She pulled at the straps on the top of the boots and pulled them loose. She loosened the boot from the upper ankle all the way down to the deck plate.
The doctor arrived and kneeled next to Sarah Reyes, scanning the Marine’s ankles with his medical device. He looked at Sarah Reyes with a smile.
"Pull your foot up, Marine," Sarah Reyes said, looking up.
The Marine pulled and out came his foot, sliding out of his boot.
Sarah Reyes stood up and addressed the group of spectators as the Marine loosened his second boot and pulled his foot out.
"The matter transport device creates a void that the body being transported can materialize in. With the targeting scanners fully functional and calibrated to the correct level, this will not happen. The system is completely safe. It's safer than most of our transport systems.”
“But what if the Marine had been transported fully inside the deck plate?” Colonel Snipe asked. “Or the bulkhead? What if we sent a squad into a mountain?”
Sarah shook her head. The Marines would be fine.
“The space created for the matter transport destination is a skintight fit inside any material. If a Marine found themselves inside a rock, they wouldn’t be able to move, but they could simply reverse transport and get themselves out of there and be none the worse for it, and they would be the first person to report on what it’s like to be inside a rock.”
Chief Agent Pound stepped forward, clapping a slow, firm solo applause. “Great work, Agent Reyes. How soon before we can fit out the intelligence enforcer tactical suits with this device?”
General Wallace stepped forward. “The Marines should be first in line for this equipment. We need to move squads about the fleet as quickly as possible if we are to respond to any threat.”
Reyes interrupted. “I can get one device ready for a field test in a matter of days. I still need to refine the targeting systems, and power consumption is still far too high. I will have a field test device ready soon, but a production model suitable for active service is still a long way off.”
The assembled spectators drifted away, leaving Sarah alone in the dark. She resumed work. The test had yielded a lot of data, and it would help her refine the device.
The Marine stepped over to Reyes quietly.
“I didn’t hear you approach,” Reyes said, covering her surprise.
The Marine pointed to his boots still embedded in the deck pates and then to his feet covered only in his thin socks.
“Thank you, Agent Reyes,” the Marine said. “I’ll be ready to volunteer for you again for the next test.”
Reyes looked up at the Marine. He was looking at her with a mixture of respect and longing. She hadn’t seen anyone look at her in that way since...
“Thank you, Marine,” Reyes said. She saluted. “Dismissed.”
The Marine, clearly with more to say, held his tongue. Reyes was a Fleet Intelligence agent and outranked the Marine by a long way. He turned on his heel and left.
Reyes looked back to the work. Since she had been promoted to the intel’s science division, no one had been able to create a friendship with her. The only man she knew who still looked at her the same way was Jack Forge. Friends before the fleet began its race across the cosmos in search of a new home, Jack knew Reyes for who she was before. She looked forward to the next time they could be together. The next time she could be herself.
But she had not heard from Jack since he left on his patrol mission. He was not due back for some time. Sarah promised herself she would make a call to her old friend as soon as she finished work on the portable matter transport device.
8
The small cabin deep inside the cramped mass of living quarters of the civilian ship was a far cry from her office aboard the Scepter, but Special Agent Mallet needed an unregistered location for her search. Jack Forge was out there somewhere, and Mallet wanted him dead. The scanning equipment she had stolen from the Fleet Communication Service recorded every conversation between every person on every ship. Picobits of data every second poured into her clandestine surveillance systems, every bit processed, cross-checked, cross-referenced, and stored. All to find the location of Jack Forge.
The last-known location of Jack Forge was aboard a tac boat squadron sweeping the far-left flank of the fleet, skirting along the edge of Skalidion space. Only communications from the tac boat squadron to the fleet could give away Jack's location, but he had gone silent and vanished just as Mallet had been prepared to pounce.
A well-placed combat drone far out on the edge of Skalidion space would be enough to cripple Jack's tac boat and alert any patrolling enemy fighters. All Mallet needed to do was give Jack a bloody nose. The Skalidions would close in and finish the job for her.
But he had been silent. Mallet just needed one communication from Jack and she would have him. And then the message came. Jack had sent a coded message to the fleet that he was going off-mission to defend a civilian transport on some swamp planet.
Mallet read through the report. It spoke of Devex allies and a trade with the Skalidions to deliver thousands of human bodies. It was intriguing, but nothing could divert Mallet from her single-minded mission to kill Jack Forge.
And now she had him.
The surveillance feed from Mallet’s micro-drones scattered dozens of meters away from her hidden location went off-line. They could have been any number of reasons why her surveillance net had been momentarily deactivated. The cramped and overloaded civilian vessel was forever experiencing power fluctuations, and some of these could affect her micro drone surveillance net. It was possible that a civilian had found one of her micro-drones and had deactivated it to sell it on the black market. Fleet Intelligence tech would sell for hundreds of ration blocks, or a dozen crates of Amber.
There were any number of reasons for the slight disruption in her surveillance drone net, but, ever suspicious, Mallet guessed correctly: She had been found.
Mallet powered down her equipment and set the micro-drones hidden inside the equipment to emit a broad-spectrum flash that would destroy all the data she had been gathering and analyzing. The huge amount of data was useless to her now that she had the one fragment that she needed: the location of Jack Forge.
With the data destroyed, Mallet grabbed her pulse pistol and stuffed it in her underarm holster. She fastened the front of her black jacket and stepped to the door.
The door opened before Mallet could get there. The empty opening looked out onto the narrow gray corridor, but the faintest shadow on the far wall told Mallet that enforcers were in cover on either side of the open doorway.
"Mallet. This is Agent Visser. Step out with your hands behind your head. We can do this easy, or we can do this nasty. Step out, now."
Mallet had trained with Agent Visser and knew the old drunk’s demeanor only too well. She was a shoot first and make up the questions, and the answers, later kind of agent. Mallet had guessed the agency was on to her; she just didn’t realize how close they were. She clenched her fist and cursed Visser.
"I want amnesty." Mallet drew her pulse pistol. "I want to be released from the agency." Mallet activated the small micro-surveillance drone she'd held back and sent it drifting out into the corridor. The surveillance drone activated and projected a holoimage of Mallet stepping out into the corridor with a pulse pistol in her hand.
“You know I can’t agree to that.” Visser’s voice echoed along the corridor. “We can still use you, Mallet. You were a good agent, before you started your vendetta against Forge. This is your last chance to come back to the agency. Don’t throw it all away.”
The movement of the shadow on the corridor wall showed her the two enforcers bringing their pulse rifles onto the holoimage. Mallet sent instructions to the micro drone to show the holoimage turn its pulse pistol toward the far end of the corridor where Mallet guessed Visser was standing, shielded behind a squad of enforcers.
Mallet sent the detonation code to the micro drone the same
moment she heard agent Visser call out a warning to the enforcers in the corridor.
"Take cover!"
The detonation was small, but in a confined space, it was powerful enough to disorientate the two enforcers covering the doorway. As one fell, the muzzle of his pulse rifle moved over the threshold, allowing Mallet to grab it. She pushed it as she stepped forward, bringing her other hand around. She aimed the pulse pistol out into the corridor. She fired. Flashes of pulse rounds lit up the hall.
Mallet felt the pulse rifle fall loose. She brought it into the room just as pulse rifle fire lit up the corridor.
The enforcers to the right Mallet’s open door must surely have been taking cover. Training would have told him to press himself to the floor and the wall. Mallet knew he could only be a meter away from where she now stood. She swung up the rifle, aimed at the bottom of the wall, and fired a stream of pulse rounds. The deck and outer wall of her small cabin exploded as the pulse rounds tore through.
Mallet released the power pack from her pulse pistol in one hand and dropped it into the other. She slid the power distribution node into overload mode and tossed it out into the corridor. She pressed herself as far back into her small room she could, and the detonation roared down the corridor. She saw the fallen enforcer skidding along the floor, driven by the blast. Before the dust could settle, she was out in the corridor, pulse rifle at her shoulder and firing into the distance.
The targeting screen on the top of the pulse rifle showed her the enforcer locations. They were taking cover at a junction. Agent Visser would not be far from them. With her rifle delivering a sustained fire, Mallet advanced. The rifle muzzle moved only marginally left and right as she transferred her aim from one side of the end of the corridor to the other, laying down a sustained barrage to keep the enforcers in cover.
Mallet was sure Visser would be delivering her orders silently to the remaining enforcers to capture Mallet alive. Mallet had no need to take the enforcers or Agent Visser alive. If she could escape and leave them alive, that would be fine. But if she had to take them all down to get away, she would.
Reaching the junction at the end of the corridor, Mallet slowly turned and fired at one end. The enforcer on a knee took a pulse round directly on the faceplate, sending him backward. Mallet turned and fired behind her at the two enforcers standing there.
Mallet leaped back and landed behind the enforcer she had just murdered. His body still partially upright against the wall, she knelt to take cover—using his tactical suit as a shield as she fired her rifle at one enforcer then the other.
Standing behind the two fallen enforcers, fists raised, was Agent Visser.
Mallet stood and aimed the rifle at Visser.
Visser grinned.
Then the holoimage collapsed. Visser’s image disappeared just as she appeared for real behind Mallet, a pulse pistol aimed at the rogue agent’s head.
Mallet spun and reached for the pistol. She moved in a flash and pushed it aside. A pulse round blasted into the corridor wall centimeters from Mallet’s head.
As Mallet twisted the pistol from Visser’s grip, Visser ripped the rifle from Mallet. In a swirling moment, both agents were disarmed and in reach of the other.
Visser delivered an immediate blow with her right knee to Mallet’s left side. The sound of a rib breaking causing Visser to grin again.
Mallet fell back a step, fist raised. She waved off a punch as she cradled her side. And Visser came forward, delivering a series of rapid blows at Mallet’s head. She fended one punch with her right arm, then turned and fended the second with her left, releasing a wave of pain from her left side. Mallet brought her left arm down to protect the wounded area, spun on her left foot and brought her right up to connect sharply with the side of Visser’s head.
Visser fell back laughing, her hands raised ready to defend or deliver an attack.
Mallet paused. She flexed her left side and tested the busted rib. A med-pack and a few minutes of rest would make it right again. She had a med-pack in her back pocket, but she knew that the instant she reached for it, Visser would attack.
Mallet reached for the med-pack.
Visser came fast, focused on delivering another punch to Mallet’s wounded side. As Visser moved in, she left the left side of her head exposed for a fraction of a second. Mallet grabbed the med-pack and set the pack to release a soporific. She spun on her right foot and brought her arm around, the med-pack in her palm, and she slapped it hard onto Visser’s head, just as the punch was delivered to her broken rib.
Mallet fell back, screaming in pain. She blocked it out as best she could and cradled her wounded left side. She watched as Agent Visser reached for the med-pack. She took a step back, tearing the med-pack away, but it too late. The soporific had done enough work that Visser was staggering around like the drunk she was.
Mallet advanced slowly, left arm cradling her broken rib, right arm raised with a clenched fist. Standing over Visser, Mallet knew her old partner expected some cutting remark. But all Mallet had for Visser was a heavy blow to the head.
Visser lay motionless on the floor, the soporific and the heavy blows rendering her unconscious. Mallet scooped up her pulse pistol.
"Always thought you'd be the one to kill me," Mallet said. She fired a single pulse round, stepped over the body of Agent Visser, and walked off down the corridor.
Mallet needed a med-pack for her busted rib, she needed a ship, and she needed to make Jack Forge pay.
9
The Devex raiders entering the system came far too quickly and in far greater numbers than Jack had initially feared. His position was vulnerable, he was outnumbered, and support was too far away. Jack had been in tight spots before, but this time, he knew he had a fight on his hands.
The holostage initially showed the raiders as a single hazy signal. As they drew closer the surveillance equipment aboard the civilian transport, he began to pick out individual craft. Now Jack could see the numbers thrown against him. In short, it was too many. But Jack would not run, even if he could. He would stay and fight. There was no choice.
Jack checked the position of his ships. He had three remaining tac boats from his squadron of eight, and he had the three allied Devex ships. They were positioned several kilometers from the civilian transport ready to respond to any attack.
But the small group was no match for the thirty-six attacking Devex raiders now entering the inner system. Every raider could hold eight Devex warriors, and the heavily-armored, powerfully-armed Devex warriors were a formidable fighting force. Jack could not hope to hold the civilian transport indefinitely, even if he had a battalion of Marines. The number of Marines under Jack's command would not even qualify as a full squad.
Jack's fighting force was only eight Marines armed with their personal weapons, three battered tac boats crewed only by a pilot, and three allied Devex raiders whose allegiance was not rock solid. One raider had already fled. Jack was sure the attacking Devex knew exactly what they were up against.
The attacking raiders entered view above the swamp planet. They adopted a geostationary orbit high above the civilian transport, half-submerged in the dark water. The location of the transport was known to the Devex and could not be hidden. If the Devex simply intended to annihilate the ship, they would be able to obliterate the target from orbit. A stream of deadly white energy bullets from the raiders would reduce the lightly armored, unpowered civilian transport to vapor in the matter of minutes.
But the Devex were not here to destroy the civilian transport. They were here to secure the fifty thousand live humans asleep in the transport.
Jack watched a group of enemy craft break off from the massed squadron in orbit and begin their descent toward the civilian transport. They were here to retake the ship and deliver the civilians to the Skalidions. Jack could not guess why the Skalidions wanted the humans alive, but Jack decided it was most likely hideous. He would do his best to destroy the craft and all its passengers before he
let them fall into the hands of the Skalidions and their nefarious purposes.
The first wave of raiders entering the lower atmosphere turned north. North of the civilian transport, hidden in the dense foliage and partially submerged, were the three remaining allied Devex. The attacking raiders spread out and swept forward, searching for the allied Devex.
A second group of attacking raiders swept south, spreading out and flying low toward the three tac boats.
The ships were outnumbered. All they could do now was hide.
Opening a channel to the two groups of ships, Jack sent a single simple message: "Maintain cover."
The flights of attacking raiders to the north and south simultaneously lit up their rapid-fire blasters. They advanced slowly in a line, raking the swampy surface with their white energy bullets. The water and vegetation erupted in a boiling blast ahead of the Devex line as the Raiders swept the swamp, firing blindly in searching of the hidden ships.
A third group of attackers swept down from high orbit and headed for the civilian transport. Jack watched the signals on the holostage closely. All he could do was wait.
The third group of Devex slowed as they approached the upper hull of the transport. They touched down and immediately began cutting through the outer hull.
"Sam, are you seeing this?" Jack sent a private message to Commander Torent.
"Can't take my eyes off it, Jack," Sam said casually. "Guess they'll be moving on your position before long."
"Copy that, Sam. I will hold them here. You stay mobile, hit-and-run, keep them looking over their shoulders. Keep them guessing."
"Any word from the fleet?" Sam said.
Jack hesitated. He glanced around the command deck and saw the small group of Marines looking at him. Their helmets covered their faces, but Jack could guess the concern that was etched on them. The only thing he could do to assuage their fears now was to be confident.
Betrayal (Jack Forge, Lost Marine Book 6) Page 6
