Forged to Hunt

by James David Victor

  “Jack, this it Sam. I’m on my way. I’m coordinating with Horan to catch that Chit in a crossfire.”

  Jack looked at the holostage and the relative positions of Torent and Horan. Ben Horan would be in firing range in a minute. Torent was further out but closing fast. Jack didn’t need Torent’s help, he only needed one other tac boat to help cut down the Kraken.

  The Kraken was too fast and mobile for one boat to take on. Jack’s was completely isolated and lucky the asteroid was giving him cover. He could keep moving around the long spear of rock and stay away from the Kraken’s deadly spitz cannon until he had the force needed to engage and destroy the Chitin craft.

  The Kraken fired another burst from its spitz cannon. Jack was covered by the asteroid, moving around the narrow axis at the rotation point. He could easily keep in cover. But then he saw the attacking Kraken’s true purpose, as yet another burst of fire slammed into the asteroid at the central point of long asteroid’s rotation. The plasma spears were heating the rock, liquefying it. The asteroid had already thinned at the central point as the rotation pulled at the increasingly malleable center, the very point where Jack was taking cover.

  The asteroid suddenly ripped in two.

  Molten chunks of asteroid flung off in all directions as the long rock tore itself apart. Jack pushed the engines to full power and raced forward, narrowly avoiding the molten boulders that threatened to collide with his boat.

  The hail cannon purred as Garcia poured another burst of fire at the Kraken weaving and dodging high above.

  “I will be in weapons range in ten seconds,” Horan’s voice came over Jack’s communicator.

  Jack checked the coordinates. He picked a firing position from his location and sent it to Horan.

  “We’ll get it in the crossfire at this point,” Jack said.

  The spitz cannon sent another blast of plasma spears at Jack. They tore through the gap created in the asteroid by the Kraken’s fire. There were now two tumbling asteroids with Jack dancing between them, moving to the cover of one and then the other, avoiding plasma spears and chunks of molten debris.

  “Drake, Attah, grab those pulse rifles and get in that doorway,” Jack called out. “We’re going to outgun that Kraken.”

  Drake and Attah moved into the doorway. Jack turned the ship to present the doorway to the Kraken that was still holding position five hundred meters away.

  The door began to open. The flashes of the tac boat’s hail cannon flickered over the edges of the open doorway. Drake and Attah needed no instruction and they opened up with their Fleet Marine pulse rifles as soon as the Kraken came into view.

  With the kinetic hail cannon purring away and the two pulse rifles adding their own fire to the assault, the Kraken began to weave and dodge, moving rapidly from side to side. Its spitz cannon fire came at an increased rate but because of its evasive movements, the fire was also far less accurate.

  Jack moved his hands over the flight console with an ease that belied his inner tension. It was a flight for life and death. He was aware of every alert signal on the flight console. Incoming fire warning, engine coolant warnings, hail cannon operational efficiency. He controlled the power supply to the cannon when its efficiency dropped.

  While operating the ship systems and organizing the counter-attack, Jack also had to fly the tac boat. He threw the ship to one side and maneuvered around the nearest part of the smashed asteroid as its tumbling rotation came around and almost sideswiped the boat.

  The main engine began to splutter. The tac boats were still not at their best, showing signs of the wear and tear from the long Chitin war despite their repairs. Jack flipped the boat over its front section. He kept the open doorway pointed toward the enemy but was able to use the reverse jets as the main thrust. They would only last so long before Jack’s boat was dead in the void.

  The distant flicker of light far beyond the Kraken was a welcome sight. Jack knew that Horan had arrived and was pouring fire at the lone Chitin fighter.

  Jack moved out from the debris field and moved in toward the Kraken. The fire from two tac boats had the Chitin outgunned and outmaneuvered. It raced upwards away from the plain of the asteroid belt, up to the dark space above the system’s ecliptic plane. Jack turned his boat toward the fleeing Chitin.

  “Closing doors,” Jack called. “Good work, team,” he added before pushing as much energy through the main drive as the boat could reasonably cope with. “Maintain the fire, Garcia,” Jack said.

  “We’ve got it on the run now, sir,” Squad Leader Horan’s voice came over Jack’s communicator.

  “Maintain pursuit,” Jack said, “but don’t get too far ahead. My boat is only operating at seventy percent efficiency. You will get too far ahead and be isolated.”

  “He’s getting away, sir,” Horan said. “I have him in my sights. Hail cannon firing now.”

  Jack pushed his ship to the limit. He heard the purring of the cannon as Garcia fired. The holostage showed Garcia’s fire was missing to the port side of the Chitin Kraken, effectively corralling the craft and pushing it toward Horan’s fire. Horan’s fire was being delivered in bursts, targeting and retargeting as the Kraken dodged and weaved, jerking from port to starboard, flipping and rolling, desperately evading the fire from the two tac boats.

  “In firing range in ten seconds,” Sam Torent said.

  Jack watched the three boats and their attack on the single Kraken. The Chitin was forced into the vertical escape route up from the ecliptic.

  Jack spotted another group of signals racing in from the outer system edge of the asteroid belt. A detachment of three Blades were racing in to cut off the Kraken’s final escape route.

  The warning signal on Jack’s flight console told him that engine efficiency had dropped below battle effectiveness. He was limping along after the Kraken. He cut the engines entirely and set the integrated maintenance systems to recover functionality. The boat drifted after their target, the hail cannons still laying down steady stream of fire that cut off every avenue of escape.

  Then, as Torent came in from the outer system edge of the belt and three Blades raced in from further out, the Kraken turned into a headlong charge at the best hope for escape through the asteroid belt. It turned toward Horan’s ship.

  Jack hit the maneuvering thrusters in an effort to close in on the Kraken. The hail cannon from Horan’s tac boat poured a stream of fire at the Kraken.

  The Kraken spitz cannon flickered as it raced headlong toward Horan. The first plasma spears splattered over the flat nose section of Horan’s boat, sending balls of plasma fire flickering over the hull. Then another burst slammed into the tac boat and blasted their way through the nose section. Debris burst out through the breach as the ship depressurized.

  The next burst of plasma spears entered the tac boat through the broken front section. Jack saw a plume of orange fire as the plasma spears destroyed the interior, reactor fuel and ammunition detonating in a billowing flame that burst out of the destroyed front section of Horan’s ship.

  The Kraken raced over the top of the stricken tac boat, its spitz cannon strafing its target, several plasma spears striking the upper hull and the last blasts of the strafing run slamming into the spluttering engines.

  The Blades came racing past Jack, flashing through the dark of space lit only by the billowing explosions.

  Jack watched the Blades chase down and fire at the Kraken for a brief moment before turning his attention back to Horan’s boat.

  “Horan, this is Forge. Respond.”

  The Kraken took fire from the three Blades and broke apart in a sudden explosion, the white fireball tumbling forward. The Blades turned away from the expanding fireball and returned to their patrol at the outer edge of the asteroid belt.

  “Chitin down,” the lead Blade said over Jack’s communicator. “Mark up another one for the Blades. Good hunting, Marines.”

  “Horan,” Jack said. “Come in, anyone from Horan’s tac boat. Respon
d please.”

  “Commander, this is Torent, moving in for search and rescue on Horan’s tac boat. Over.”

  “Negative, Sam,” Jack said. He activated his ship’s maneuvering thrusters and slowly moved himself back into his position in the Task Force One search line. “We’ve lost them. Return to your position in the belt and resume your sweep pattern.”

  “But we need to check. Ben had a team of six Marines. There might be survivors.”

  “Return to your position in the line, Sam.” Jack spoke calmly and softly, but his heart boiled with anger. He felt it rise up to his throat. He would not let it pour out of his mouth. Torent had failed him by not being in position when needed, but it would be a bad leader who let emotion overcome their focus on the mission.

  “Yes, sir,” Torent said.

  Jack remained silent. He returned his tac boat to its place in the search line and continued with the search.

  The Chitins had not vanished entirely. There were still scattered elements of the once massive Chitin force around the inner system. The few Chitins that lurked in the inner system could still be deadly. Jack knew there were still Chitin forces somewhere out beyond the asteroid belt. This war was not over for the Fleet Marines, but this search and destroy mission would be the last mission for some.

  7

  Sitting at the front of the tac boat in the pilot seat, Jack was only a few meters away from the rest of his small team, but he felt isolated. He wrote up the daily mission report as the rest of his team relaxed. He hesitated to add an official reprimand on Sam Torent’s record. It was true he had been out of position, having raced ahead of the search line yet again, but Torent was not leaving any area unchecked. He was clearing and moving on. Maybe speed was as useful as meticulous attention to detail. Maybe Torent deserved a break. Could he have prevented Horan’s destruction even if he had been closer? It might be that Horan would have been destroyed, or Torent might have been destroyed. The Kraken was a fast and powerful fighter. It was lucky that any of them had escaped.

  Jack described the skirmish accurately and recorded the positions of all tac boats of the task force, including those that came to the fight. The report would not be an indictment of Torent in any way, but in Jack’s mind, Torent was on a last warning.

  The next phase of the sweep would take Jack’s task force to the halfway point of the operation. It had been a long operation already and they were only halfway through. Jack had fought tough battles before, but this was proving one of the hardest.

  The line of tac boats had been redeployed across the line to cover the space left by the destruction of Horan’s ship. Eventually, Jack would have to find a new squad leader to take over for Horan, but for now, he could only focus on sweeping the asteroid belt. He didn’t need to promote a new squad leader until he returned to the Scorpio.

  The day’s sweep had been long and without incident. No ship of Task Force One reported any contact. The sweep had taken them through a region of low asteroid density. Only one boat had to set down during the entire phase to conduct a ground search of a large asteroid. Jack had remained seated in the pilot’s chair, monitoring the flight console for the last countless hours.

  Amber warning lights had been flickering on the fight console intermittently for the last few hours. The ship had taken a pounding during the battle with the Kraken and some systems were beginning to struggle with the constant operational activity. The tac boat was limping along, but Jack was beginning to think there was no way the boat was going to make it to the end of the sweep without some maintenance.

  The onboard supplies were limited. There were few tools apart from the very basic. Even if Jack had replacement parts for the systems that were on the verge of burning out, he wouldn’t have the tools to replace them. It was vital that Jack managed the tac boat and kept it limping onwards.

  The communicator burst into life with the voice of an excited and nervous Marine.

  “Chits.”

  Jack was alert the moment he heard the message from the Squad Leader Erin Bevan’s ship. Jack accessed the view screen from her tac boat and looked at the image.

  Three Chitin soldiers were floating in space in front of her boat. As far as Jack could see, they were drifting lifelessly through the belt. It was possible for the Chitin soldier to survive exposure to the vacuum and cold of deep space for prolonged periods, but these Chitins looks very dead.

  “Engaging enemy,” Bevan said.

  Jack could hear the stress in her voice. She hadn’t made the necessary assessment of the situation. Jack opened a private channel and spoke calmly to her.

  “They pose no immediate threat,” Jack said. “Mark their position. Mark their speed and trajectory. Do you copy that, Bevan?”

  Bevan responded. “Copy that, Commander.”

  Jack waited for a few seconds and then the data appeared on his console.

  “They are adrift in the belt,” Bevan said with relief. “They are moving with the asteroids. Speed and trajectory suggest they are in solar orbit, sir.”

  Jack nodded. “So they have been adrift in the asteroid belt for some time. Do you agree, Squad Leader Bevan?”

  “Yes, sir,” Bevan said, sounding slightly relieved.

  “Good work, Bevan,” Jack said. “What’s your plan?”

  Bevan hesitated. “Do you want me to bring them in, sir?”

  “Negative,” Jack said. “This is a search and destroy mission, Bevan, not a treasure hunt. Mark their location and destroy them. Do you copy?”

  “Copy that. Activating hail cannon, sir.” Bevan sounded immediately more relaxed and in control.

  The sudden surprises were testing the nerves of the Marines in the task force. A few floating dead Chits would have been of little to no concern before, but after being cooped up in a tac boat for two weeks, Jack could tell nerves were getting stretched close to breaking point.

  Jack watched the gun camera feed from Bevan’s tac boat. The hail streamed out silently and obliterated the first Chitin corpse with a short blast. The second was destroyed a second later. The third, nudged by flying pieces of its dead and destroyed companions, evaded the blast of hail cannon fire as it drifted slightly to one side.

  “Focus, Bevan,” Jack said.

  The final burst slammed into the Chitin corpse and obliterated it.

  “All done, sir. Why did we blast them if they were already dead, sir?” Bevan sounded at ease.

  “So they didn’t suddenly come back to life and attack you. They could have been playing dead and waiting for some ship to come by before latching on and infiltrating. Better to blast them to bits, don’t you agree?”

  “Yes, sir,” Bevan said. “Thank you, sir.”

  Jack smiled to himself. He was keeping this task force together even though he hadn’t seen Erin Bevan, or any of the other tac boat teams, for over a week. Maintaining authority and command while being isolated from his company was challenging, but the company was performing well. Jack made a note to commend Bevan in his next daily report.

  The alarm on the flight panel fractured Jack’s moment of calm. He looked to the console. The reactor coil was polarizing. Jack activated the retarder and powered down the reactor. He sat back in his chair with a frustrated sigh. The tac boat was out of action.

  Jack opened a channel to the task force. “Task Force One, this is Commander Forge. Listen up, Marines. My boat is out of action. I’m on maneuvering thrusters only and I’m down to my backup power supply. I’m dropping out of formation.”

  The task force ships acknowledged Jack’s message. Now they were awaiting orders.

  Jack scanned the asteroid belt ahead on the trajectory he was traveling on. He spotted a large asteroid, BP-13, directly ahead and only an hour away at his current speed.

  The tac boat would drift until close to BP-13, where Jack could set down with maneuvering thrusters. Now Jack needed to nominate a ship to take command of the task force. Bevan had performed well after an initial burst of anxiety. Stone
was an accomplished if inexperienced Marine. Sam Torent was racing ahead too much, but he was the natural choice to take over for Jack. He was experienced and a respected squad leader in Cobra Company. Jack hoped a bit of authority and responsibility would hold him in his position in the task force as they swept on through the asteroid belt. He could not think of anyone better suited. He hoped Torent would not let him down.

  Opening a private channel to Torent, Jack had a final moment of doubt.

  “Jack,” Torent said. “So your boat has broken down. If anyone can fix it, it’s you.”

  Jack’s doubts began to evaporate.

  “This job is a bit beyond me, Sam,” Jack said. “I’m going to have to wait for a support craft to assist. I need a new reactor coil.”

  “Are we going to hold position and wait for you?” Torent said.

  Jack detected a hint of frustration in Torent’s voice.

  “No, Sam. I want Task Force One to carry on with the sweep. We still have enough boats to make an effective sweep. Sam, I want you to lead them.”

  Jack heard the swell of pride in Torent’s voice as he replied.

  “Sir, yes, sir,” Torent said. “I’ll keep them on task, sir. Thank you for showing confidence in me. I won’t let you down.”

  Jack knew Torent would not let anyone down, at least intentionally. He was a natural leader and a strong and powerful Marine.

  Jack opened a channel to the task force to let them know the situation.

  “Attention Task Force One. I’m setting down on BP-13. Squad Leader Sam Torent will be ranking Marine. I will continue to oversee the command of Task Force One from BP-13. Forge out.”

  Jack sat back in his char and watched the flight console as all boats acknowledged his orders. Then he opened a private channel to Torent.

  “Torent here, sir,” Torent said eagerly.

  “It’s not just you out there now, Sam,” Jack said. “Keep that line intact. Maintain proper distance. Check in with the other tac boats regularly. Keep alert for any Chitin activity.”