“Sir,” Levin went on nervously. “The transport…”
Henson looked up. “Spit it out, man.”
“We arrived in communication range during the final moments of an attack by a Devex warship. We saw the warship clamp and begin boarding. We withdrew to bring you the news. Sorry, sir. We couldn’t do anything to stop them.”
Henson turned and looked up to Tanaka in her command chair.
“Set course for the Devex warship and move in on that location immediately. Full speed, Captain. That is an order.”
Tanaka shifted uncomfortably. She had never refused an order before but moving in against a Devex warship was suicide. It would take the carrier battle group with a full complement of destroyers and support ships to take down the warship. And even then, there was no guarantee any of the passengers aboard the transport could be saved with a frontal assault.
Tanaka stepped down from her chair and walked over to Henson.
“Set a new heading for the Devex warship’s coordinates,” Tanaka said to her command deck officers as she stepped next to Henson. “A word, sir, in private if you please.”
Henson’s lips were pressed together so tight they were turning white.
“We are getting my daughters back, Captain,” Henson said.
Tanaka had always admired Henson. She had heard of his missions as a destroyer captain when she began her training. He was a Fleet academy legend, having destroyed an outer system pirate network terrorizing the asteroid mining ring. Henson was known as a ship’s captain who was a solid tactician and not afraid of getting his hands dirty. He had made rear admiral at the outbreak of the Chitin War and had quickly been offered the position of fleet admiral.
And Tanaka had come to know him well since the evacuation. The man always appeared so solid. He was tall and broad with a determined but honest face. She liked him, respected him, but she could not follow his order this time.
He had made one tough decision after another during the evacuation, but now there was a crack in his demeanor. Tanaka could only imagine the dread he was experiencing knowing the fate that awaited his girls.
Henson remained rooted to the spot. Tanaka looked up at the admiral.
“If we go into a full-frontal assault without proper planning, we are going to lose.” Adding a hasty, “Sir.”
“I will not sit by while those people are taken by the Devex for who knows what end. We will move in immediately. Give the order or I will remove you from command.”
“All we will succeed in doing is destroying the Scepter,” Tanaka said quietly. “Thousands of others throughout the fleet need our help. The people on that transport are already lost. Your daughters included. I’m sorry for your loss, Admiral. If I thought there was a chance, I would not hesitate, but we have never successfully engaged a Devex warship while it was in the process of capturing a civilian transport and had any result other than destroying both ships, not to mention the losses of many other ships engaged in the attack. No one has ever survived once a warship has clamped on.”
“That’s not entirely accurate, Captain,” General Wallace said. He tapped away at the holostage and zoomed in on a distant red dot representing the Scorpio.
“A Marine report filed a few days ago says a Marine team were able to infiltrate a Devex warship and destroy it, saving the civilian transport it was clamped onto.”
Henson looked over at Wallace.
“Where? Who?”
“A Marine aboard the Scorpio.” He zoomed in on the distant red dot. “The Scorpio was on a shepherd mission to bring back lost transports,” Wallace recounted from memory as he tapped away at the holostage controls to call up the after-action report.
The report appeared on the holostage. Wallace enlarged it for all to see and read the summary.
“Captain Pretorius engaged the Devex and thanks to a small group of Marines, they succeeded in saving a transport and many of its passengers.”
Henson looked at Tanaka, hope lighting up his face.
“I know Captain Pretorius, sir,” Tanaka said. She climbed back up to her command chair and tapped at her armrest controls to call up the latest reports from the Scorpio. “The Marine that led the infiltration was Major Jack Forge. He was left behind in the evacuation. He must have made his way back to the fleet on his own initiative.”
But Henson was no longer listening.
“Contact the Scorpio. Right now. Priority one communication. I want to see Jack Forge right away.”
Henson looked up at Tanaka.
“Communication sent, Sir.”
Henson turned to the holostage. The small red dot of the Scorpio represented his best chance of saving his girls. He would find them and bring them back safely, and he would never let them out of his sight again.
Jack felt his heart beating in his chest as the line of enforcers raised their rifles. Every heartbeat counted down to the end.
Mallet called out for the enforcers to take aim.
Jack took a breath, possibly his last. It seemed ironic that after all his troubles, he should come to his end at the hands of his own people and not some implacable alien enemy.
The Marine hangar door burst open and a squad of Marines came running in, some were wearing their tactical suits, some missing their helmets. Others were in fatigues or off-duty wear. All were armed. They rushed in and took position between the line of enforcers and Jack.
Jack turned to the doorway as more Marines rushed in. They were all taking a risk. The Fleet Intelligence Agency would deal with them all in time, and Jack had little hope that this display of loyalty to him would stave off his imminent execution for more than a few moments. It was just cruel to delay the inevitable.
Then Jack saw Pretorius march in. He walked over to Special Agent Mallet.
“Stand down,” Pretorius shouted.
“You have no authority here, Captain,” Mallet said.
“On my own ship?” Pretorius replied.
“I have requisitioned this deck for agency operations. Don’t let your affection for this criminal cloud your judgment. Now stand aside, Captain. I don’t need your permission to proceed with the execution and you can’t overturn my ruling.”
“The admiral of the fleet and the general can, Special Agent,” Pretorius said. “Major Forge is ordered to present himself before Admiral Henson and General Wallace aboard the Scepter immediately.”
Mallet let out a disbelieving half-laugh. Pretorius held out his arm and tapped his wrist device. The holofile with Fleet insignia from the office of the admiral flashed in front of Mallet.
“Admiral Henson and General Wallace have both authorized the immediate meeting. Intelligence Agency Chief Pound has been informed. So, stand down, Special Agent.”
The enforcers remained where they were, rifles aimed at Jack’s heart. The line of Marines brought up their weapons. Rifles and pistols aimed at the heads of the black-clad enforcers.
Mallet turned away from Pretorius and waved her hand downwards. She spoke softly.
“Lower your weapons. Enforcers stand down. Stand down.”
She turned back to Pretorius, but the captain had turned away and was walking toward Jack.
“Good to see you, Sir,” Jack said.
Pretorius reached out and pulled Jack to his feet.
Jack felt unsteady. Dizzy and disorientated. He suddenly felt unwell.
Pretorius led Jack away. “Better pull yourself together, Jack,” Pretorius said. “The admiral wants to talk to you right away.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you for coming for me, sir.”
Pretorius let out a sigh. “I had no idea, Jack. I had no idea she was going to try this. I would never have let it happen if I had known.”
“She hates me, sir. I can feel it. This is more than just my failings as a Marine.”
Pretorius stopped. He held Jack firm and looked into Jack’s eyes. “You have no failings, Jack. You hear me? You are a hero, son.” Pretorius carried on walking, bringing Jack with him t
o the hangar deck exit. “And we will find out what Mallet has against you and make sure she can’t try this sort of thing again. Maybe she will find herself before a tribunal before long.”
“Maybe,” Jack said, but he had no interest in the future of Special Agent Mallet. He was interested in what the admiral wanted to say to him, though.
“Any chance of a clean shirt before I meet the Admiral?” Jack said.
Pretorius nodded. “No time to get one from the Marine store. You can borrow Mr. Chou’s shirt. He won’t complain, as long as you give it back when you are done talking to the admiral.”
“Talking to the admiral,” Jack said, shaking his head. “Maybe I was executed and I’m now in some kind of cruel afterlife.”
Pretorius let Jack exit the hangar deck ahead of him.
“Whatever he wants, try not to involve me,” Pretorius said. “It is never good to have a meeting with the top man.”
“Whatever he wants, it can’t be worse than what I just went through,” Jack said. “At least, I hope not.”
7
Skirid had detected the first signs of growth a long time ago. Now the changes were becoming more rapid and pronounced. Her body was changing shape and color. She was looking more and more like her mother. She could feel the change in the instruction pheromones emanating from her, and knew what she was becoming. It excited her.
Her sister, Phisrid, had become more and more distant, hiding on the far side of the nest asteroid to avoid her sister as she changed.
Skirid knew she was developing rapidly and was on the verge of becoming a new swarm queen.
The latest victory had expanded her territory another square parsec. The enemy was destroyed and broken down into constituent matter by the builder caste even as the fighter caste swept on, pushing ever deeper into Devex territory.
And the further from her mother she went, the more she grew to resemble her as a powerful swarm queen in her own right.
The Skalidion Empire was expanding, and Skirid was at the vanguard of this region of space. She felt powerful. Unstoppable.
The builder caste were already swarming back into the nest asteroid after the latest attack. They were beginning to extrude substance around the hive, the pulped remains of Devex ships and Devex warriors. Every molecule slowly and inexorably added outer chambers to her nest asteroid. Soon she would spawn her own builder caste and would no longer require her mother’s support. Soldiers would follow, and new sub-queen daughters. And after that, further expansion. She would expand the Skalidion Empire and create a nation to rival her own mother’s.
The further she expanded her territory away from her mother’s, the more aggressive she became as her mother’s dominant pheromones became less powerful. Skirid was on the verge of becoming the Skalidion’s newest swarm queen, the outermost swarm queen of her mother’s vast territory. Only a few more square parsecs of space to conquer, to invade, and she would grow the final stage.
There had been years of slow progress when her mother first released the pair of sub-queens. Skirid and Phisrid had engaged the Devex in small battles only, at first. A ship here, a ship there. And although the Devex were a tenacious foe, the pair had battled them relentlessly and began to win greater victories.
The sub-queens had taken their first Devex planet only a few cycles ago. They had destroyed hundreds of thousands of Devex warriors. Her builders had consumed them and re-deposited their matter as chambers on the nest asteroid.
That was the last time Skirid had shared a chamber with her sister, and when Phisrid had started hiding on the far side of the nest.
But they still fought on together, drawing fighters from their mother’s brood, calling them in ever greater numbers. Millions of fighters, all obeying their commands. And the more they won, the more substance they gathered, the greater the nest asteroid, the greater the territory. And the faster Skirid grew.
She needed one more push, one more encounter, and she would be far enough away from her mother to become a swarm queen. The final pheromone release to spread back through her conquered territory to her swarm queen mother requesting a new swarm of fighters, one big push to finalize her expansion, to finally become her own queen.
And then the pheromones changed. It was the last time her mother would send support. Skirid had fully evolved.
“I am now swarm queen.”
Skirid felt the confidence rise. She looked through the dark compound eyes of the observer castes on the edge of her territory. A Devex-controlled planet ahead. A fleet of Devex warships hung in space, facing down the approaching swarm.
The warships fired their storm of white energy bullets, each fizzing bullet enough to destroy a Skalidion fighter as they swarmed across space, closing in on their target.
The Skalidion swarm erupted with fire as fighters burned away under the Devex assault. Builders swooped around the fighter swarm, rapidly devouring the destroyed fighters and carrying their matter back to the nest asteroid. Substance was the same whether it was Devex or Skalidion. It all added to her nest. Added to her power.
Skirid watched through her observer caste as the fighters moved into range. They fired their energy weapons into the Devex armada.
Energy shields flickered as the forward bulky warships took heavy fire. Then came the raiders and attack squadrons, fast and maneuverable, packing a powerful punch. They swept forward to engage the fighter swarm up close.
The Skalidions spread out into a vast, diffuse cloud. They fired indiscriminately at the oncoming Devex. Every Skalidion fighter engaged a Devex ship in single combat. The Devex held formation and moved through the swarm.
Heavy damage from the surrounding Skalidion fighters and Devex ships exploded only to be consumed by the builders that lurked in the fighter swarm.
The Devex squadrons pressed through.
Skirid watched the destruction. Her fighters were falling. The Devex were almost through. Then Skirid saw the danger. The Devex were not attempting to destroy her forward swarm. They were attempting to punch through and engage the nest asteroid itself.
The warships came slowly behind the wave of raiders, their streams of energy bullets ripping swaths through the swarm.
“All fighters to hostile region.” Skirid felt the chemical instructions flow from her. All her fighters on all fronts were drawn to her. The Devex armada was taking terrible damage, but they were enduring and pressing their counterattack on the nest asteroid.
Skirid knew she needed more fighters. More to overwhelm this counterattack. Her first thought was to emit the pheromones that would call for fighters from her mother’s central swarm. Destroy one more Devex world and she would have enough material to grow her nest to true swarm queen proportions. One more push into the dark Devex territory and she would finally achieve the next stage in her evolution.
But the pheromones would never reach her mother. She had grown. She was queen now. She was alone. She must win now or die. A short reign for the latest Skalidion swarm queen.
Even as she watched the Devex press through her attack swarm, she felt the swell of pride and self-belief. With no help from her mother, she was confirmed as swarm queen. She had done enough. She had traveled far enough. She was now the center of her own swarm.
The fighters from the edge of her territory came swooping in, coming to defend their queen. They fell on the Devex from all sides. The green bolts of fire streamed from the fighters and slammed into the Devex ships, smashing the lead raiders into burning wrecks. Then the builders swept in to consume the shells.
Now the first builders from the battle were arriving at the nest and laying down the pods for more fighters. Skirid’s first generation of fighters would be born within hours.
The Devex warships were closing in. Skirid looked on through the dark observer eyes. Only a few astro units and closing. The first warship came under fire as the swarm, defused by the raiders’ attack, began to reform. The green fire pulsed onto the massive warships, tiny pulses of fire that lit up the
energy shields. The shields flickered, the disruption growing and sweeping around the Devex ships in waves.
Then the energy shield of the first Devex warship collapsed, blinking out in a flash.
The Skalidion fighters poured pulse after pulse of green fire onto the hull of the Devex ship. Even before the ship was overcome by fire, the builders moved in and gnawed away at the exposed hull, filling their material pouches with matter to transfer back to the nest.
Skirid watched as the first Devex ship exploded. A suicide attack that burned a massive central core from the massed Skalidion swarm.
The next ships moved in. The swarm coalesced around the first. The Skalidion’s green fire overwhelmed the shield. The Devex ship detonated, destroying another huge swath of the swarm.
Skirid knew she had the numbers. The last Devex ship would take most of her fighters, but she had the builders and they would soon construct the fighter pods, and she would spawn enough fighters to expand her juvenile nation on the edge of the empire.
“Mother, I am grown.” Skirid sent the pheromone signal back through the swarm to her mother’s nest asteroid, the vast, moon-sized center of the Skalidion Empire.
The Devex warship detonated. The swarm was consumed. Skirid sensed the surviving fighters swoop on to the Devex world, now completely at her mercy. Skirid signaled the builders to consume all matter and construct fighter pods.
Then Skirid detected the pheromone signal she had once known so well. Her sister, Phisrid, was near. Come to present herself before the queen, and to submit to her sister.
Phisrid was weak, Skirid had thought. She did not attack. She sat back as Skirid pressed forward. If only Phisrid had the determination of their mother, she could have become swarm queen.
“Sister,” Skirid said.
“You have won a great victory,” Phisrid replied.
“I am swarm queen,” Skirid said. “You will leave the nest or I will consume you.”
New Enemy (Jack Forge, Lost Marine Book 4) Page 5
