“Oh, I think you can still manage to torment me a little,” Jack said. He stepped forward, pulling the pistol off his hip holster and aiming it at the back of Beretta’s head.
Beretta spun around, eyes and mouth open wide. He struggled to speak and looked back at the holoimage of the explosion. The flash had faded and was replaced by a glowing dull orange ball of burning gas and dust.
“I think I’ll take control of the tac boat,” Jack said. He fired his pulse pistol, sending a low-yield pulse into Beretta’s shoulder. The thug slumped forward onto the flight console. Jack grabbed the bottle of Amber from Beretta’s limp hand and slapped his pistol back onto his thigh, the tactical suit holster taking hold of it. Jack grabbed Beretta by the back of his collar and pulled him out of the pilot’s seat, flinging him back into the cabin.
Pretorius opened a supply locker and found a set of manacles. He slapped them on Beretta before securing him into a seat, then he activated a containment field and fixed the unconscious Beretta in place.
“The nest asteroid,” Jack said, looking at the holostage. He slid into the pilot’s chair. “It’s completely destroyed.” Jack grabbed the cap for the bottle of Amber and replaced it, slamming it home with the palm of his hand before stowing the untouched liquor next to his chair. “Look, the Skalidion swarm,” he said, sitting up in his seat, “it’s completely out of control.”
The image on the holostage showed the swarm adrift in orbit around planet Blue. Their orbits decayed rapidly as they plunged into the atmosphere, burning up like a thousand shooting stars as the last of the civilian fleet touched down on their new home world.
“Sam, come and help me pilot the tac boat. Let’s get back to the fleet.”
Sam dropped into the copilot seat next to Jack. He was calm and distant.
“How did you survive? Did the tactical suit med package patch you up?” Jack asked, looking at his friend with a mixture of surprise and wonder.
Sam held up his right arm, the sleeve of his tactical suit hanging limp and empty. The Mech arm was missing. He pulled the gauntlet off his tactical suit and showed Jack the missing arm.
“No, Jack. The Mech tissue from my arm reformed my heart. It wanted to live. It needed Sam Torent to survive. Without the Mech arm, I was not complete. Without Sam Torent’s beating heart, the Mech tissue of the arm could not survive. It’s inside me now. It healed my heart. It is in my veins. But it’s not enough. I need more. The Mechs will know I am injured. They will be with me soon. I am still Sam, but I am, and I have always been, Mech.”
Jack looked at Sam. The belligerent, feisty Marine had been replaced by a serene individual. It looked like Sam and sounded like Sam, but a part of Sam was missing. Jack was still happy to have some part of his friend at his side.
Jack patted Sam on the shoulder. “You’ll always be my friend, Sam.”
“And Sam Torent will always be a friend of Jack Forge.”
“We are coming up on planet Blue.” Jack turned back to the flight console. He maneuvered through the drifting remains of the Skalidion fighter swarm. A Blade squadron swept through the inactive swarm, blasting the Skalidion fighters that tumbled aimlessly, destroying them as they drifted. Corvettes and frigates lined up and blasted huge shots of high-ex kinetic hail into the drifting swarm to tear the enemy fighters to shreds.
The Aquarius swept around the flanks of the swarm and pushed them up like a bulldozer with its hull stability field, sending them toward the center of the system, toward the blue giant where they fell into the nuclear fire to be consumed utterly.
“Flagship Canis. This is Major Forge aboard Scorpio Tac Boat One. Request permission to board. We have two Marine officers, one Fleet captain, and one prisoner aboard. Request you meet us with an armed Marine unit to detain the prisoner.”
The return message from the Canis crackled over the communicator.
“This is the Canis. Marine Hangar Deck One is open for you, Major Forge. Welcome back. Canis out.”
10
The boarding ramp of the tac boat slid down to the deck of the hangar aboard the Canis. A group of Fleet Marines and Fleet Intelligence enforcers was waiting at the base of the ramp. The intel agent with them stepped forward and up to Jack as he walked down the ramp.
“Major Forge. You captured Beretta and destroyed the Skalidion. I’m not sure we have a promotion that will adequately reward you for all this.”
Jack smiled at the agent in front of him. His old friend Sarah Reyes.
“Agent Reyes,” Jack said. He took her hand and shook it warmly. “I don’t need a promotion. In fact, I’d quite like to have some responsibility taken off me. Maybe I’ll start with a vacation. Maybe I’m finally ready to retire from the Fleet Marine Service.”
“Anything you like,” Reyes said.
A pair of enforcers walked up the boarding ramp and entered the craft. They came back out a moment later with Lou Beretta between them. Beretta was shouting obscenities at Jack, his face contorted in fury, but the anechoic field they’d established around Beretta’s head meant that the words only traveled into his own ears. Fueled by his anger in a perpetual loop of hate.
Jack ignored Beretta. He turned and helped Pretorius down the ramp. The old captain looked tired.
A Fleet officer with commander bars on his collar stepped forward.
“Welcome aboard, Captain,” the officer said with a salute.
Pretorius nodded and returned the salute.
“Group Captain Stuart has requested you join him on the command deck.”
Pretorius shook his head. “I think I’ll head off to the nearest med-bay first. Inform Group Captain Stuart I’ll be with him once the doctor has seen me.” He turned to Jack and patted him firmly on the shoulder. “And I think you will be able to go wherever you like right now, Jack my boy. Let me know where you get to and I’ll be happy to meet up sometime.”
Jack turned to Sam. Sam was looking pale and unsteady on his feet. Jack held Sam by the arm and supported him.
“They are on the way, Jack,” Sam said. “The Mechs never stopped watching.”
“What are they going to do?” Jack said, suddenly feeling angry, feeling aggressive. If the Mechs thought they could come here and take Sam from him, they were mistaken.
“I am Mech, Jack,” Sam said. “Ever since they gave me my arm, they have been some part of me. They won’t harm me. They will come and take me, or maybe heal me, but I will be fine. What about you, old friend?” Sam laid his human hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Where will you go now?”
“I guess…” Jack said, looking around the hangar deck of the destroyer Canis. “Anywhere I like.”
This hangar bay was familiar in so many ways to the Scorpio. It had been built on the same design as all Fleet destroyers, but this ship had its own feel and subtle differences. Jack could pretend he was aboard the Scorpio, but he could see enough difference to know that he was not. This was a different ship. This would never truly be his ship.
“Think I would quite like to get down onto the surface of planet Blue. Feel a planet beneath my feet, fresh air on my skin. Feel real gravity for a change.”
“Sounds good,” Sam said. There was a flicker of his old voice, a familiar sound that made Jack happy and content.
“I’ll be sure to come and visit you, wherever you are,” Sam said.
Jack took a knee on the deck of the Canis and rested for a moment. He took a deep breath. He realized in that moment just how close to failure he had come, and just how close to annihilation the entire fleet had come. It washed over him, a wave of relief from anxiety.
But he had won.
Jack sat on the timber bench, his face warmed by the setting sun. He looked over the rolling grassy plains of planet Blue. The huge blue star was setting in the dark red horizon, and long shadows were falling over the plains. Jack stood up off the small chair he had made for himself with some soft yet strong local timber.
He looked over to the small group of agricultural drones
that worked the small fields alongside his cabin. Jack had marked out the several neat lines of tilled dark earth where now the drones were growing some familiar fruit and vegetables as well as some modified local plants. Jack’s garden was rich and bountiful. It provided him with interesting and varied meals, and a pleasant view.
He turned his back to his fields and stepped into his cabin, the door shutting behind him with a quiet but reassuring click.
The small table was laid, and the heavy pot on the stove was bubbling merrily. A rich stew was ready. Jack poured a healthy portion into his bowl and sat down to eat.
The cabin was larger than his old office aboard the Scorpio, but the timber walls were quieter and warmer. The cabin was warmed by the fire in the small wood-burning stove. In one corner, there was a small chest covered with a cloth. This chest contained Jack’s history: his Fleet Marine pulse pistol, his platinum star, and his major’s stripe that still sat on the old, dark jacket he had once worn so often.
On a small dresser next to his bed laid his pocket-watch. He didn’t need to tell the time—his days were now governed by the rise and fall of the giant blue star, not by watch rotations. Next to his watch sat his wrist-mounted holostage. It was how he stayed in touch with the friends he had made throughout the fleet.
Jack bit down on a chunk of hot vegetable in rich sauce. Real food still tasted so good after all this time on the planet surface. Jack had spent too long eating sticky nutrition bars and drinking from hydration packs. A glass of fresh, clear water and a bowl of hot stew was bliss.
A distant chirp caught Jack’s ear. He looked over to the personal holostage on the dresser next to his bed. An incoming message.
Jack stood and took a step toward the dresser. Then he stopped and sat back down at the small table and his hot meal.
A domestic drone sitting silently in the corner spoke up.
“Shall I take the call for you, sir?”
“No.” Jack sat back in his chair, his hands behind his head as he looked up at the low timber ceiling of his wonderful little home.
“If it’s important, they’ll call back.”
Thank You For Reading
Thanks for reading these last three stories of the Jack Forge, Lost Marine saga. Jack has done everything he can to save humanity and it’s time for a change of pace. Hopefully, he can find the peace he has fought so hard for.
And if you would like to know about the events that led to Jack and Sam being stranded in space, fighting to save humanity again, check out the Jack Forge, Fleet Marine series where Jack goes from unwilling Marine to savior of humanity.
Get the Forged in Space Omnibus, which contains the first three stories in the Jack Forge, Fleet Marine series here:
amazon.com/dp/B07BJ8JBHG
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Last Stand Boxed Set Page 27
