The Milky Way Saga: Cities to Embers (Book 1 of 3)

SECTION TWO-Chapter 06: Trouble on the Home Front

0900 Hours, January 26th, 2160

Jackson Naval Armory, Nevada, North America, Earth, Sol System- Sector 01

I looked unto all of the men now under my control. Some white, some black, some tall, some short, most skinny, one or two chunky bastards. We'll fix that. I puffed put my chest as I gathered air in preparation for the shouting I was about to do.

"Alright! I am Isaac Free, Admiral of the MWR Navy! You are here by no longer members of society. The World as you know it has been erased from existence!" Both figuratively and for some of them, literally, "You are now Men of the Milky Way Republic Armed Naval Forces, do you understand this!?" A thousand shouts of "sir, yes sir."

"Good! Sounds like we understand one another. I hope you didn't think you were done with the hard shit when you gradated from Boot camp, Dirt, because the worst is ahead of you! Not only will you all undergo the training necessary to become the best of the best, but it is now mandatory for all Naval personnel to be trained in the DAWN Armor systems. Both Power Mark IV, and EVA Mark II. Do you understand, dirt!?" More screams of compliance. Good, I thought, everyone wants to kill these things. That'll make it that much easier. They all left the massive confrence room. Can I do this? I hadn't ever been in charge of anything more than a platoon before. I guess we'll find out.

I walked back to my room and was greeted by someone I haven't seen in over five years. "Bret?"

He looked upset about something, like he was going to cry. Which was weird, not that he was going to cry, but that someone his size was gong to cry. I'm a pretty good sized man, 6'2", 230Lbs. and Bret was still big to me. He stood over 6'8" and weighed at least 400 Lbs. Pure muscle. He always had a very handsome face. He was dark skinned, black eyes, and had a very clean bald head. I could tell he'd been fighting while I'd been out. He now had a scar that traced from one cheek bone, over the bridge of his nose, and ended at the opposite cheek bone. He also just looked tired, like he hadn't gotten sleep in years.

"Oh my God." He ran over to me and hugged me, hard. took the breath right from my lungs.

"I don't want you to be upset, but Mom died two weeks ago. Her funeral was six days ago. Dad isn't taking it well. He hasn't been eating. Windy's been missing for about eleven months and Elizabeth refuses to talk to me since Kerry and I decided to take time from each other. And then I heard you were here and I had to be sure it was true and here you are," He looked longingly into my eyes, past my eyes, and into my soul. It felt weird for some reason, "I've missed you, brother."

"I've missed you, too. I didn't know if you'd made it through any of this, and I've been busy for the last several days... Come to think of it, I haven't gotten a lot of sleep... Just working non-stop, like a machine."

"well, I'm here, and you're here. And we have each other." He started to cry then. He hugged me again and balled like a small child. Loud, and obnoxious, and dramatic. Too dramatic.

"It's alright, man. Hey, who let you in here? I thought it was under security?"

"I swiped my access card. I'm not just a petty officer any more. Promoted to Captain a few months back." I looked around the room. The quiet was unbearable.

"Listen man, It was great seeing you, but I have a lot of newbies to bleed through."

"sure man, I'll see you tonight, right? For dinner?"

"yeah man, sounds good. You stationed here?"

"No, down the road about seven miles, At Fort Denis."

Fort Denis? I'd never heard of it. Must be new. "Alright, man. I'll be there." He hugged me one more time and left. I never could get over the smell of his cheap Cologne. It was a strong, bitter smell, something like raspberries and cut grass.

I was sitting at my little metal desk when I heard it. An alarm. Then, intense shakes. An earthquake? No, bigger. God, please no. I ran out side and saw a Capitalship coming down, engulfed in flames, falling in hundreds of pieces. It finally landed just about a mile south of the armory. I jumped into my GLR-58X, Growler and speed over to the crash site. Swerving and spinning until I finally got there and there it was.

I jumped out of the jeep and ran over to the main site of impact and there they were, the flaming letters MWR GRACE AND ELEGANCE. One of ours. One of our ships had just crashed into the Nevada soil. Who did it? Then I heard the screams. I turned and looked up into the sky. One of the Incolma destroyers. We're all doomed.

"EVERYONE GET INSIDE TO A BUNKER!" I yelled as loud as I could, louder than I ever had before in my life. It sounded like it had a metallic echo to it. Odd. I ran to my Growler and jumped in, going as fast to the nearest docking bay that I could find. Fort Denis! I had read just seconds before all of this that it had a docking bay. I headed there.

I left the jeep running as I ran inside, collected as crew as fast as I could. I already knew who could do what, like Deja Vu, so it wasn't hard to find them all. I need a captain. I ran over to Bret's bunk and he was gone. I'm sorry brother, I'm going to have to leave you here. I got to the docked ship which was bigger than any ship I'd ever seen before. It was The MWR Free. All repairs and upgrades were finished two weeks early. Well I guess that I'm just so damned Lucky, ain't I?

I got aboard the ship. How strange it was to be on a ship this big. I turned around only to have my face buried into the neck of my brother, Bret. "You didn't think you were going to leave me, did you?"

"Not at all." We clapsed hands and shook.

"All hands to stations, we have an enemy ship to take down!"