Pretorius tapped the control panel. The armada shrank to the side of the stage until it was on the scale that showed the Scorpio. A line that projected the course of the Scorpio appeared on the holostage, leading from the Scorpio to the heart of the Chitin armada.
“We are on a direct heading,” Pretorius said. He pointed out the course projection line, then he tapped the console and the armada again grew to fill the holostage. The line of the Scorpio’s course ran through it. “We can drift right through them. We have been monitoring them for a short while, and they are not altering course. They are heading toward Zelos, their home world. They are not deviating at all. If we hold our heading, and they hold theirs…”
“What if they alter course?” Visser regained her voice.
Jack hoped they did. Anything to get them out of their way.
“If they change course a little, we might end up colliding with one of them.” Pretorius tapped the console and deactivated the holoimage. “Let’s hope they don’t. To be honest, it’s too late for us to do anything. If I risked activating the maneuvering thrusters, we might remain hidden, but I can’t alter our course enough to get around that armada. Anything more and they will detect us for sure. It’s straight through or nothing.”
Jack tried to imagine what that armada looked like in reality. The fuzzy holoimage was a poor representation. He had seen a Leviathan up close. He knew how massive they were. Four of them in formation would be huge, so huge as to be almost totally implausible. Jack looked up. The captain was looking directly at him.
“How do we prepare, Captain?” Jack asked. He heard the confidence in his voice, confidence his heart didn’t fully share, but the positive attitude seemed to satisfy Pretorius and he nodded at Jack with a slight, almost imperceptible, move of his head.
“Continue to prepare the Scorpio for Chitin incursions. If we evade them, we might still have a fight before we return to home space.”
“Even if we don’t evade them, and they detect us,” Visser said, “the Chitins will most likely attempt to board the Scorpio and capture us alive. Jack, you must hold them off and give the captain as much time as possible. Captain, if we are detected and there is an incursion, I have the authority to order a critical capture avoidance strategy.”
Jack noticed Commander Chou look sideways at Pretorius. Griff and Matavesi looked at each other, each wearing a weak smile. Pretorius looked at Visser.
“Fleet Intelligence agent you may be, Agent Visser, but I have total authority on my ship and I will decide when the fight is over.”
“Do I want to know what a critical capture avoidance strategy is?” Jack asked. All eyes fell on him with a mixture of surprise and sadness. Jack was the youngest person at the briefing. He was experienced, but he was still new to the fleet and many of the customs were lost on him.
“We blow up the Scorpio,” Pretorius said. “But we have a mission to complete, so we don’t want to do that. As of this moment, all ship-wide communication is cancelled. The system has been disabled. All non-essential energy use is prohibited. And finally, the entire ship’s company will adhere to a strict regime of complete silence. I want off-duty personnel in their bunks. On-duty personnel at their stations. All in silence, and all ready for action. Is that clear?”
Pretorius looked at his officers. Everyone nodded and spoke their agreement, then fell into a stunned silence.
“If we are going to close all communications, Captain,” Jack spoke up, “I should set up a system of runners. I know the fastest people in Cobra Company. I’ll put them on runner detail.”
“Good idea, Commander,” Pretorius said. “Better put your fastest with me, son.”
“That’ll be me, captain.” Jack stepped away from the holostage. “I’d better notify the runners.”
Pretorius nodded. A slight smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he dismissed the officers.
7
Jack stood next to Pretorius on the command deck. He was dressed in his standard shipboard utility uniform, but had given himself authorization to wear running shoes instead of boots. The other runners were posted at critical areas, wearing the same uniform.
Jack had nothing to do but observe the operation of the command deck. Pretorius spent most of his time at the holostage observing the Chitin armada. He crossed to the large raised chair from time to time, but rarely sat.
Commander Chou spoke quietly, when he did speak. He seemed to be constantly busy, passing the captain hard files as well as electronic documents to review, and managing the officers that worked at the dozen or so command stations around the edge of the deck.
Each operational station had its own holostage and control console, with additional two-dimensional displays for simple text.
Jack had posted a Marine guard at the door of the command center and two Marines from Cobra stood outside, fully suited and armed.
As the minutes ticked by, the image of the Chitin armada became clearer as more data was gathered by the passive sensors and fed into the system. There were clearly hundreds of Kraken fighters flying in squadrons of twelve around the armada.
The path that the Scorpio was destined to travel was highlighted on the holoimage. It passed straight through the armada and out the other side, coming worryingly close to one of the Leviathans. At one point, Commander Chou made a comment, too quiet for Jack to hear, and pointed at the Chitin craft that lay so close to the path of the Scorpio.
“Let’s hope they don’t look out the window,” Pretorius said with a smile.
Jack watched the holoimage intently as the Scorpio drew ever nearer to the huge Chitin armada. He found he was holding his breath for extended periods. When Jack had been in close combat with the Chits, he had breathed easily. He had always been afraid, but it didn’t affect his actions. He breathed easily and moved easily. Now he was tense and gasping for air.
Pretorius, on the other hand, was calm. Jack guessed if the captain was anything like any other soldier, he would be worried too, afraid even. So much could go wrong, and every decision was his to make, and possibly get wrong, but Pretorius looked completely at ease, joking with his first officer and giving a friendly word to other command deck officers from time to time. Jack knew Pretorius was not immune to fear, he was simply able to handle the tension.
And then the tension grew.
Jack noticed a change in the holoimage of the armada. The entire armada was turning. It was a slight change of course to the starboard side. Pretorius watched the holoimage intently. The line of the Scorpio’s course still led straight through the center of the Chitin armada, but one Leviathan was drifting ever closer.
“Time to the armada, Mister Chou,” Pretorius asked.
A countdown clock on the holostage showed the minutes until the Scorpio reached the leading edge of the armada. It was only minutes away, the seconds ticking down in a flickering green holoimage.
Then the Scorpio’s line turned red as the Leviathan drifted over it.
“Time to collision?” Pretorius asked.
Chou threw up another countdown, a flickering set of numbers displayed over the Leviathan.
Jack stepped closer to the holostage. He was only here as a runner, not a Marine commander, so he had no business at the holostage, but neither Captain Pretorius nor Commander Chou prevented him from stepping right up to the display.
“How fast is that Leviathan moving?” Jack asked.
Pretorius shot a glance at Jack, then he relaxed and nodded to Chou. The speed appeared on the Leviathan. It was slow but constant. No acceleration, just a change of direction.
Captain Pretorius looked at Jack. “Hopeful, are you?” he asked.
Jack nodded. “Always hopeful, Captain.”
“Mister Chou.” Pretorius walked over to his chair. “How far will that Leviathan have moved by the time we get there?”
Commander Chou tapped at the control panel. The Leviathan’s image appeared in duplicate, with one copy appearing in red and moving quickly acros
s the holoimage. The line of the Scorpio still touched the red image of the Leviathan, showing that the Scorpio would collide with the distal end of the Leviathan in several minutes’ time.
Pretorius came back to the holostage. “Almost. We just need to get them to move a bit more quickly.”
“Or we can move, Captain,” Jack said.
“The slightest power surge and we will be caught,” Pretorius said. “But if we open up a few doors... Mister Chou, what will happen to the Scorpio’s course if we open up the Marine deck hanger doors?”
Commander Chou tapped the controls and the line of the Scorpio moved slightly to the side. The line flickered. The data projections showed the Scorpio missing the Leviathan, and then hitting. And then missing. It flickered back and forth. Red then green. Alive then dead.
“Will it work?” Jack asked excitedly.
“We’ll find out in a few minutes. Jack, get down to the hangar deck and make sure it’s clear. If we blow any people out of those doors, we might hit a Chitin craft and that could give away our presence. I’ll have the lights brought up to full intensity thirty seconds before I open the doors to let you know you need to get out. The lights will go out five seconds before I open the exterior doors. I don’t want to flash a light into any Chitin pilot’s eyes. They might not like it and decide to attack us.”
Jack nodded and set off toward the Marine hangar deck at a jog. Once in the corridor, he hit a full sprint. The Marine deck was over four hundred meters away through twisting corridors and narrow stairways. Jack ran as fast as he had ever run through the ship. He hoped he would make it there in time.
“Out of my way,” Jack ordered as he ran along the corridor. The Marine deck was still a deck down and a hundred meters away. He jumped up onto the handrail of the stairway, a leg slung over each rail, and he slid down to the lower deck. Jumping off the handrail near the bottom, he hit the ground at full speed. “Get out of my way.”
Nearing the Marine quarters meant Jack was seeing more Marines and few general crewmen. Jack recognized faces that he dashed past. A Marine from Adder Company here, a squad-mate from Cobra Company there. They all pressed themselves to the walls as Commander Forge thundered along.
“Clear the hangar.” Jack ran through the large interior doors to the hangar deck. Marines littered the deck, most were performing some duty he had himself ordered. The Marine landing craft and tactical drop ships sat in neat rows in front of the main hangar door that would be open to space in a few moments.
“Clear the hangar deck. Move, Marines. Move.” Jack shouted clear and hard. The men and women inside began to file out of the deck, back toward the Marine quarters. “Make sure everyone is out.” Jack ran along the lines of tactical drop ships, looking underneath and around every one. “This deck will be decompressed any minute now. Anything or anyone not magnetically pinned down will be space debris. Everyone out.”
As Jack ran along the long deck, he heard the Marines take up the call, shouting for all hands to evacuate the deck. The door at the far end was a mirror of the one Jack had entered through. The last Marines were exiting. The last turned and urged Jack to him. It was Sam Torent.
“Come on, sir,” he called.
Jack slowed. “Seal that door, Sam. I’ll go back and check the deck again.”
Torent nodded once. The wide door came sliding across the opening fast. Jack turned and ran back to the forward door, checking around the Marine craft on their holding pads.
A shadow moved across the front of one of the landing craft. “Hey. You there,” Jack called. He half-jogged along the side of the landing craft to the nose section and the shadow he’d seen moving at the front landing gear.
“This deck will be vented to space. Clear this deck.” Jack craned his neck to see who was skulking there.
“Hey, Jack.” Bill Harts was standing directly in front of the forward landing gear, looking toward a small porthole in the hangar deck exterior door.
“Bill,” Jack said calmly. “What you doing?” Jack moved forward slowly.
“Just hanging out, you know.”
Jack stepped closer. Bill seemed in a trance as he stared at the porthole. “You can’t hang out here, Bill. The captain is going to open the exterior doors.”
Harts’ head drooped and he sighed. “Oh, good. I heard you shouting. I thought I might hide and wait for you to go.”
“Bill…” Jack stepped forward another pace. “We need to get off this deck.” Jack reached out. “Come on, Bill.”
“I can’t,” Bill shouted. He turned toward Jack, a pulse pistol in his hand. He pointed it at Jack, his hand quivering. “I can’t do it anymore.”
Jack took a step back, his eyes fixed on the pulse pistol. He held his hands up before him. “Easy, Bill. No one wants to hurt anyone, right?”
“I can’t do it!” Bill shouted. He held the pistol to his head. “I tried, Jack. I’ve tried so kravin hard to beat it.”
Jack took a step forward. Slowly and softly. He moved toward Bill Harts. “Bill. We can help you.”
Harts shook his head, letting his hand drop to his side. “No, you can’t. I’ve lost. I tried to fight them so hard.”
Bill sounded pitiful, and Jack felt sorry for his former squad-mate. Then Harts’ voice turned vicious and his eyes fell on Jack. The pistol came up.
“You think you fought them, Jack. You don’t know what they’re like.” Bill pointed the pistol to the side of his head. “You don’t know what they are like until they’re in your head.” Snot and tears fell from Harts’ face.
Jack stepped forward. “You’re fighting them now, aren’t you, Bill?” Jack came closer.
Harts nodded and sobbed. “I fight them, but they’re winning. The only way I can get them to stop is…” Harts brought the pistol up again. His hand quivered. He let out a loud growl of anger, rising to a crescendo, then he dropped his hand and fell silent again, head dropped forward. “They won’t let me do it. The only way is to go out there.” Harts pointed at the exterior door. “I’ve been sitting here for an hour trying to finally end the fight. I can’t let them win. I’m going to win. And when you said the deck would be vented to space, then I knew. They can’t stop me going out there.”
Jack took another step forward. Harts raised the pistol and pointed it at Jack.
“They won’t stop me from killing you, Jack.” Harts voice was clear and stable. His hand steady. “Oh, no. They will definitely let me kill you.” He looked toward the porthole. “How long do we have to wait?”
“It’s okay, Bill,” Jack said. “We’ve got all the time we need. Come on, let’s get you off this deck and let the medics take a look at you. We can help you fight this thing.” Jack began to realize what was happening to Harts and Finch. The Chitins had taken control of them, but something was stopping them from taking full control of Harts.
“You can fight them in med bay, Bill.” Jack held out a hand.
The hangar deck was suddenly filled with a bright white light. Jack squinted, but Bill Harts fell to the floor screaming, his hands covering his face. The pistol fell from his grip.
Jack kicked the pistol aside and moved toward the other man. He grabbed Harts’ collar and pulled him up.
“We have to go now, Marine. Clear this deck, now. That is an order.”
“I can’t,” Harts wailed. “I have to end it. You can’t order me anymore.” Bill Harts looked up at Jack and smiled. “How long is left, Jack?”
The lights dimmed again and Jack knew he had only seconds to get off the deck or he would be blown out into the void along with Harts. Bill Harts had been the first person Jack had spoken to after he had been drafted into the fleet Marines. He was not going to be the last.
“Sorry about what happened to you, Bill.” Jack stepped away.
“It’s been good to know you, Jack.” Harts smiled. “Sorry I stole your watch.”
“Come with me,” Jack said as he backed away.
Bill Harts stepped toward the exterior door.
“Watch out for Finch. He’s not Finch anymore.” He looked through the porthole. “Better run, Jack. I know how well you can run.”
Jack turned and ran. He bent over and scooped up the fallen pulse pistol. He couldn’t do anything about Bill Harts, but he couldn’t let the pistol fly off toward the Chits. Jack ran toward the distant doorway. It lay twenty meters away. Jack guessed he had a little over ten seconds before the deck would be vented.
A group of Marines stood in the doorway. They shouted and urged Jack to run to them. Jack realized he wasn’t going to make it.
“Close the door.” Jack dropped out of his run. He came alongside a tactical drop ship. “Close it now. That’s an order.”
Then the lights went out.
Five.
Jack stepped to the tac boat door control.
Four.
“Close that inner door, Marines.”
Three.
The tac boat door began to open and Jack heard the interior door come sliding across to seal the Marine hangar deck from the rest of the ship.
Two.
Jack climbed inside the tac boat before the door was fully open.
One.
Jack began pressing the controls to close the door. The door wouldn’t close until the door was fully open.
The rush of air screeched in Jack’s ears as the air was blown out of hangar exterior door as it slid open.
Jack felt the air inside the tac boat blow him toward the partially open door. He grabbed the webbing used to secure equipment and wrapped his arm around it. The screeching ended, but the wind speed increased. The tac boat door was fully open and Jack was being blown toward the opening. The pulse pistol flew away from him. His hair blew across his face. He reached out and slapped the door controls. The door began to close and the wind dropped.
The air inside the tac boat was thin and Jack felt dizzy. He stumbled toward a locker and tugged it open. A respirator fell out and dropped to the floor. Jack fell onto it, grabbed it with numb hands, and lifted it clumsily to his face.
The cold air of the respirator filled his lungs. Jack coughed and choked on the dry air. He took a second deep breath and felt the feeling return to his hands. He was still dizzy, but he was no longer in fear for his life. He stood up and walked toward the cockpit. Looking out through the transparent composite, he saw that the Marine deck hangar doors were fully open. He saw a dark shape he recognized.
Forged in Darkness (Jack Forge, Fleet Marine Book 4) Page 4
