The laser assembly console erupted in front of Jack, sending showers of sparks and console casing flying across the command deck. Jack turned away and shielded himself from the blast. He felt himself being flung across the command deck. He staggered and tried to keep his feet but fell to his hands and knees anyway.
Jack refused to give in. He clambered back to his feet and went to secondary weapons control console. He was not going to give up as long as the Scorpio had power, as long as he had a pulse pistol on his hip. As long as he had breath in his lungs, Jack was going to fight.
7
Jack steadied himself against the console as another round of green fire slammed into the ship. Jack reduced the range on the laser sheet to concentrate in a smaller area and maintain the power delivered by the laser emitter.
“I’ve taken power from practically every system to put it through the hull stability field. I’ve angled against their main vectors of attack. We should be able to hold them off for a while longer, but this field could collapse at any time.” Pretorius was furiously swiping at the controls on his command chair.
Jack shouted to Pretorius that he’d heard him just as the ship rocked again. Jack glanced at the holostage, which was flickering in and out as the green fire played havoc with the Scorpio’s power systems. The fleet was falling back into a tighter formation. The three destroyers were practically within arm’s length of each other. The Canis and the Aquarius blasted out salvo after salvo of high-ex kinetic hail, their laser assemblies flickering in a hypnotic display as they delivered devastating fire into the Skalidion swarm, creating green balls of death where they struck the fighters. Second by second, the lasers beams were smashing apart one Skalidion fighter after another.
But even with that level of destruction, it had no discernible effect on the swarm as a whole.
Then a massive, seething ball of green fire slammed into the underside of the Aquarius. The lower laser assembly blew out with tortured strands of energy arcing away into space, throwing the Aquarius off beam. When the billowing clouds of energy died away, Jack could see clearly that the lower laser assembly on the Aquarius was out of action.
The frigates and corvettes were holding tight formation on the port and starboard flanks of the destroyer formation. The combined power of the frigates and corvettes were equal to the destroyer and they were giving a good account for themselves, destroying dozens of Skalidion fighters by the second, although they were not as robust. Their main defensive capabilities came from their high degree of maneuverability. The frigates and corvettes danced and weaved, firing when they could, always on the move.
Targeting across the fleet was augmented by the tac boats scattered throughout the formation, which were also lending their fire in the close-quarters engagements. Jack saw the losses mounting as yet another tac boat was destroyed, totally consumed by a burst of green fire from two attacking fighters.
The Scorpio lurched again, the power systems fluctuating. The holoimage flickered on and off, the focus changing randomly as the power fluctuated. Jack glanced at the holostage as the image zoomed out to maximum range, gathering all data from the combined fleet network. It showed the full extent of the Skalidion swarm that had closed in on the fleet, engaging in a brutal and desperate close-quarters battle. Further back out in the system, far behind the front of the swarm, was the nest asteroid—the command center of the Skalidion swarm.
Another bout of green fire slammed into the Scorpio, knocking Jack off his feet as the gravity plate beneath him suddenly intensified the field. Jack pulled himself back up to the console and turned to Pretorius.
“Sir, the nest asteroid. That is their weakness, their only weakness. They can keep taking these losses all day long and they will still win. We need to take down the queen. I just saw her asteroid, lurking far behind the swarm.”
The Scorpio rocked again. The laser assembly went offline as the emitter was melted down to the hull. The Scorpio was out of weapons. Defenseless.
“The combat drones, Jack,” Pretorius said as he gripped the armrests of the command chair to prevent himself from being flung across the command deck. “I’ll maintain the stability field while you get down to one of the tube rooms and fire off every last drone. Target the nest and we’ll take it down.”
Jack staggered across the command deck as the Scorpio rocked under the intense fire from the Skalidion swarm. Pretorius opened a channel to the flagship.
“This is the Scorpio. Hail cannon offline. Laser assembly offline. Deploying remaining combat drones. Targeting the nest asteroid. We’ve identified its position on the edge of the system.”
“Hold your attack, Pretorius,” Stuart said. “I have sent a detachment of frigates to engage the nest asteroid. A combat drone attack will endanger their mission. Hold position. Get ready to extend your hull stability field around the adjacent ships.”
“The frigates are fast enough to get through,” Jack said. He walked over to the main holostage unsteadily as the ship shook violently again. He zoomed in on the small group of frigates breaking away from the starboard flank and blasting their way through the swarm. A combat drone from the Canis slammed into the swarm and blasted a hole for the frigates to race through. But the moment the combat drone antimatter eruption faded, the swarm closed in around the small detachment of frigates streaking toward the nest asteroid in the distance.
And within a moment, they were destroyed.
“I’m getting down to the tube room. We need to load everything and fling it at that nest asteroid.” Jack staggered toward the door.
“Can you activate all combat drones in their weapon racks, Jack?” Pretorius said. Jack looked up at Pretorius with surprise.
“Yes, I think so. I should be able to bypass the detonator lock and activate the combat drones from up here, but if we can’t get them in the tubes, what good are they?”
“The frigates and the corvettes are not heavy enough to push through that swarm. The Scorpio might be.”
“Yes,” Jack said, clenching his fist in front of him, “we can ram it!”
“That’s right. We are doing no good here. We are dead in the water and a sitting target with no offensive capability. Get those drones activated, Jack.”
Pretorius tapped his armrest control panel and opened a channel to the flagship. “I can get through that swarm, Bob,” Pretorius said.
“But, Captain, you are all out of weapons,” Stuart replied.
“The Scorpio is a weapon.” Pretorius said. “I’m going to attack the nest asteroid. I’ve got a load of combat drones that are not going anywhere. I might as well deploy them. We might just be able to win this fight.”
Jack looked up at Pretorius as he activated the drones in the two forward tube rooms. A dozen combat drones were all primed, ready to be detonated at the flick of a holographic switch. Jack realized this was going to be his final mission on the Scorpio. And the Scorpio was going to win.
Realizing this was the last attack, Jack activated the combat drones at the rear tube room and then at the tube rooms along the length of the ship.
It was going to be one mighty blast.
“Combat drones ready, sir.”
“Do it,” Bob Stuart said. “Good luck, Captain Pretorius. You know, if you had been with the fleet when the Scepter went down, you would have been made group captain. The flag should have gone to the Scorpio.” Stuart’s voice sounded sad and full of admiration.
“We’re not changing leader in the middle of a fight, Bob,” Pretorius said. “I’ll take out the queen; you look after the fleet. Scorpio out.”
Jack looked up at Pretorius with a newfound admiration. He had always admired and respected the captain, but now he saw that other captains in the fleet held him in the highest regard too.
“Get on the drive console, Jack,” Pretorius said. “Every bit of extra power we have to hull stability field and main drive. We are going to punch our way through this swarm. The Scorpio is going to take a beating, but we’ll ma
ke it through. Activate drive when you’re ready, Jack.”
Jack primed the reactor conduits to the main drive and hit the activator. The Scorpio leapt forward, slamming into the Skalidion fighters before it. It rocked as the Skalidion fighters exploded, pouring their green fire into the forward section of the Scorpio, billowing off the hull stability field angled like an arrowhead at the front of the Scorpio.
Jack glanced over at the holostage and saw a detachment of ships racing away from the fleet to join the Scorpio.
“It looks like the fleet has sent us some company,” Jack said.
Pretorius was already opening a channel to the detachment of ships forming up around the Scorpio’s drive section, fighting off the Skalidions that were moving in to attack that vulnerable section.
“Hold them off us just long enough until we can get within detonation range of the nest. As soon as we are through the swarm, get back to the fleet and rejoin the formation. Scorpio out.”
Jack hung onto the console and watched the holostage. All he could do was watch. A frigate dancing this way and that moved in between a group of Skalidions that were concentrating their green fire onto the Scorpio’s drive section. The frigate took the fire, angling away with its stability field. It took fire from a dozen Skalidion fighters and was quickly destroyed while defending the fleet’s last desperate chance of defeating the Skalidion swarm.
The Skalidions poured green fire onto the Scorpio’s nose section, darting across the ship’s advance. Many were not able to evade the Scorpio’s headlong rush into the swarm and they collided, being smashed to pieces before exploding. The Scorpio’s forward sections of hull composite crumbled and boiled away into the vacuum of space under the assault.
Jack checked the hull integrity at the forward section. It was failing.
“Closing all emergency bulkheads. It should help hold us in one piece just long enough,” Jack said.
And then Jack was thrown off his feet as the forward hull was breached and the Scorpio depressurized violently.
The Skalidion fighters closest to the Scorpio abandoned their craft and leapt inside through the smashed outer hull.
“Intruders,” Pretorius said as the alarm sounded.
“On it,” Jack called back. He had already opened a channel to Squad Leader Lane.
The Scorpio plowed on, Skalidions inside and out. Jack looked at the distant nest asteroid and wondered if the ship could make it. Desperately, he willed the massive ship onward, even though he knew he was hastening his own destruction—the end of Jack Forge.
8
Lane and his small squad of Marines were pinned down in the corridors beneath the command deck by a group of Beretta’s thugs. The constant shuddering of the Scorpio as she plowed forward made targeting the enemy difficult. Lane used his tactical suit’s stability field to keep himself on his feet as he was buffeted around by the constant explosions on the outside of the massive destroyer.
As one thug fell to the pulse rifle fire, another stepped up to take his place. The small gang of determined, ruthless killers was not going to go down without a fight, even though their leader had abandoned them. A mixture of pride and bloodthirsty aggression kept them fighting on, and Lane would have to pay for every inch of corridor in blood.
Then a huge explosion shook the entire corridor, suddenly and violently. Lane lost his footing, even with his tactical suit stability field activated to keep him stable. He noticed his Marines staggering and falling back.
Lane called out to his squad, but his stutter prevented him from forming a coherent sentence. He felt the pressure of the situation. He needed to know what was going on. He advanced to the front of his squad, pulse rifle at his shoulder. He saw the thugs behind their barricades for a moment before they were all suddenly snatched away.
Before he could understand what had happened, Lane felt the sudden wind leap up behind him, blowing him off his feet and along the corridor. He adjusted his suit’s local gravity field and pinned himself to the deck. His squad came tumbling along the corridor toward him. Some activated their fields and pinned themselves in place, while others went tumbling past him before they were able to stop themselves from being blown away.
Lane checked his wrist-mounted holostage and tapped into the Scorpio’s surveillance network. The power was out in this section, but the environmental report told him that the atmosphere was venting violently, the pressure dropping fast. If the Marines had not been in their tactical suits, they would all be suffocating by now, killed by the vacuum in the forward section of the Scorpio.
The lights flickered as the explosion continued to quake the ship, and then the lights cut out and plunged the corridor into blackness. Lane’s enhanced data view showed him the corridor as a holographic line map. Lane was able to see clearly in the darkness. The position the gangsters had been holding was now unoccupied, the thugs blown out into space.
A message from Jack Forge on the command deck came over Lane’s communicator.
“Squad Leader Lane, this is Major Forge. The Skalidions have taken out the forward section of the Scorpio. We’ve lost the outer hull. The Scorpio is exposed to space. I’ve sealed all emergency bulkheads, but the Skalidion are entering the Scorpio through the exposed forward section. You are the only Marine force on board. Be ready to repel the intruders. I know you can do it. Do you copy?”
“I— I—” Lane started and cursed himself that he could not speak clearly. In his heart, he was confident and sure, determined he could do the job, confident that he could meet any challenge with resolve, fortitude, courage, and strength.
“Relax, Squad Leader,” came the message from Jack Forge, the major calming the new squad leader. “Check your holostage for the enemy’s position. Fall back if you must, but don’t let them flank you. You must protect the command deck at all costs. Do you copy?”
Squad Leader Lane took a breath, clenched his fist, and forced himself to answer clearly and directly.
“Copy, Major. Lane out.”
Lane checked his holostage and expanded the image of the surrounding corridors. There was movement all across the front of the Scorpio. The entire forward section of the Scorpio had been destroyed and was open to space. Every corridor from top to the bottom, from port to the starboard, was alive with Skalidions—fighter drones that had abandoned their craft and were now walking through the corridors looking to kill her from the inside out.
Squad Leader Lane identified the chokepoint he would have to control in order to stop the Skalidions from reaching the command deck.
“With me, Marines,” Lane called to his squad. He ran back along the corridor knowing that the enemy was hot on his heels. All along the Scorpio, the Skalidion were cutting their way forward through the emergency bulkheads, the dark composite being melted away by the green fire weapons the fighters carried in their insectoid hands.
Lane ran back until he came to a sealed emergency bulkhead. The power was fluctuating at the door controls and that meant it would only slide open a fraction. And when it did open, a rush of wind burst through as the atmosphere trapped on the other side blew out. The wind pushed Lane back a dozen meters. He skidded along the corridor until he came to a halt, and then he was running back at the bulkhead in a moment.
Lane grabbed one side of the door, signaling one of his Marines to grab the other side. With the suit’s power and his own will, Lane heaved at the door, pulling it open a fraction more, just enough for a Marine in full tactical gear to squeeze through.
Lane sent the first of his squad through. He turned his back to the slightly-open emergency bulkhead door and aimed his pulse rifle down the length of the corridor to cover the squad’s rear.
And then the Skalidion came around the corner. It moved fast, darting from one side of the corridor to the other. Its meter-long handheld green fire weapon, like a long three-pronged sword, was aimed steadily forward.
Lane didn’t hesitate. He opened fire.
A stream of pulse rounds ripped along t
he corridor and slammed into the Skalidion. The Skalidion’s chest glowed white hot as the rounds slammed home. The fighter fell, its weapon inactive.
The Marines in the corridor all turned, weapons aimed and ready. A second Skalidion came scuttling around the corner, its green fire weapon swinging around to target the Marines. The Skalidion fell immediately to a barrage of pulse rounds from the squad lined across the corridor.
“Don’t stand here. Get through that door. Move!” Squad Leader Lane watched the end of the corridor ready for the next Skalidion, which came a moment later. Lane fired another stream of rounds, knocking the Skalidion off its spindly feet, but before the Skalidion had fallen to the deck, another came, and then another. They turned their weapons toward Lane. He was mesmerized by the glowing green emitter on the end of the long three-pronged weapon.
The two Skalidions fell to a hail of pulse rifle fire, a round striking one high on its ugly insect head. Another taking several to the chest. Wild rounds struck a shoulder, forearm, knee. The result—two dead Skalidions.
But another was coming.
“Squad Leader Lane,” one of the Marines called out, “we’ve got you covered. Fall back.” Lane fired at the latest Skalidion to move into range at the end of the corridor. Then he glanced back over his shoulder. In the narrow gap of the emergency bulkhead door behind him, pulse rifles were pointing through, like pins sticking out of a pincushion. Lane stayed low and scurried across the floor toward the opening. Overhead, pulse rounds poured along the corridor. Lane didn’t waste time turning to see if the targets had been hit. He just made his way as quickly as possible towards the narrow gap through the emergency bulkhead doors and into the relative safety of the corridor beyond.
Lane scurried through the gap. He had to turn sideways to fit his helmet and chest, and once his arms and shoulders were through the gap, hands grabbed him, the hands of his squad, and they dragged him through. Lane moved to the cover at the side of the blast door just as Skalidion green fire slammed into it.
Last Stand Boxed Set Page 25
