and the commanders of Nancy, Nelly, Ned and Parnmal’s yards.

              They’d come up with a weapon system that made Edmund’s manipulators grasp in fear.

             
I wonder if this is how Albert Einstein felt when he had made the atomic bomb. I wonder if I will feel the same way he did once we use it.

              “As you say, it is all but out of our manipulators now,” Eddie said, taking a seat himself, a rare show of indulgence.

              “Did you see the report about Inkal’s yards and mines?” Edmund asked.

              “I’ve been head deep in positioning data and automated stabilization data for the last four days,” Eddie’s manipulators telling of what would be a dry voice in a human.

              “The Kalu didn’t even touch them. They scanned them, didn’t see life and kept going. Commander Fassil is back on the station working on his ships and systems. The mines are in full operation as well. Salchar is having the first Henry classed Destroyers sent to the system to act as a protection detail and finish up any last minute work,” Edmund said.

              “How many carriers?” Eddie said, perking up.

              “Fourteen, each only have a single cannon instead of two and a limited number of fighters. Though they filled her to the brim with armor, shields and defenses. She’s got the missile throw power of an Imperial Dreadnought,” Edmund said.

              “Five main reactors, twelve secondaries’ and eighteen backups, I wish we were able to manufacture the capacitors for them in-time,” Eddie said, his manipulators showing his inner anger.

              “Nothing we could do brother, they were needed and needed as fast as damned possible. With the control system it means that a Destroyer worth of crew can man a carrier that has the firepower of a Dreadnought. That’s pretty damned good if you ask me, so stop moping over there. I will kick you right in the damned carapace!” Eddie’s eye stalks flicked to his brother but his manipulators couldn’t hide his inner frustration. “I
will
go get Salchar,” Edmund threatened.

              “Spoil sport,” Eddie said, his manipulators showing he was joking before becoming thoughtful. “When those carriers are armed, they’re going to be one hell of a force,” he said.

              “The damned delivery system we’re building is going to be one hell of a force!” Edmund countered.

              “We shall see which is the crazier plan, Elisati’s or Salchar’s,” Eddie said.

              “I reserve my judgement. I think neither is going to be anything compared to what’s supposed to happen when Orshpa brings his fleet through here,” Edmund said.

              Eddie made a gesture of agreement, the conversation falling away as they looked at the awkwardly shaped devices that rotated on the holographic interface of the table.

                                                                      ***

              Silly and Felix watched with their engineers as their first series of Star-Destroyers converted to Henry-Destroyers created wormholes and started their journey to Inkal

              “Alright, shows over. I want reports on everyone’s progress by the end of the day. Salhunda we need to get every carrier out there with two laser cannons. We’ve only got four left in storage and the super-freighter is going to be in demand
very soon
. How long is it going to get that factory of yours up and running?” Silly asked.

              “Three days Commander,” Salhunda said.

              “Let me know if you need anything. Felix, we need to shave more time off of getting these ships ready. They’re force multipliers and we need them,” Silly said.

              “LaRe and I have a meeting in a few hours to go over it all,” Felix said. When it came to design and making decisions about how the ships were going to be built, Silly deferred to Felix. For everything else Silly was in the driver’s seat. He knew how to get results out of people, and light a fire under their ass. Some people said that he too knew how to throw a boot as well as his uncle Eddie.

              Min Hae kept out of there way as much as possible. He made sure that the Kalu who were there as extra hands did as they were told through Ashota.

              Though Min Hae and Ashota were now off in Kalu space with a fleet of Independents that were going to make sure the Kalu couldn’t reinforce themselves.

              Twelve thousand Star-warriors and destroyers roamed the Kalu systems looking for any ships and resources that might be shipped to the front, cutting Orshpa off from them, and if possible funneling it back to the Independents and the destroyer yard.

              “Good, then let’s get some more Henry’s out there to bite Orshpa and his clans in the ass,” Silly said, looking around his people. He knew how to get them motivated and on track in short order.

                                                                      ***

              Min Hae and Ashota watched as the newly armed Independent’s Star-Destroyers released their fighters into formations instead of a singular swarm.

              The smaller Kalu squadron was flushing their swarms as the Independents rained missiles down on their old fashioned cousins.

              The traditionalists hit back, missiles and lasers flaring against shields.

              Fighters came in, dropping missiles into the traditionalists’ swarms and ships before pulling away and reorganizing for another run.

              Explosions and fire rippled through the traditionalists’ squadron while a few Independents shields failed.

              They moved away from the enemy instead of continuing the charge as the traditionalists would have.

              Sheer fire power and time was the end of the squadron. A number of traditional fighters survived, trying to create swarms only to be picked apart by their quicker Independent cousins that looked for open formations, instead of one that used other fighters as shields.

              The Kalu Independents moved through the remains of the squadron, lasers that had been mounted to their sides instead of just their bow, lashing out and turning anything that looked like a threat to drifting wreckage.

              The feed stopped.

              “So how long until they clear up to the line?” Min Hae asked.

              “About two weeks,” Ashota said.

              “It does look like Orshpa left a decent sized force that is gathering as many supplies as possible before joining him though,” Gogs chimed in, the Ershue was lounging over a chair, playing on his data pad and cycling through information.

              “You found it finally?” Min Hae asked.

              There had been rumors from the spies among the Kalu traditionalists, but without the jump fighters and the sensor buoys that would have been picked up by the massive Kalu fleets, they were back to checking system by system. Unless one of the Kalu agents, the independents, or Min Hae’s agents spotted something.

              It sounded like a lot of eyes and ears, but the Kalu numbered in the trillions and were spaced over more systems than in the new Union. It was a pretty big task.

              “I don’t know where they’ll be, but an agent reports that they’ll be using Wugarn to cross the line, then taking Avapor to Quarst,” Gogs said, throwing the report onto the table.

              Min Hae read the first couple of lines.

              “Send the information to Rick. Ashota, I think it’s time we see if the Independents could keep these bastards from helping out Orshpa,” Min Hae looked to Ashota.

              “Yes commander,” Ashota said, tilting his head and leaving the room to go and communicate with the Independents leadership.

              “What do you think the Independents will do?” Gogs asked.

              “I don’t know, but at least we’ll know where they stand after this,” Min Hae said, turning and leaning against the table to look at Gogs.

              “What’s the play if they don’t take them out?”

              “Well we’re supposed to have fourteen Henry classed Destroyers in Inkal shortly. We have stealth sensor buoys in Heija. We can get one in Ulri, when they show up, we move our carriers. If we get two weeks, then we should have another five. I’m going to request some of the patrolling forces be released to help out. It won’t be anything like the fleets that are fighting it out right now. Though it should be enough to handle a few thousand supply ships,” Min Hae sighed. “God I want more information, did the agent mention anything about the size of the resupply fleet?”

              “Nope, all they know is that some Kalu warrior was bragging about how they would be getting to Quarst no matter what. That he would be flying with thousands of other warriors,” Gogs said, clearly not happy with the lack of information either. They had both been doing this too long to like the lack of information. Not having enough information had back-fired in their faces a few times.

             
Having enough information made sure that we didn’t sell the Vahsnu on Kafam ship borne weaponry.
The little bastards had been thinking about pulling a Syndicate or threatening to bombard Worshun or the stations in Quarst to get the Free Fleet to defend them. Giving them Commandos gear meant that they had to get aboard a place to be a threat.

              It also meant that they were going to inflict casualties on the Kalu.

              It was cold math, the Vahsnu wasn’t a large race and they had thought that their play to threaten habitats in Quarst would pay off since they hadn’t built substantial defenses. The Kalu had numbers and without a good defense there was no way to hold them off until reinforcements came.

              It’s the kind of cold math that Min Hae had to do with every ally and enemy that the Free Fleet possessed. He was one of the biggest reason that there hadn’t been a hiccup in the distributing of arms, or the flow of materials. If someone tried to get more than agreed or start to affect the Free Fleet’s preparations, they would find an intelligence commanders boot on their neck soon enough.

              “How long until Falhu’s splinter fleet meets Salchar at the Nexus?”

              “Just under a day. I would not want to be someone in that fleet,” Gogs said, not quite sympathy in his voice but definitely a grim understanding of the seven kinds of Heija that Salchar was going to bring down on the Kalu’s heads. “Cheerleader and Boots forces will be engaging Orshpa later that day or the next. A day later and Falhu should be in Quarst, if he doesn’t have his fleet swarm Kafam. Two days later, Salchar, Cheerleader, Boot and Whorst will be in the Nexus and Orshpa’s fleet should be showing up,” Gogs summarized.

              “Six days, not even a week and the Free Fleet will be engaged in the biggest battles they have fought to date,” Min Hae said in a voice that couldn’t understand the numbers at play, couldn’t understand the odds yet he knew the logic. He couldn’t wrap his head around it, but he understood it.

             
Such is the human mind. One is a tragedy, a million is a statistic.
A sour taste went through his mouth and made him grimace. Every life counted, it was why he read the reports of those lost. It took a part of his soul each time. Yet he was scared if there was ever a time that he brushed that off.

              “Okay, let’s go over the Kalu agents reports again to see if we can tease out any other crumbs of information,” Min Hae said, if he could save one life with his information then it was well worth the sleepless nights and wake-up after-affects.

              “Okay Min Hae,” Gogs said, understanding his friend’s mood all too well.

Chapter Power those reactors, charge those rail cannons and ready the fighters

              “Call battle stations, have the jump fighters do their thing first, I want the transmission system checked again and ready to go,” I said. My words weren’t met with panic but the confirmations of my commanders, my eyes turning to the holographic projector on the side of my chair that showed a blown up image of the Kalu fleet. Even the blown up image was sketchy with that many Kalu pouring out of their wormholes.

              It was half of Falhu’s Fleet that had survived Cheerleaders engagement. Falhu had split off with the half headed towards Kafam.

              We’d seen the Kalu as they had reached the jump limit. The pilots were already in their fighters or close to them.

              Five seconds after I passed the order to launch, the first jump fighters were being shot out of the various carriers.

              We had all of the jump fighters from Cheerleader, Boot, Whorst and our own fleet. Thirty-two wings of jump fighters were in the process of being off-loaded. Three-hundred-and-twenty jump fighters.

              The first wormholes appeared and jump fighters started transiting in behind the Kalu.

              Thankfully some of them had sensor based missiles so we could actually see what the hell was going on with the Kalu as their nuclear infused mayhem followed their exit from their wormholes in terrible ripples.

              Missile pods ripple fired one way then the other until they were dry, internal racks cycled, firing their payload as soon as it was in position.

              The last jump fighter had transitioned into real-space behind the Kalu when the first jump fighter was already entering a wormhole back to the fleet to get rearmed.

              They didn’t jump back into the same position but rather jumped about around the Kalu formation which was turning like a drunk in a fight. As soon as wormholes appeared they started to turn on the incoming fighters. A few wings jumped in, other wings used the information and the alerts from the AI’s watching the data to jump in at a new location.

              The Kalu would turn again to bring them under fire, charging in all directions to chase after the Jump fighters.

              They were getting hammered but there were hundreds of thousands against hundreds. They got through the withering fire and caught more than a few Jump fighters with their missiles and lasers.

              Control seemed to be placed over the fleet again as they accelerated hard for the Free Fleet.

              The tell-tale explosions of their bomb-pumped drive pushed them away from the jump point they had transitioned from, towards the fleet.

              “The first of the jump-fighter mines are in range,” Rick said.

              The fighters had been loaded up with more than missiles, they’d been accelerating hard through their event horizons releasing the mines attached to their hulls, the missiles had acted as a brutal cover for them as the fighters decelerated and jumped back out. Each had only five mines, about three reached their targets and there had been two runs, nearly six-hundred mines were now coming in on the emergence points of the Kalu.

              “Well we shouldn’t keep them waiting, or let them see them,” I said.

              “Marleen?” Rick asked.

              “AI’s are uploading coordinates, one moment,” she said, bent over her station in concentration.

              “Coordinates set,” Resilient said.

              Mines exploded, lasers lancing out towards the Kalu who were already pushing their way through the waves of missiles and their multiple warheads.

              Even through all of that we were destroying thousands of ships, there were four-hundred-thousand against us. With those kinds of numbers, they could wade through our massive fire and still have the majority of their ships intact. We were taking out one in four ships and that number was only going down as more jump fighters were struck from space.