Forged in Darkness

by James David Victor

Floating in space was often such a lonely place to be, isolated from everyone and everything, and on this occasion, without even a communicator link, but Jack knew he was not alone. The journey to the Chitin facility would take over an hour. Even though he was traveling at Mach eight, nothing appeared to move. When Jack looked behind, he had seen the Scorpio recede quickly, and now it was completely out to sight. Up ahead, there were maybe a dozen Hydras and the Chitin facility, but they were still too far away to be visible. Jack appeared to be floating, static. He felt as if he was pinned to a vast backdrop. He thought of his watch pinned to the wall in his small room. A single body surrounded by a flat, dark, empty background.

  Eventually, the sight of the first Chitin Hydras made Jack wish he was still alone. Feeling alone in empty space was less intimidating than being here with these Chitin craft so nearby. Jack had his pulse rifle slung over his shoulder, but if he was in a fight with a Hydra craft, he might as well be throwing stones as firing with his pulse rifle. The pulse rounds might make a mess of a Chitin soldier’s armor, but it would make little impact on a Hydra’s hull.

  The facility came into view. He was on a perfect course to the top end of the facility. All he had to do then was orientate himself using the elliptical entrance, find the side where the communication room was, and plant the demolition on the outside. Reyes had given him instructions. It should be an easy job.

  The facility he was heading for looked identical to the previous two. He slowed his approach with a blast from his thruster jets. His jet propellant reserves were sufficient to slow him down and get him back to the Scorpio, but there was no room for error.

  Jack found himself floating above the elliptical entrance at the top of the facility. He identified the correct side using the elliptical groove and the long single arm that protruded from the facility, then he made his way along the side of the Chitin facility.

  Jack knew the target room was around one hundred and fifty meters along the cylinder. Mr. Chou had told Jack that as long as it was placed within fifty meters, the device would have the required effect and set up the electromagnetic feedback pulse that would neutralize the entire network.

  He wanted to be as accurate as possible, and quickly found his spot. He took the bag holding the demolition device off his back and positioned it on the external shell of the facility.

  Jack spent no time admiring his handiwork. The job was done and if the device was detonated now, the network would be disabled. Jack had completed his task and the Scorpio had almost completed its mission. Jack checked for the correct heading on his sleeve-mounted direction finder and the moment he was orientated toward the Scorpio, he fired his thrusters.

  The Chitin facility fell away suddenly, and Jack felt inertia squeeze his body. He adjusted the suit’s internal inertia dampening system and took some of the discomfort out of the sudden movement. Somewhere in the black distance was the Scorpio. He was hurtling through space at close to Mach eight, firing blind at a target he hoped would be there when he arrived.

  A Hydra craft circling the Chitin facility turned nearby, the dark shape glinting briefly in the black void. It sent a shiver down Jack’s spine and he began looking about intently, trying to pick out any of the Hydra craft he knew to be in the area. They were hidden from sight somewhere in the black of space. Their presence made all the more troubling by their near invisibility.

  The Scorpio appeared in front of Jack. At first, it was mere point, and then within a few minutes, Jack could make out the shape. In only a few minutes more, he could tell the captain to detonate the device and their mission truly would be completed. Then home.

  Jack reflected on this for a moment. Where exactly was home these days? It was getting to a point where he’d spent more time on the Scorpio than he ever had in his university dorm. He had spent many years in his home town, out in the countryside, but that hardly felt like home anymore. The Scorpio grew larger and larger, and Jack realized that as much as it was cold and lonely and dirty and broken, this was his home. It made him feel happy and sad, that this was currently the only home he had.

  Then the cannon fired.

  The silent explosion of fire and fury shocked Jack. A flash of light lit up the side of the Scorpio as the high-density round was fired. Jack could see the glowing muzzle of the cannon shrink back into its housing. Then it appeared to extend outwards with another flash and recoil.

  The glowing muzzle appeared to be pointing right at him. He was literally staring down the barrel of a gun big enough to fire him clear across the system.

  The shell that flew past Jack missed by a hundred meters or more. The second, glowing as it came, was not any closer. Jack guessed the Scorpio was not firing at him. Then his helmet communicator crackled to life. The sudden explosion of sound startled Jack as much as anything had all day.

  “Mister Forge, we are discovered. Use any reserves you have available. Hydras incoming.”

  With the captain’s voice still echoing in his helmet, Jack spent the last few grams of propellant, saving only enough to slow to a sub-terminal speed. Jack hoped the Marine hangar door was open, and it had better be open wide, because in all the excitement, Jack wasn’t sure how accurate his aim had been.

  Then the Chitin facility detonated. The flash, brilliant white, lit up space like a small white star. Jack turned instinctively to the light and saw the silhouettes of several dozen Hydra craft racing toward him.

  The hangar door was open ahead of him and the lights of the deck welcomed him home. Jack could make out several individuals standing on the deck. As he came closer, he could see the figures of Marines in their meat suits. Then Jack saw a large cargo net slung across the deck, suspended from the deck to the ceiling. It looked as if the Marines were expecting him to be coming in fast.

  He was coming in fast. Too fast. He expended his propellant to slow him still further, but he hit the net hard. It was made of thick and heavy composite threads. They wrapped around him as he flew into it and carried it with him clear across the hangar deck to where he collided with the far wall.

  Jack fell to the deck, Marines in their meat suits rushing to him. He noticed the hangar doors were closing rapidly and he saw the broadside from the Scorpio light up space as it fired on the incoming Hydras.

  As the hangar door closed, Jack saw a Hydra vaporize as a round from the Scorpio’s broadside hit. Then the door closed. Jack felt the rumble of the port-side battery as it poured fire on the incoming Hydras.

  “What the hell happened?” Jack said, untangling himself from the net.

  “Beats me, sir.” It was Torent. “Commander Griff told us to come and let you in, and stop you from splattering yourself all over the hangar deck.”

  Jack raced to the exit and headed toward the command deck. He ran up a set of stairs, powering the servos in his suit to allow him to climb them in one bound. He came crashing into the command deck, barely aware of the aches and pains all over his body.

  “Helmet,” Griff said sharply, looking at Jack. “Off. Now.”

  Jack was barely aware he was still in his suit. He pulled the helmet off and tucked it under his arm.

  “What happened?”

  “It was Finch,” Matavesi said. “He fired the cannon. I think he wanted to alert the Chits to our presence.”

  “What?” Jack yelled. “I knew we should have executed that kravin scroat.”

  “Control yourself, Mister Forge.” Pretorius moved around Jack, tapping controls and studying the situation. “Remember where you are.”

  “How did he escape?” Jack realized it was irrelevant at this time. “Where is he?”

  “He was last seen leaving the servicing area for the cannon he fired,” Pretorius said. “We saw him heading to the engine room.”

  Jack stepped away from the holostage. “I’m going to find him and stop him.”

  Griff was looking at a portion of the holostage showing a grid map of the Scorpio. He was deploying the battalion. “Go,” he said without looking up.
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  Jack ran. It was a long way to the engine room. He pulled his helmet back on.

  The ship’s broadcast system crackled to life. Jack heard the captain’s voice from the speakers embedded in the composite walls and over his helmet communicator. “All hands. Stand by to repel boarders. Chitin Hydras have attached themselves to the hull. They are cutting through.”

  Jack’s communicator crackled and he heard Matavesi’s voice. “Jack,” she said, “the engines are down. It must be Finch. Hurry.”

  Jack opened a channel to Reyes. If anyone could get the engines going, it was her. Whatever damage Finch had done, Reyes could fix it.

  “Sarah, meet me in the engine room. I think we’ll need you to get this ship moving again.” Jack swerved around a group of Marines from Boa Company setting up their defense of the port-side upper main corridor.

  “Jack Forge,” the voice hissed in Jack’s ear. The communicator identity was Sarah Reyes but that wasn’t her voice. Jack recognized it, but he didn’t believe it. “I’ve got Reyes here. Hurry on down here, Jack, and we’ll have a little reunion.”

  Jack heard Sarah’s frightened screams and Finch’s laughter. Jack ran faster, the suit assisting his run. He felt the hot sweat of anger and exertion flash all over his skin. The system’s cooling system brought his suit’s temperature back down, but the heat of anger remained.

  19

  Jack heard the first bursts of pulse rifle fire from a side corridor. The Chitins had broken through. The Marines at the barricade in front of Jack turned as he came running toward them.

  “Lower that weapon, Marine,” Jack said as he ran toward the group of Marines from A Company. Jack could see that their name tags had no combat star. These Marines were raw replacements, not a veteran among them.

  Jack noticed all their medical readings showed signs of anxiety. Jack slowed. He patted a Marine on the shoulder.

  “You ready?” he asked

  The group nodded. A burst of fire came from behind Jack. The Chits were closing in. The heart rates of the replacements jumped up another notch.

  Jack took one of the Marine’s pulse rifle and checked the weapon. “Pulse coil charged. Magazine locked. Fully loaded. Primed. EB charged and ready to light up.” Jack handed the rifle back. “Good work, Marine. You are ready.”

  Jack stepped past them and through the barricade. “Stay alert.”

  The group saluted Jack as he left. Jack hoped they’d survive and get their red combat star.

  Jack came to the main junction on the corridor, stairs up and down, corridors running off left and right. A group of veterans from Cobra were holding position.

  A sustained burst of pulse rifle fire came from the direction of the novice group Jack had just passed. The Chits were moving along the main corridors, and they were meeting resistance.

  “What are you doing here?” Jack asked the veteran team as he ran toward the stairway down.

  “We are a mobile response team, ready to move, sir.”

  Jack pointed back the way he’d come. “Support that fire team at the barricade.”

  The group ran toward the rifle fire. Jack heard a familiar sound of Chitin plasma spears fizzing through the air.

  The lower port-side main corridor was quieter, only the echoing of the gun fire from above. Jack ran toward the engine room access corridor. He ran around the corner.

  The rifle fire ripped the air around Jack. He dived to the floor and brought his rifle up to his shoulder.

  “Cease fire,” Jack heard the shout from behind the barricade up ahead. “Cease fire. It’s Commander Forge.”

  Jack stood up and strode forward toward a group of agitated Marines. A mixed squad of replacements and veterans from Adder Company. The replacements were nervous. The squad leader held his hand up in apology.

  “Sorry, sir. We heard rifle fire. The replacements…” the squad leader trailed off.

  “Stay alert, Squad Leader,” Jack said as he walked up to the barricade. “Has any one come this way, either into or out of the engine room?”

  The squad leader shook his head. “No, sir.”

  Climbing through the beams, Jack saw the Marines who had fired at him. Jack fixed them with a stare. “You missed,” he said. “Don’t miss again.”

  Jack broke into a run and headed toward the engine room.

  Jack ran the last section to the engine room. The vast space was filled with control panels, conduits, and subsystem workspaces. The central area was dominated by the massive fusion drive assembly.

  Jack scanned the room for the heat signatures of Reyes and Finch. There were a hundred hiding places in the room and Finch could be anywhere. Even though the reactor had only been active for a few moments before Finch had sabotaged it, the residual heat from the drive and the various subsystems were perfect thermal camouflage. The heat from the dead engines would fade, and eventually Jack would be able to detect his prey, but Jack wasn’t sure they would have enough time. They were dead in the void and there would be more Chitins moving in on the Scorpio. They couldn’t hold out forever.

  “You know you are trapped in here, Finch?” Jack shouted out. The room was large but silent. His voice would carry.

  A whispering voice came over Jack’s helmet radio. It was Reyes communicator identity again, but it was still Finch’s voice. “I’ve got time,” he said. “I can stay hidden long enough.”

  Jack brought his rifle up and began to creep forward. His helmet’s enhanced data overlay searched for any hint of Finch.

  “You waiting for your Chitin friends to come and rescue you?” Jack stepped forward. “How do you know they won’t just destroy the Scorpio?”

  “No, Jack,” Finch said. “You are too valuable. A whole ship full of potential Chitin agents. I don’t think they’ll destroy the ship. You are quite safe, for now.”

  Jack moved cautiously. He moved slowly. He didn’t have time for this.

  “I might kill you, Jack,” Finch said. “We don’t need you. We’ll have enough Marine grunts to keep us busy. The conversion process can be quite distressing. It would be good to see how you cope with it, but I much prefer to simply kill you.”

  A pistol shot rang out around the room and a round ricocheted off a conduit near Jack’s head. Finch was serious about wanting Jack dead, but he was foolish in giving his position away. Jack’s meat suit identified the location the shot had come from. Jack looked and used every scanning frequency and bio-detection filter to search the area. A shape, a hazy spread of bio data, was detected on an upper gantry.

  Jack identified a route that would take him to the gantry without exposing him to another shot. He moved quickly to the bottom of a long ladder up to the gantry where Finch was holding out. The noise of pulse rifle fire leapt up suddenly. Jack knew that the defenders at the barricade had made contact with the Chitins. The rifle fire was prolonged and sustained.

  Jack grabbed hold of the ladder and began to climb. It was several stories up and Jack was vulnerable. If Finch realized where he was, he could take a few free shots before Jack could return fire, but there were several routes up to the gantry. Jack took the risk, climbing quickly and silently.

  At the top of the gantry, Jack could see the entire drive assembly and fusion reactor. It ran the whole length of the engine room. The gantry was part of a mass of elevated walkways and had several work stations positioned along it. Any one of them could offer cover. Jack advanced cautiously.

  “Sounds like your time is nearly up,” Finch said as the rifle fire continued. “I don’t think those Marines can hold them off for long. I managed to get around them too easily. I’m sure the Chitins will too.”

  A pistol shot slammed into his right shoulder. The force knocked him sideways and a second round slammed into his helmet. Jack’s head was knocked back by the shot. He went down onto his knees. The shots had come from a dark recess in a subsystem block. Now Jack had Finch cornered.

  Jack ran, moving from the cover of a console to the cover of a subsystem
control unit. He moved in. Jack could see there was no way for Finch to escape.

  “Come out, Finch,” Jack said. “I’ll make it quick.”

  The figure stepped out from the shadows and Jack raised his rifle, his finger on the trigger, but then he stopped. It was Reyes. Her mouth was covered by a layer of heavy tape, her hands bound before her and fastened to a cord that ran back into the shadows. There were tears rolling down her cheeks but fierce defiance in her eyes.

  “Don’t feel like firing anymore, Jack?” Finch said, his voice coming from the recess. “Maybe you should, Jack. Reyes is probably the most interesting person on board, from our point of view. She can use Chitin tech. That is fascinating. We could convert her easily, and she could help us understand how your tech works. She managed to stop this entire engine by removing one part. She’s a genius, and a traitor for disabling the engines. Shoot her, Jack.” Finch shoved Reyes further out from the recess.

  “You okay, Sarah?” Jack asked, taking a cautious step forward.

  Reyes nodded.

  Then Jack saw the pistol in the shadow, pointing at Reyes’s head. “Or maybe she’s not as valuable as we think. But—” Finch jabbed the pistol against her head, his voice growing vicious. “—maybe I should pay her back for killing me?”

  “It was an accident,” Jack said, stepping forward. The pistol was in view. Jack could take the shot and disarm Finch.

  The rifle fire from the corridor outside died down.

  “Time’s up, Jack,” Finch said. “Sounds like your defensive line has crumbled. They’ll be here to take you soon, but I can’t bear the thought of hearing you in my head when they turn you, so…” Finch pushed Reyes over the handrail and stepped out of the recess, pistol aimed.

  It happened in a moment. Jack watched Reyes fall in silence, then he raised his rifle to shoot Finch dead, but before Jack could pull the trigger, Finch fell, quivering and shaking.

  “Lower your weapon, Marine,” Visser shouted from the darkness. Her black Fleet Intelligence uniform returned her to the visible spectrum, and Jack saw the tazer in her hand. “You heard me, Marine. Lower your weapon.”