"I want to face the people aboard this ship. So we go to the bridge and have the Captain arrange an introduction in the training hall, it is the largest open area on the ship. I need to have them with me as a whole." Perry said.
As Perry topped the landing, he stopped. Perry waited till the Captain noticed him and said, "Welcome to the bridge, Commander. This is now your ship, you're welcome here anytime. You need no one's permission to enter here again."
The whole bridge crew agreed by clapping their hands, I was introduce to each one, starting with the First Officer Lanac Grerut, a young man of some years, he had been aboard for three hundred years. Chief Engineer Poe Lancher, Science and Medical Officer C'lie Utt, and Communication's Officer Alica Platt, all of them seem to know their positions well. For now he would have to trust them, as he would soon learn he would trust them with his life.
Perry asks the Captain, "Can we organize an introduction to the full crew and others aboard the ship in the training room. Is that area large enough to hold everyone aboard a one time, or will I have to make two speeches?"
"No, I think the training area will hold everyone in rank and file. That way we can account for each person. I will have them in uniform and at attention in two hours." He said, "Alica, make the announcement that there will be a mandatory assembly in two hours at thirteen hundred hours in full dress uniform and rank and file formation."
"Yes Sir" Alica said and turned to her mic and made the ship wide announcement.
"The bridge crew will listen over the comm." Perry said, "They need to be here, you Captain, I would like you at my side."
"Yes Sir" he said.
"Captain, I will need new quarters large enough to handle me and several women. I don't want your quarters, they belong to you. If you have a place in mind that needs to have work done to it to bring it up to par, then I can wait till it is ready, in the quarters I have now. If you do have a place in mind I would like to see it after the introduction to the crew. For now we will use the room I have, the women will keep their rooms till my quarters are ready then they will also move in with me. For now I will need to go prepare for the meeting, to see if I can find something among my outfits that will make me look like a commander. I will be dressed for battle as will the ladies." Perry said.
Perry returned to his room, Lorie and Areka joined him. Perry pulled what he had out of his pack. A pair of heavy canvas khakis, a matching heavy canvas jacket, black leather studded vest, several ammo belts for shotgun shells, and a leather cap that he had made back on earth. The pants and jacket were tight fitting and the vest was large enough to fit over the jacket. Perry found some pieces of heavy leather in the pack, they were large enough to make forearm bands, and they went from my wrist to mid-lower arm. Perry cut some schact strips from a table to help shape the armbands. He riveted the schact to the ends of the leather to fit around the arm. From end to end he riveted four bars of quarter inch thick schact to the end cuffs that held the gauntlets in place, these gauntlets were about eight inches long. Perry added a pair of leather gloves with schact bars riveted to the back of them to match the leather of the gauntlet. To the leather vest he riveted schact bars vertically on each side of the chest and full length on the back. Perry attached leather and schact bars to the front, back and sides of the thighs of the pants along with a schact skirt just wide enough and long enough, front and behind to protect the tools and ass. Little did he know that this look would identify him forever, if he was to go into battle leading the forces, this uniform was his fear factor against the opposing forces. Of course there would be some modifications made to it over time, but the basic look remained the same.
The ladies had all their stuff with them as well. As each of them pulled stuff from their packs I watched, taking notice of what they each had. Both had black leather biker jackets that were almost identical, but not quite. This was good. Both were wearing blue jeans, they were a little loose fitting for my taste, they both had a set of leather bike chaps with them and were wearing black leather medium heeled boots. Lorie is white with black hair and a nice healthy tan. Areka is a light skinned black woman with African and Mexican descent, her hair is long, straight and raven black. Perry started with Lorie, he touched the jeans to make them fit tighter, showing her shape. She was wearing a button-up blouse that was also loose fitting, Perry touched it and made it form fitting. Perry touched her hair and turned it to a nature white-blonde color allover. She and Areka were in good shape from the training we all had been doing. Perry had her put on the chaps and the leather jacket. He touched them forming them to her body. He cut more of the table and put schact metal plating on the front and sides of her thighs attached to the chaps, He added plates to the calves of the chaps. Perry stripped the back of the jacket with one inch wide; quarter inch thick bars the full length of the jacket. To the front with the jacket zipped shut, he form three of the same bars over her chest and add shorter bars to the abdomen, make six strips of schact down the front. They both got this armor added to their leathers. The upper arms of their jackets got four bars each cut to length and they got the same style gauntlets he had. Each of our boots had quarter inch schact plates installed in the soles to prevent stepping on something sharp. This was our battle dress and for now our formal dress. Eventually, the whole military uniform would be fashioned after this look.
Perry walked into the training area; he made his way to the platform on the far wall. Lorie and Areka were staying with me. Perry had one of his walking sticks in his right hand, the other one was attached to the pack on his back as Perry pushed through the crowd of men and women. Some of them were seasoned crew members but most were new here like the three of them. As Perry climbed the stairs to the deck, He watched the reaction, some of the new people knew that he had come aboard with them and the main crew knew that Perry was a newbie. They didn't know what to think about what Perry was up to.
The Captain stepped up and ordered them to form up and come to attention. They obeyed and it grew quiet.
"Now, I and the bridge crew had already submitted to our new Commander. He wants to talk to you about doing the same thing." Captain Prichard said, "I will turn things over to him. This is Commander Perry Crager, appointed so by me. He controls more power than any or maybe all the Torpid together. Within hours of coming out of the chamber, he has freed this ship and taken the Torpid captive. He has asked for this meeting to get your response to one question. I will let him ask it Commander."
Perry stepped up to the mic. He looked out over the lines of men and women that he was about to ask them to join him in a war against beings most of them have never seen or encountered. "As the Captain said, I am Perry Crager, until three days ago; I was nobody like you were. Today, we are something new, I know I am and these two Ladies feel the same way. We were nothing, now I am something I could never have dreamed of. I have powers that were dormant in me. The conversion has brought them to the surface; I freed you from the master that enslaved you. I will tell you, I have the power to do the same thing, but I will not now or ever enslave another human. I want to lead free men, if we are not free, we are not men. I need an army to back me, the more I free the bigger the army. Those who join me will not want. The people who don't join the army will serve in other ways. We will start a civilization like we have never seen. I am told there are many trillions on the planets we are headed for. I am also told that Earth is not the only planet they are kidnaping humans from. We will be there soon; I am going to take the air space around the planets first. We need to control the space around the planets, we don't want them running. I will then start with the outer planet and work my way in.
Now, I need your decision. Do I have a start of my military here on this ship? If you don't want to remain in the military, we will find a position for you. I can't return you to Earth with the powers you have, at this time you would use those powers for no good. I know I would. Even if just one of us returned to Earth, we would be unstoppable; they would not have any way to defeat us. So in or out you are still here, you are one of us, we will survive out here. If you want to serve in other ways then military leave the room." Perry said.
No one moved they were looking around, after about five minutes Perry stepped back to the mic. "Great, Thank you. We will continue to train. We will need to be ready for anything. The Officer's on this ship know what they are doing. Some of them have been here for centuries, listen to them they were where you are now once. They fought on the ground and in the air and space. They know the tricks, the in's and outs of these masters. Captain Prichard and his crew will help out the newbies; there will be no more kidnapping runs anymore. So the ones we free will be the only back-up we have. We have to take ships fast, I have to kill the Torpid aboard each ship we attack as soon as I can. The one I took captive here says I am the most powerful being he has ever seen. He has been around since they started this. He was one of the first to take control of humans and he was one of the most powerful. If this is true, we have no worries. I freed this ship in minutes, if it remains this simple, we will have all planets freed soon. I have nothing else for now. Remember treat each other well, right now we are all we have for family. Train well and sleep well. Thank you." Perry said. He stood there as they saluted and marched off.
"Do you really think this is going to be that easy?" Areka ask.
"I can only hope, but no, this is not going to be easy, these creatures are going to fight to the death. I am not going to die; I am not going to let others die for me either. If I have to board a ship alone to get to the torpid aboard, I will. I am learning more and more about my powers every minute. I have more capabilities than I ever thought of. Once we get into the system we are headed for you will see things you thought impossible." Perry said.