Coming Home (Free Fleet Book 2) (7 page)

That part done, the battle between my ships and the Syndicate became wholly one sided. They fired on us as we diverted everything to shielding, hoping that we would be able to survive the onslaught of missiles and cannon fire.

The incoming missiles were knocked out of existence by the hundreds, the station's missile capacity was terrifying. They launched hundreds. Thankfully, theirs and the Syndicates volleys were staggered, meaning that they came in erratic waves, the Eclipse freighters worth their weight in gold as their new PDS systems let loose.

The Resilient took a beating. I was happy I made all of the bridge crew wear chair harnesses as we bucked and awed. Even at a few thousand kilometers, five hundred kiloton nukes were immensely powerful.

I watched as a destroyer disappeared when a missile got within four hundred meters.

“Rick?” I said as there was a lull in the missiles.

“The Delliante's engines are out but she’s holding with formation using reactive thrusters. Her weapon systems are still online. Destroyer Carthridge is gone. Corvettes Slip Stream and Blue Bird are dead in space, damaged. Resilient has taken a beating, and we’ve lost one engine. Destroyer Halbert is reporting port side gunnery is gone; they’re flipping to present their starboard.” I had no time to realize how Rick acted like a rock under fire, as before Rick was finished I was punching the button for Eddie's personal comm suite.

“Eddie, I need that engine up!”

“Yes, sir, we’re working on it!”

“Label the unknown ships as fighters, access file Eclipse One.” Someone did so and the map became populated with the wings of fighters, identifying the wing commanders.

“Secondary launch of missiles, two hundred and thirty incoming.”
Times the twenty warheads they're carrying,
I thought as I issued orders, my inner nervousness as it computed the numbers hidden behind my mask.

“Alright, brace.”

I couldn’t do anything as missiles bared down on my ships; this was the weak point of my plan. My ships would take a pounding, but hopefully my AMC would be able to get into the ships and station and disable them. PD flashed across the fleet as we took out all but seven which broke into a hundred and forty warheads. Close range PDS spat out small rounds and shotgun like batteries, attempting to catch most of the now dub missiles.  Twenty seven survived. One of the missiles faulted, blowing up and taking five with it. Four were out of range to do much more than buffet my ships. Five hit the AMC transports, taking a chunk out of the front sections. I silently hoped that the crews of the transports had followed my advice and stayed in the rear of the ship. It seemed so as the engines corrected course, following behind us. I blinked as reports flooded in, I’d been focused on one part of the battle on my view screen, and they’d already gone through the reports of what I knew.

“Captain Xing says Eclipse Two is losing atom. They’re sealing and diverting, but they’ve lost a quarter of their PDS.”

That's going to hurt us,
I thought as the Syndicate ships and my fleet came closer.

"We've got the targets from CAMC and the locations of the AMC on the ships."

"Lock in targets with gunner crews. I want them opened like cans for our people to get in," I said as we came into laser cannon range.

“Hold on, plasma and mass drivers,” I said and Marleen nodded.

“Alright, you gun bunnies, listen up! Laser cannons only, I want those ships open like a damned four year old went at them! Don't just slice them, give me gashes and openings!”

It seemed to have the desired effect as the gunners began firing only lasers and the pirates fired everything they could a few minutes later.

***

"This has
got
to be one of the most idiotic, crazy damned ideas I've ever heard of or been a part of," Henry said, shaking his head into his helmet as Yasu nodded.

“Don't think his missions will ever be exactly sane,” Yasu said. He gave a gruff laugh. Yasu saw the ships were in weapons range. She was about to key the open channel as Henry's voice barked through it.

"EVERYONE BRACE!"

A few moments later the ships began pounding one another, more than a few Mechas had gone flying because of the massive forces exerted by the weapons on either side. It was over in a few minutes, but it seemed like an eternity .

"You know the drill, ladies!" The commander of the AMC growled.

Yasu rushed over the side, flipping herself down into the hole created by the Free Fleets weapons. Her boots clamped down as Commandos ran ahead of her, placing door breachers and popping the hatch as another group put in an airlock so the next hatch wouldn't seal. The entry team filed through then the next team and then it was her turn.

She wished she was at the front, but rank and her protection detail wouldn't allow it. She was surprised at first at the lack of accusatory glances, but it seemed they understood. She was Commander Salchars wife. It must be a pain dealing with him sometimes and getting him to listen. Though some didn't agree with her methods, they understood, most of them where married and one or both of them would probably complain about the other being a stubborn woman or man once and a while.

Though none of them agreed with Takahashi's part in it. He was a battalion commander, or was going to be. It wasn't his place to get involved with the commanders personal matters; he wasn't part of the Mecha Tail family. Even if he was on Yasu's side he had called for blood, not explanation.

She shook her head as she continued clearing it of thoughts; she had a ship to clear.

"I want this floor and that above it and below it sealed, get cutting." Plasmid blades where out already and they cut through the ceiling and floor. Yasu jumped up through a precut hole as she checked on Henry’s status in the station. The commander of the ship she was on kept talking, pushing more teams into the ship as they where encountering resistance already. Thankfully, they were Kuruvians and Sarenmenti not in Mechas and went down with a flurry of stun rounds.

"You know the drill, get me some damned blue prints and move to key locations, now get moving Commandos!" He barked as Yasu saw Henry had landed on the Station and had more shuttles arriving by the minute.

***

Henry was saying the same thing as the Commander on Yasu's ship to the four thousand troops under his command in the station that orbited Earth.

"Get those fucking weapons offline, and I need a blueprint now! Commander Erkshaw! Take your platoon to the south factory ship. It should have blueprints if nothing else."

"Yes CAMC!"

"Bok Soo, report."

"Heavy fighting to get to the training facility, we're blasting the info dumps into every Mecha and it seems that the humans that have just begun training are surrendering. Those that have been here longer are just berserk."
We could've been them,
Henry mentally noted as he flicked through information on his HUD.

"Knock out who you can; we don't have time to deal with it. I need you to push for the weapons."

"Understood," Bok Soo said grimly.

One of Henry's aides came up to him.

"Sir, the fleet is holding over Earth. The syndicate ships are still moving out of the system."

"Shit, get me into contact with Santos or get some kind of report from each ship. I need to know if they need reinforcements before they're out of range." The aide didn't say anything as they went to work. Henry had been working with them endlessly in his time on Chaleel, and it had paid off. He and his command team were a well oiled machine as Salchar's was.

"Commander Salchar is asking if we want the second wave brought up while holding the third in reserve."

"Tell him to give me two thirds and have the rest ready to launch for the Syndicate ships. I'll only send them once we've taking out their weapons."

****

Bok Soo looked at his arm pad as he yelled to the Commandos around him on the Close Area Frequency, or CAF. "Drive for the command centre, change to live rounds. Everyone from here on is trying to kill us, and I would prefer to take  lot of them with me if I'm going to Valhalla this evening!" His Commandos roared with him as they changed ammunition.

Bok Soo stood up to look over the cover he was hiding behind, getting a round in his shoulder for his trouble.

"Fucking piece of shit!" he yelled as it deadlined his arm, not thinking about how close his shoulder was to his head. Instead, his Mecha-trained and battle hardened reflexes took over as he swung his rifle over the barricade he was using as cover. His sights linked into his HUD as he let a burst go into his attacker who hadn't ducked back behind cover.

“Fucker,” He ground out. Now he had no mercy for those he killed as Salchar had not only sent the truth to everyone in the Syndicate fleet, but had also blocked the kill switch signal. Everyone who wasn't in their quarters was an enemy.

"Uploading blueprints now. South factory ship secured," Commander Erkshaw said over the command channel.

"Good man," Bok Soo said as he checked the map of his section. "Alright, boys, lets get some pay back. Amarr!"

"Yes, BC," he said, coming over with a grace that went against how the Avar made the decking shake like a Mecha entombed human would.

"Get me a route through here." Bok Soo threw the path to Amarr which he'd outlined on the blueprints, from where he was through as many rooms as possible, circumventing the deadly corridors that made effective choke points for the Syndicate forces which were now being reinforced by crew serviced weapons.

Amarr nodded as he got it, leading his mostly Avar squad easily through the walls with their mono blade swords, Bok Soo and his Commandos following them.

"Sir, you should hold back and get tended to," one of Bok Soo's commanders said as he saw Bok Soo's limp arm.

"There isn't anywhere to fall back and there ain't no way I'm letting you boys have all of the fun." This elicited grins and smirks as he kept moving.

"Now, lets get to this damned control center."

"Everyone get into cover; there are reports of internal weapon systems coming online," Henry said over the general channel.

"You heard the CAMC! Everyone, hurry it up!" He watched as his people packed into rooms, mono blades opening walls as Commandos cleared the corridors. But there were too many of them as rail guns deployed.

"Grenades!" Bok Soo yelled as he watched the rail guns activate and rounds cut through his people. Some got their grenades off, blowing the weapon systems and hallway to hell, but dozens of his people lay dead in the corridor already.

"Ming! Get your docs on those people! Rosa, grab this room and emplace security around it. This will be our medical point. Clear out the room if you aren't needed!" Bok Soo yelled, and his people moved to obey as Amarr cut through another wall.

Bok Soo planned three more routes, assigning commanders to continue on the fight going on throughout the floors above him and below him as well as to his left. James had given him a mission, and he was damned if he wasn't going to follow through with it.

Chapter What the Hell Are the Crazy Aliens Up to Now?

"Mr. President, it's confirmed that the two fleets are attacking one another. The Planetary Defense Force Fleet is turning but much more slowly than the attacking fleet, which is stationary over Earth. It seems that the orbital weapons have also been knocked offline as they've stopped firing on the new fleet," an analyst said from the armored bunker that the president was in, watching the ongoing battle above their heads.

"Who are they? Have we had any communications with them?" he said, leaning forward in his chair.

"They haven't contacted us the way the Defence Force has," a communications officer said.

"Someone see if they can get contact with them and get me a line to the chiefs. We need to know what our response is going to be," he said as he sat back with hooded eyes.
One day we'll be the ones dictating terms from orbit
, he thought darkly as pictures on the main screen appeared and the chiefs of staff appeared.

Five minutes later everyone that mattered was online.

"What do you propose we do about this situation?" he said, his gaze focusing on the marine chief of the joint chiefs, who couldn't see the president was looking at him, but was furiously going through multiple plans that had been created after the arrival of the PDF and their stealing of the worlds youth.

The chairman, a Marine, was put into power within the last year as the Marines were an amphibious fighting force. They where being trained to be able to operate in space, due to their ability to adapt to different environments. It wasn't any of the chiefs that responded but the director of the newly minted Intelligence Agency.

"I believe we should attack during the confusion. These new forces are showing a disciplined front which scares me. If we attack them then even if we fail, we'll gain standing with the Defence Force," the former director of the CIA said in the same voice he probably ordered coffee or someone's assassination with.
Quite the useful man
, the president reflected as he patted himself on the back for combining the CIA,  FBI, NSA, and all civilian intelligence departments into one uniform military organization. The military had gained back all of its power it had before and more. It controlled everything that happened in the United States.

"What if they're here to help rather than hurt us?” One of the 'covert' analysts said, they were damned annoying but useful, their job was to second guess everything. They had been a new thing introduced by the President that had been elected into power as the last one had been 'too soft'.

"We won't win without being decisive, we have an opportunity here.” The president surveyed the room, his eyes hard. More than one person looked away, it was hard to look into the eyes of the most powerful man on Earth. “We will attack,” he said, looking to the IA director who inclined his head as he did something off screen.

"Yes, Mr. President," the analyst said.

The president made a mental note to have the covert analysts replaced with people more… amenable with his thoughts, thinking of better ways to carry out his plans, instead of bringing them into constant question. He didn't want people to get in the way of making America the great country it had been before issues such as nuclear oversight committees and previous presidents helping other countries in aid had cropped up. Instead of making America stronger and armed with the weapons it needed to asserT it’s dominance. He would make America strong again, and he would do it with space superiority. "I suppose you want to begin this attack with the new Marines squads?"

“Yes, Mr. President, I feel that would be best.” The covert analyst said.

“General Stevens.” The president looked to the marine chairman with graying hair, where his regulation buzz cut allowed enough of it to be seen.