“Damage report, Lou.” Jack fired.
“I could fix this,” Beretta said, “if I had a workshop and a week.”
“You got about five minutes before the Skalidions overrun us,” Jack said as he targeted another Skalidion.
“A few meters of conduit flex and I can bypass the damage to the main drive loop. It’ll be a rough ride, but I can get us off the ground,” Beretta said.
“Then we might be in luck,” Jack said. He looked through the trees back toward his crashed tac boat. “You do what you can here. I’ll be as quick as I can.”
Jack ran through the trees, weaving between the shining green trunks of the needle trees. The Skalidions were advancing toward Beretta’s boat. Surely, there would be some at Jack’s crash site too. And Jack was alone, with only his pulse pistols for attack.
Running from tree to tree, Jack found the flanking position on the next Skalidion. He fired a quick blast from both pulse pistols before moving again. A group of three Skalidions were moving toward the front end of the tac boat, their left flank exposed. Jack ran toward them. One pulse round struck the nearest in the head, dropping it instantly. The next was turning to face Jack, the green fire building at the end of its weapon, when a blast from Jack’s left-hand pistol dropped it.
He ran and took cover with his back to a tree as the third Skalidion blasted a burst of fire at him, and Jack saw the Skalidion that had been advancing stealthily on his rear the moment he took cover. He dropped to one knee and fired with both pistols, then he spun around the trunk and targeted the last Skalidion, dropping it with a well-aimed shot.
Jack moved swiftly; speed was essential. The smoking wreckage of his boat emerged from the dark green, glistening forest. A Skalidion with its strange diamond-shaped head poking inside the wreckage turned suddenly as it heard Jack’s approach. He dispatched it with a blast of pulse pistol fire to its ugly face.
Firing up the electron blade on his pulse pistol, he cut through the wreckage and found the conduit flex. He pulled out as much as he could, wrapping it around his elbow and hand, glancing all about for approaching Skalidions as he did.
Checking his wrist-mounted holostage, Jack could see more Skalidions further out, scattered throughout the forest, all moving in toward the tac boat at the center of a tightening circle. Jack checked the power cell on both pistols. He could keep fighting all day, but so could the Skalidion. There was also only one of him, and sooner or later, a green fire blast would surely take him.
Running back to the tac boat, Jack saw Beretta’s feet sticking out of the broken hull. Green fire scorch marks covered the ground and the it.
“Beretta. How does it look in there?”
Beretta clambered out and turned to face Jack, a pulse pistol in his hand.
For a fleeting moment, Jack wondered where Beretta had found the weapon, and it distracted him from what he knew he must do. Jack needed to take cover. The pulse rounds slammed into Jack’s suit as he dove for cover.
“I couldn’t resist taking the shot, Jack.” Beretta stood up and fired another salvo. “I could have just left you here for the Skalidions—” Beretta’s voice grew manic and angry. “—but you killed my friend.” Beretta fired again. “I guess they’ll have to finish the job for me.”
Beretta climbed into the tac boat. The main drive kicked up, spluttering and flaring irregularly, but it eased off the surface, glassy shards of dead leaves billowing toward Jack in a cloud of jagged debris.
Jack felt the anger in him, realizing he’d been tricked by Beretta. He aimed his pulse pistol at the tac boat’s drive, knowing a well-placed round would be enough to destroy the boat’s struggling drive system, but the alert on his wrist-mounted holostage caught Jack’s attention. He swiveled and laid fire down on the small group of Skalidions coming through the trees.
Jack was surrounded and alone.
11
Jack searched for a good defensive position where he could hold off the incoming Skalidions. As much as he would like to take his revenge on Beretta, he would have to survive this latest attack if he was to ever achieve that.
The best cover nearby was at his crashed tac boat with the fallen trees all around. That was where he would make a stand, and that was where he would fight the Skalidions moving in on his position.
As Jack ran through the forest, he took fire from the shadows as Skalidion fighters emerged from behind the trees all around. He detected another ship entering orbit high above his position on the forest moon. Jack was determined to fight. He would fight off as many Skalidions as they could throw at him. He looked up and saw the shape of the craft highlighted on his helmet’s enhanced data view. It was unmistakable: a tac boat.
The tac boat held position in a stationary orbit. Jack checked the ident on his wrist-mounted holostage. Sam. Of course.
"That's against my orders, Sam," Jack said to himself, but inside, he was happy to see his old friend in orbit above. There was a chance, although still slim, that he might live.
Checking the image, Jack saw the altitude of Sam's tac boat holding steady, but the boarding ramp was opening. This was Jack's only chance.
A Skalidion rushed in on Jack’s rear, its weapon raised with a ball of green fire growing on the end. It seemed to snarl and chatter as it moved in for the kill. Jack adjusted his suit’s grav field and began to levitate upwards. He kicked up the thrusters on his ankles and wrists and accelerated up through the trees, the harsh needle-like leaves scratching at his suit as he raced toward the waiting tac boat.
Bursts of green fire chased him. Jack twisted this way and that, avoiding the burning balls of green energy, any one of which could burn through his tactical suit and leave him exposed to the harsh atmosphere and the deadly radiation pouring down to the surface.
The boarding ramp on the undercarriage of the tac boat was fully open, but at this distance, it seemed like the narrowest slit in the universe, the finest target for Jack to hit. The thruster distribution began to fluctuate, threatening to tip him off balance, threatening to throw him back down to the surface. He deactivated one thruster that was spluttering and throwing him off balance, directing all the energy to a functioning opposite thruster. The strain on his body as the single thruster took over the work stretched his sinews to near breaking point.
With only meters to go, and the opening now looking like an achievable target, Jack reached up. Inside the opening, he saw the movement—a Marine in full tactical gear, reaching out for him.
The remaining thruster splattered, kicking Jack off balance. The Marine in the tac boat boarding ramp dropped and grabbed Jack, with a handshake grip and life-saving strength. The Marine dragged Jack up to the ramp, landing lightly on his feet and setting Jack down next to him. Jack reached out and pressed the control panel. The boarding ramp closed, and Jack felt the Marine next to him pat him heavily on the back.
"I thought that would be you down there." Sam smirked as he walked off toward the flight deck.
"I thought you'd be the only one to disobey an order," Jack said, pulling off his helmet. "What are you doing here, Sam?" Jack walked to the flight deck and dropped into the co-pilot seat next to Sam. "You’re supposed to be taking the intelligence back to the fleet."
"Job done, Jack. Captain Pretorius said I could go and find you. You got some friends in high places," Sam said.
"That's not what Beretta said," Jack said. He tapped the flight control panel and accessed the holostage. He checked all the data on the surrounding area. Skalidion fighters were swooping around the forest moon. A small group of Skalidion fighters were pursuing a single spluttering tac boat that was racing toward the system’s star.
"I saw that tac boat," Sam said, pointing at the holographic image. "I thought that was you, but then I detected weapons fire on the surface and knew that had to be you. Who is on that boat? Should we go and help them out?"
"That is a Lou Beretta," Jack said, slumping back in his chair. "He's working for Fleet Intelligence. He was sent to k
ill me, and he very nearly succeeded."
"Beretta?" Sam turned and looked at Jack. "I thought he'd be dead by now."
"Looks like he doesn't have long left. Those Skalidions are moving in on him fast." Jack zoomed in on the holoimage. Beretta’s drive system was spluttering badly. Surely it was only moments from catastrophic failure. "But somehow I think he's going to survive even that. Why is it that only bad guys can survive?"
"You managed to keep alive long enough, Jack." Sam said, looking back to the flight controls. "So do you want to go and kill that kravin’ scroat, or leave him to the Skalidions?"
The small flashing panel on the flight console caught Jack and Sam's eyes simultaneously. A distress call.
"Who is that? Don’t they realize they'll give their position away to the Skalidions?” Sam said, activating the distress call panel.
"Either they don't know the Skalidion are a nearby, or they are in even more trouble than that." Jack activated the call.
The distress call was an approximation of fleet standard distress and had the feel of a week one cadet in his first communications training session. It was clumsy and garbled. Barely recognizable.
"Can you work out any actual speech in that signal?" Sam said.
Jack tapped on the call coordinates and displayed it on the holostage.
"It's coming from Skalidion space." Jack refined the reception field. "That's odd," he said. "The range. It's reducing. It's reducing fast. Whatever it is, it’s moving toward us very quickly."
"Is it a ship?" Sam asked, looking at Jack. "I thought we were the only ships away from the fleet right now."
"It's not a ship," Jack said. "It's far too massive. Just take a look at the size of that thing."
The signal was coming from a massive body that was bigger than any ship—Skalidion, Devex, or Fleet. It was bigger than anything Jack had seen.
"If that's a ship, it is huge."
"I think I got something here, Jack," Sam said. "I can play audio here, I think."
"It's a planet, Sam." Jack looked at the data in disbelief. "It's moving on its own. It's a rogue."
"Playing audio now," Sam said as he activated the message.
"This is Riya Henson. Come in, Admiral Henson. Come in, Scepter. Come in any fleet ship. Come in, anyone, please."
"Riya Henson?" Jack turned from the data on the rogue planet racing across space and looked at Sam. "Did that say Riya Henson?"
Jack had come so close to rescuing Riya Henson, but he thought she'd been lost when the Devex ship she’d been on had been destroyed.
"It can't be her." Sam looked at the holostage and the swarms of Skalidion fighters in the local region. "But if it is her, the Skalidion are going to pick up her distress call. Do you think they’ll leave the admiral’s daughter alone? Do you think we should try and rescue her?"
"Set a course, Sam. We tried to rescue her once. Maybe we'll succeed this time."
"It couldn't do any harm to try, except maybe kill us." Sam input the coordinates toward the rogue planet and the distress call from Riya Henson.
12
Jack and Sam moved in on Riya Henson's distress signal. Running dark in the tac boat using only thrusters to maneuver, Jack picked his way through the Skalidion swarm. The Skalidion were massing on the edge of their territory, ready to deliver an overwhelming and decisive blow against the neighboring Devex system.
The rogue planet was moving at tremendous speed. Only a planet kicked out of the system by the most extraordinary and powerful force could have propelled it across interstellar space at such speeds. Detectable only by the ripples it left in spacetime from its huge gravitational field, it was completely black across its entire surface. It must have been traveling for millennia, for eons, to have become so blackened by the interstellar radiation.
The Skalidion swarm moved erratically. Holding its position relative to the Devex system yet constantly moving and shifting, the individual Skalidion craft darted this way and that. Jack and Sam were on full alert, picking their way through the swarm until they reached the relative safety behind the swarm, now fully in Skalidion space.
"How are we going to stop without giving away our position, Jack?" Sam said as he focused on the task of piloting his boat.
"Let's just get there first," Jack said and made a minor adjustment to the heading, sending it straight toward the rogue planet.
Now the two bodies, the massive rogue planet and the tiny tac boat, were on a collision course. Only one body would survive the impact. Somehow, Jack had to achieve orbit and remain undetected, if he was going to pick up Riya Henson.
Sam sat upright in his chair. Jack sensed Sam had discovered something startling.
"What is it, Sam?" Jack asked.
"Look," Sam said, pointing at the holostage. Jack could see the swarming Skalidions now moving en masse. But they were not heading toward the neighboring Devex system. The entire Skalidion swarm was heading toward a tiny distant speck on the boundary of Devex and Skalidion space. The tiny distant speck was the nebula.
The Skalidion swarm was heading toward the fleet’s hiding place, its sanctuary. The fleet was in danger.
"Okay, listen up, Sam," Jack said, his hands dancing over the flight console. "We are going to cut our speed using the main retro drive and enter orbit right above Riya's signal."
"Copy that, Jack." Sam made the necessary calculations. "You don't need me to tell you, but that is going to light us up on the Skalidion scanners like a solar flare."
"That's right, Sam. We just have to be quick, accurate, no mistakes. You ready for this?"
"I am disappointed you have to ask." Sam made the final prep, his finger hovering over the retro drive panel. "Ready for orbit over rogue planet, firing in five seconds."
Jack sent the distress call into the communication relays and prepared to return the signal.
"Attention Riya Henson. This is Major Jack Forge. Entering orbit above your location now."
The flight console shuddered as Sam fired the retro drive. Even with the stability field operating at full power, Jack felt his inertia throwing him forward slightly. Any tiny failure in the stability field, and Jack and Sam could be torn apart. The stress on his body fell away suddenly and Jack was in orbit, weightless. He climbed up out of his seat, his tactical suit’s grav field activating and holding him onto the deck plates. He walked to the back of the boat and opened the boarding ramp.
"Keep an eye on those Skalidions and don't hesitate to get out here if anything goes wrong. No sense in us all dying here today."
Sam hooked his arm over the back of his pilot chair and looked to the back of the boat where Jack was standing, making ready to drop down to the planet.
"If you think I have come all this way just to leave you on that rock, you don't know me very well, Jack. Now get down there, get Henson, and let's get back to the fleet."
Jack stepped off the boarding ramp. He adjusted his suit’s grav field and dropped. He fell like a stone, activating his thrusters and pushing himself to the surface. On the black, glassy rock below, Jack could make out a glinting fragment of light. Like a grain of mica in a black rock. Jack zeroed in. Surely this was Henson. At last he could complete his previous mission.
As Jack neared the surface, his thrusters spluttered again, tipping him off balance. He threw everything into the grav field and slowed his descent, still falling too fast. He saw the single person below and dropped faster as he came nearer. Using his tactical suit’s enhanced data view, he zoomed in on the body below.
A Devex warrior stood waiting on the planet.
Jack hit the surface like a hammer blow, his suit’s stability field barely holding him together as the brittle rocks beneath him fractured.
He looked up at the dark faceplate of a Devex warrior.
"Jack? Jack Forge? It's me, Riya. You found me."
Jack stood up and reached out, taking Riya by the arm. "Lucky for you it was me that found you. There are thousands of Skalidions up there. We n
eed to get out of here. Are you alone?"
"There were six of us," Riya said, holding onto Jack. She stumbled as she spoke. "They were civilians, just like me, all of us wrapped in this Devex exo-armor. We were all aware at first, but they lost it. They are over there. They just laid down. They just died. They couldn't deal with being trapped on this black rock, trapped inside this Devex armor. You have to get it off me, Jack. Help me, please."
"First thing, let's get out here," Jack said. "I have a tac boat in orbit. Does that Devex suit have some kind of levitation system? Can you work it? My tactical suit has taken a beating. I don't think I can get us both up there."
"I've had nothing to do but play around with this suit," Riya said, stepping closer to Jack. "Just point me in the right direction and let's go."
Jack slipped his arm around Riya's waist. He looked at the Devex faceplate, the dull gray metal, the dark slit at eye level, and he knew behind that faceplate was a young woman, the daughter of the admiral. He had met her sister, but he had only met Riya in her Devex exo-armor after her capture.
"Just hold on and be ready to activate your suit’s thrusters. The tac boat is right above us. Let's go."
Jack moved up off the ground, slowly at first, gripping Riya with his left arm. In her Devex exo-armor, she was heavy. She became lighter as she activated her suit’s levitation systems. Soon the pair were racing toward the open boarding ramp.
Jack received the message from Sam as he closed in to within only a few meters.
"I don't want to hurry you, Jack," Sam said, "but we have attracted some attention. We need to move."
Jack could detect the hint of anxiety in his friend’s voice. Sam was as brave a Marine as Jack had ever met and had been on the frontline of one battle after another. He had fought some of the fiercest and most determined enemies that any Marine ever had, and he had faced them all with courage. He had never shown any sign of running in fear, but he was a man, and he knew fear. Jack could hear it in his voice now, although Jack doubted any other person would detect it.
Alliance (Jack Forge, Lost Marine Book 5) Page 9
