Marine

by Joshua Dalzelle

  "No promises," Welford said. "You still owe me a new safe house on Theta Suden out of your budget."

  "You'll love this. Trust me."

  Epilogue

  Team Obsidian had been sitting around doing nothing for the better part of two months now, with no word from Command. Jacob's injuries were fully healed, though he now had a jagged, nasty looking scar down the right side of his head. Murph wasn't sure what his status was since his cover was completely blown, but he hadn't been recalled by his NIS handlers either. For the time being, he was still taking orders as if he was a Marine staff sergeant.

  Sully was in overall command of the team now since he was the highest-ranking officer left alive after their last mission. The team didn't need a lot of managing so his job was fairly easy. The world they'd been ordered to was nice, but it was the interminable waiting that was starting to set everyone on edge. Had Command forgot about them? They knew Webb was still in command of NAVSOC, so they assumed he remembered where he'd stashed one of his 3rd Scout Corps teams.

  "The proximity alarm on the ship just triggered again," Sully yelled from the kitchen. "Who wants to check it this time?"

  "I'll get it," Jacob said. The gunboat was parked at an airfield since the closest starport was over two hundred kilometers away from the safe house. Sully hadn't wanted their only ride off-world being hours away by public transit, so he opted for a local cargo airport instead. The problem was that young Vothans played games along the fence where the ship was parked and would sometimes set off the proximity sensors. For Jacob, each time they did it was a golden opportunity to get out of the house and away from his teammates for an hour or so.

  He ran all the way to the airfield, enjoying being able to fully inhale now that his ribs had healed up. As he expected, the ship seemed to be untouched. He boarded and went up to the flightdeck to make sure it had just been one of the security sensors like they assumed. He reset the system, took one last look around, and walked back down onto the main deck where a surprise was waiting for him.

  He wasn't alone.

  "Please, sit," the voice rumbled out of a powerfully built alien. The being exuded power and confidence, and Jacob found himself obeying without thinking. There were some things that transcended species, and this alien had an aura of danger lingering about him. He was also dressed in a manner that indicated he was quite wealthy.

  "A human. Imagine my surprise when my people told me it was a human crew who had stolen my ship and its cargo. Your species is so brazen. I've had many dealings with a few of your kind, and it always costs me money. Do you know who I am?"

  "Saditava Mok," Jacob said, the pieces falling in place in his mind.

  "You know who I am and still you stole the ship?" Mok asked. "Like I said…brazen. What's your name?"

  "Jacob Brown. We didn't know the ship was yours when we took it. If we had, we'd have probably picked another target."

  "That would have been for the best," Mok agreed. "Normally, my people would have just killed you on principle before bringing something so trivial to my attention, but I stepped in when I received an interesting message regarding a possible coup attempt within my organization that you uncovered. So, what am I to do? Look weak by letting you live after stealing my money, or take the dishonorable path and kill you just to save face after you've given me such valuable information?"

  Jacob said nothing, convinced he was about to die. Maybe he could turn over the accounts with all the money they'd taken and Mok would let him walk away. Doubtful, but worth a try.

  "You're not a smuggler or a ship thief," Mok said after staring at him a moment. "You reek of military, and not ex-military turned mercenary either. You're somebody's operational asset."

  "I can't answer that, sir."

  "And yet you just did," Mok laughed. "I'm not going to kill you, Jacob Brown."

  "No?"

  "No." Mok stood and smoothed out his suit. "You're either one of Marcus Webb's or Michael Welford's people. Tell whichever it is to be more careful who they're stealing from in the future."

  "That's it? Just the message?"

  "Oh, no," Mok laughed again. "In exchange for your life, you now owe me a favor. And let me be clear: you owe me a favor, not your chain of command or homeworld...you. Does that sound fair?"

  "How big a favor?"

  "At least equal to the value you place on your own life, which I have magnanimously allowed you to keep for the time being," Mok said.

  "Fair enough," Jacob said, his ass beginning to unclench as it looked like he might survive in the short term. Mok pulled an odd-looking com unit and tossed it on the galley table.

  "Keep this," he said. "Make sure to check it often. I already have your slip-com address from the ship's computer so I'll be able to keep tabs on you. Welcome to the game, kid."

  "Are you taking the ship back?"

  "This piece of refuse is of little value to me without its crew or cargo," Mok said, and then he was gone.

  Jacob sat there for a long moment thinking about the implications of what he'd just done. Sure, he got to keep breathing for a while longer, which was good. But now he owed a favor to one of the quadrants most notorious crime bosses, something of equal value to his own life. That didn't sound promising. It was almost certain that his command wouldn't be too thrilled with whatever task Mok set him to.

  "Eh," he grunted, standing up. "Maybe he'll forget all about me."

  Thank you for reading Marine.

  If you enjoyed the story, Lieutenant Brown and the guys will be back in:

  Boneshaker

  Terran Scout Fleet, Book 2.

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  (Continue on for a word from the author…)

  Afterword

  When I first decided to add another series to the Omega Force Universe it was for two reasons: I wanted to do a more traditional military sci-fi within that universe that centered around Earth's new space military, but I also wanted to isolate Jason Burke from that story. A lot of the dynamic that makes Omega Force work is that Jason is (usually) the only human in the story. I felt like if that series became inundated with humans from a slip-space capable Earth that it would begin to lose a big part of what many found appealing about it. (For those that haven’t read Omega Force, many of the events alluded to in “Marine” took place in book eight of that series and the timeline of this story starts just at the end of book ten.)

  As some of my regular readers correctly guessed when I announced this series, I decided to provide some continuity by using Jason Burke's son as my main character. Jacob Brown seemed to be the most obvious choice for a number of reasons. He was different and unique thanks to his genes, had already been exposed to the outside galaxy, and his low opinion of his father is an interesting dynamic to play with.

  This is the type of small-unit focused military sci-fi that I most enjoy writing. I feel like once stories grow in scope to the point that you have entire fleets/planets/species going to war with each other that the individual characters can become lost due to the sheer scale of what you’re trying to write. A favorite series of mine, “The Corps” by W.E.B. Griffin was a large influence in how I built this story. In Griffin’s series, Ken “Killer” McCoy is just an enlisted Marine that is often tangentially involved in some of the most important events during WWII, but his story is very much about a single Marine doing his job, not singlehandedly saving the world. I wanted to try and emulate that by having Jacob—a fresh second lieutenant—brushing up against mo
numental events but still be well within his role as a team member in a forward observation unit.

  I was careful to avoid the trap of making Team Obsidian just a mirror of Omega Force by including a battlesynth and a Galvetic warrior (which is how the first outline was written) and stick to it being a team of only humans. Hopefully the Omega Force faithful enjoyed the cameo appearances by some of that series' supporting characters.

  So, the big question… will the two teams ever cross paths in either series? It’s highly likely, but it won’t be in the near future. Any potential meeting will be a huge turning point in the lives of both main characters so I need to make sure it’s done in such a way that it serves both series.

  Thanks again to all the regular readers and to the first timers… it’s truly a privilege to be able to share these stories with so many people.

  Cheers!

  Josh