Sam nodded. "I'll keep my squad mobile," Sam said, unstrapping his pulse rifle from his shoulder and holding it across his chest. "We'll hit them and run, and then hit them again."
Sam pointed at the Marines who were to join him. All stepped up, instantly ready for action. They fell in step behind Sam as he moved swiftly off the command deck, running down the corridor to take up position in the vast ship.
Turning his back on the holostage the moment the attacking raiders entered the upper atmosphere, Jack looked at the remaining Marines on the command deck. The Marines were standing ready, loosely spread about the large command deck. Pulse rifles at the ready.
"Listen up, Marines. We've got an attack force moving in determined to take this ship. A Fleet destroyer is on its way, but we're the only thing that can stop the Devex now. The narrow entrance to this command deck will reduce the effectiveness of their numbers, but we still have to fight doubly hard to maintain our position. I haven't had time to get to know you personally, but if you are Marines, you won't let the civilians down, you won't let the Marine Service down, and you won't let yourself down."
An alert from his tactical suit’s communicator told Jack that Commander Scherer was moving to attack the incoming raiders.
"Take your positions," Jack said, swinging up his pulse rifle. He walked toward the command chair and looked down the command deck corridor, preparing to fire on the enemy that would soon be moving into that narrow kill zone. "Get ready for action."
Climbing up into the command chair and activating the main holostage, Jack looked down on the image of the civilian transport. The enemy was closing in and reducing speed, making ready to land on the transport.
A blast of hail cannon fire tore out of the dark green swamp and slammed into the starboard side of the lead raider. The attacker broke off its descent and arced away from the hail cannon fire.
The next raider altered course and charged toward the source of the fire. It lit it up its rapid-fire blasters, and a stream of white energy bullets slashed through the green mist and the dense foliage. Tearing up the dark leaves and slamming into the black waters, the stream of bullets searched for a target.
A second blast of hail cannon fire slammed into the attacking raider from a hundred meters to the left of where the first blast had come from. Jack fed the ident data from the tac boats into his wrist-mounted holostage and looked for the position of Scherer and his tac boat squadron.
The tac boats were arranged in a line of three several kilometers off the civilian transport’s starboard side. The boat now firing sat in front of the line and was moving laterally, changing location between blasts of hail cannon fire.
Two of the attacking Devex broke off from the main group and raced across the dark swamp toward where the hail cannon fire was coming from. Their rapid-fire blasters raked the swamp, the fierce white energy bullets burning through foliage and turning the dark water to steam.
Jack watched the tac boat move sideways through the foliage, crashing through one dense patch after another, its maneuvering thrusters throwing up swamp water around it.
The attacking raiders that had broken off from the main group concentrated their fire toward the single maneuvering tac boat. A stream of white energy bullets slammed into the dark water centimeters from the boat’s forward section.
At that instant, a blast of hail cannon fire from the two flanking tac boats behind the single moving tac boat slammed into the two attackers.
The kinetic hail struck the forward section of both attacking ships. First the hull material was superheated in tiny points where the kinetic hail struck, and then it glowed across the entire section as more of the tiny rounds hit and detonated, eventually vaporizing the entire forward section of both raiders.
The first Devex that had been hit was fleeing across the swamp and drawing close to the position of the hidden allied Devex. Jack watched closely. What were they going to do, given the opportunity to destroy an already crippled Devex Raider? Were these allies truly here to support Jack? Or were they going to show their true colors and join the attackers?
The damaged raider began to climb toward the clouds. With its drive systems pointing directly down to the surface and within range of the hidden allied Devex, Jack clenched his fist and urged the allied Devex to destroy the damaged craft. Jack imagined what the situation would have to be for him to open fire on one of his own craft. Jack knew the Devex would never open fire on their own. For all the intelligence the allied Devex had provided, Jack knew that he could not authorize the destruction of his own kind.
Jack punched the air in front of him in frustration as the signal from the Devex craft raced away to high orbit. A communication channel sparkled into life from the allied Devex.
"I did not want to give away our position," the Devex said. "Better we maintain our cover until we are really needed."
Jack closed the channel. He could not bring himself to reply. He felt the Devex were always going to pick their time to act and would never choose to destroy their own kind. If the allied Devex continued to provide Jack with useful intelligence, then they could still be a useful ally, but Jack knew they were not adding to his combat strength.
The attacking raiders all moved off toward the location of the hidden tac boats. Advancing in loose formation, they fired wildly into the dense foliage. The bullets smashed through the dark leaves. Commander Scherer appeared on the main holostage, looking out at Jack.
"They are zeroing in on our position, Major. I will have to break cover. If I attack, we have a chance. If I sit here, we are finished."
Jack knew the risk, but the Devex were firing blind. They knew there were enemy craft with heavy firepower somewhere in the swamp, but they did not know exactly where, and crucially, they did not know how many.
"Maintain cover, Commander. Divert power to your upper hull integrity field. If they zero your position, break cover and engage. The longer they are hunting for you, the less time they'll have trying to retake the civilian transport."
Jack accessed the sensor data from the tac boat squadron and presented the data on the main holostage. Now viewing the enemy from the tac boat’s point of view, Jack could see the white energy bullets slamming into the swamp all around. The rounds were coming ever closer. If one hit a tac boat, then the feedback from the collision would be enough to highlight its location. One lucky hit was all the Devex would need. And seven raiders were more than a match for four under-crewed tac boats.
Jack opened a channel to the allied Devex. He could not simply watch his boats be destroyed.
"Ally Devex, this is Forge. The attacking raiders are focused on finding the tac boat squadron and have their tails to you. Advance and give fire. Bring them down now. I am giving you an order."
"I do not take orders from you, Jack Forge," the Devex replied coldly.
"Then what good are you to me," Jack said, spitting in anger.
The tac boat on the far right was struck by a single energy bullet. The hull integrity field absorbed the energy, distributing it over the surface of the field, but the point of impact glowed momentarily like a small sun deep in the dark swamp. All attacking raiders turned their fire on that location.
All four tac boats leaped vertically from their hiding places in the swamp, hail cannons blasting out huge gouts of kinetic hail at the attacking raiders.
"This is Commander Scherer. Breaking cover, Major. Time to fight back."
Jack watched the four tac boats climb and then scatter as the remaining attacking raiders concentrated their fire on the one that took the hit. As the tac boat performed emergency evasive maneuvers, it was struck again on the port-side hail cannon. Streams of Devex energy bullets plowed into the same point, spinning it off course. The main drive flared and kicked the tac boat away, but the raiders had it in their sights and fired a merciless stream of bullets into the drive section.
One of the Marines standing in the command deck was staring at the holostage and shouted in frustration
.
"Eject, krav it. Eject."
Jack watched the sensor data on the main holostage. He remained quiet but was thinking the same thing as his fellow Marine. No ejection procedure was reported. The tac boat turned on one of the raiders firing on it. The high-energy laser and both flank hail cannons fired briefly before the tac boat erupted in a billowing cloud of orange fire. The green mist surrounding the boat glowed brightly before turning dull brown. The burning boat crashed into the black water, leaving a white cloud in its wake.
The instant the tac boat was destroyed, the raiders turned on the remaining three boats.
Commander Scherer, leading his three-boat squadron in a head-on charge, came in all guns blazing. The hail cannon blasted a series of high-ex rounds before switching to high-velocity kinetic hail. The Devex raider’s white energy bullets raced away in a chaotic stream, flickering through the green mist..
And then the allied Devex raiders broke cover.
Jack leaned toward the holostage as he saw the raiders rise slowly out of the dark swamp. The four allied raiders moved together, their forward sections pointing directly toward the left flank of the tac boat squadron as it raced in on its headlong charge toward the attacking Devex.
Jack held his breath.
The allied Devex jumped to high speed, the green clouds swirling behind them as they raced toward the two sets of ships moving into. The allied raiders opened fire, their streams of white energy bullets tearing across the sky. And all four white energy streams slammed into the lead attacking Devex.
The raider erupted in billowing explosion before arcing down to the dark swamp. The allied raiders’ bullet streams re-targeted the next attacker, and the tac boats targeted the same ship. High-energy lasers slammed into the nose, and white energy slammed into them from the side, catching them in a crossfire. Another attacking raider fell to the dark waters, and the remaining attackers broke off the attack and began to retreat.
Commander Scherer was in no mood to let any of the enemy escape. Now one-on-one, with the Devex in retreat, the tac boat squadron engaged with all weapons targeted on the raiders’ drive sections. Before the attacking raiders could make it through the lower cloud level, all were falling back to the planet broken and in flame.
Jack opened a channel to Commander Scherer. "Good work, Commander. You held them off. Relocate and grab some cover."
"Copy that, Major. Send a thank you to our new allies. Scherer out."
Looking at the image of the four allied Devex raiders on the holostage, Jack saw them turn and slowly return to their original hiding place. He leaned on the holostage to open a channel, but he noticed the ship at the rear of the formation drop behind its companions.
Jack checked through the logs of the battle to see if that raider had taken any damage. It hadn’t even fired a shot. Just as Jack began to wonder if the ally was as committed to protecting these people as the Devex leader, the raider began to climb rapidly through the atmosphere.
"Allied Devex, this is Forge. One of your Raiders is leaving. Why?"
"The raider will not respond."
"Stop it! If that raider gets away, it will be able to tell the Devex how few of us there are down here. Stop it now!"
Jack looked at the image on the holostage and saw the three remaining allied raiders slowly and turn toward the escaping ship that was already in high orbit.
"If you can't convince that Devex raider to stop then you must shoot it down."
"Understood. It is the best and surest way to ensure no information is delivered to the Devex on the defensive strength you have here."
Jack watched the holoimage of the ships in pursuit of their recent companion. And then the raider leaped to high speed and raced toward the system’s star. It fell down the star’s gravity well and scorched through the corona, slingshotting away out of the system.
"We were too late, Jack Forge. The raider has escaped. We will take cover and wait to defend your position when the next wave of Devex comes. We do not want these humans being given to the Skalidion. We are on your side."
"They let it get away," one of the Marines shouted in anger as Jack closed the communication channel.
"Focus, Marine. Concentrate on your job and we’ll be fine. Expect another attack soon. Take some rations, rest if you can, but be ready. They'll be back again soon."
And Jack knew that when the Devex were told how few defenders there were, they would send the proper number of raiders to swiftly and successfully complete the job. Before long, the corridors outside the command deck would be filled with pulse rifle fire and white energy bullets.
The battle had only just begun.
7
The workshop deep in the heart of the carrier ship Scepter was dark. Sarah Reyes' workbench was lit by only a harsh white light shining down from above. Parts of Devex exo-armor lay scattered across the bench, and next to it lay a pile of parts taken from a Devex warship. Sarah had finally discovered the secrets of the Devex matter transport. In front of her lay the small device, a test device, and now she was about to test it.
The device was no larger than a pulse pistol, but it took ten times the energy to activate even once. Right now, it was little more than a one-way ticket to the far side of the workshop. But with extra work and resources from the Fleet Intelligence Service, she knew she could develop the technology, and soon she would be moving individuals the length of the fleet carrier.
The current system of transport loops operating through the carrier worked well enough. Mag-rails moving transport pods at super high velocities could move a person from the forward command deck to the rear drive section in moments. However, this personal matter transport device could move them the same distance almost instantaneously.
And it was not just the chance of moving personnel the length of the fleet carrier that had the interest of Sarah Reyes and Fleet Intelligence. They also knew that there would be real benefits in moving personnel from ship to ship within a moment.
The Fleet Marine Service was particularly interested in its development. Currently, the service was operating at a fraction of its strength. Too few Marines were joining, and now the three destroyers each had an active battalion of less than a hundred individual Marines. With the development of the matter transport device, squads and companies could be moved from one ship to another in a moment. It was not an answer to the under-staffing problem, but it would allow the Marines a high degree of flexibility with their current force.
Sarah checked the power system on the device. Everything was ready. The test could begin.
Turning to the assembled spectators, Agent Reyes cleared her throat. The Chief of Fleet Intelligence, Chief Agent Pound, was here, and he stood next to Admiral Henson. The admiral’s daughter, Riya Henson, was also attending. It was her experience with the Devex exo-armor that had once encased her body that allowed Agent Reyes to finally decode the mysteries of the matter transport device.
The medical staff present consisted of a single doctor and a medical drone. They stayed back from the main group, and everyone ignored their presence, hoping they would not be needed.
General Wallace stepped forward along with the Scepter’s highest ranking Marine, Colonel Snipe, and standing in between the two high-ranking Marine officers came the person who would test Agent Reyes’s device. A young, brave, and slightly nervous Marine who had volunteered for the test walked toward Agent Reyes and the small, innocuous-looking device.
Sarah stepped toward the Marine, who was dressed in his shipside work uniform, and attached the device to a tactical vest, holding out the vest for the young Marine to put on. The Marine slipped it on in an instant, without a moment’s hesitation, and stood ready for Reyes to begin.
"Just relax," Reyes said. "I will activate the device. You just focus on your breathing and staying on your feet. Good luck, Marine."
Reyes stepped back. The Marine nodded, indicating he was ready.
Sarah stepped up to her workbench and stood next to a l
arge Devex device. She made the last adjustments to power, targeting, and range. Then, satisfied everything was ready, she turned back to the assembled group.
"Our Marine volunteer will now traverse this workshop, traveling from his current position to the far side of the room. It is a distance of only eight meters, but the Marine will complete the journey in less time than it would to take even a single step."
With a final nod at the Marine, Sarah Reyes activated the device.
The feeling of every hair on her body standing on end was partly her own excitement and partly the huge amount of energy released from the activation of the small device. The air around the Marine went dark and seemed to collapse in on itself. The sudden eruption of energy at the far end of the room pulled everyone's attention.
The Marine appeared, and a light wave of energy rippled out from the point where he re-materialized. Sarah looked him in the eye and saw a combination of relief and sheer terror all realized at the exact same moment. A smile began to spread over his pale, frightened face as he realized he'd survived the trip. And then he looked down.
Following his gaze to the deck, Sarah saw immediately that Marine’s boots were embedded in the deck plate. The Marine began to whimper and shout. He tugged and grunted. He had made a supreme effort to bury his emotions, but the sight of his feet embedded in the deck to just above the ankle was almost too much to take.
The doctor and the medical drone moved forward. Agent Reyes ran across to the Marine and called for him to remain calm.
"It's okay, Marine. Hold still. It's just a little targeting error. Calm down."
"My feet!" The Marine held his right leg just above the knee and looked down at his feet cut off at the ankle by the deck plate. He tugged at his right leg but stayed fixed in place. "My feet!" he shouted again.
Grabbing him by the shoulders, Sarah looked into his eyes. "At ease, Marine." She used the sternest voice she could muster. "It's okay. You are fine.”
Betrayal (Jack Forge, Lost Marine Book 6) Page 5
