The kinetic hail raced across the space between the fleet and met the incoming Skalidion swarm at the predetermined coordinates. Mere meters ahead of the Skalidion swarm, the kinetic hail erupted into a shimmering cascade of high-density hail fragments, creating the vast defensive curtain.
The leading front of the swarm was annihilated as it raced headlong into the curtain.
And still they rushed on, hundreds of Skalidion fighters annihilated in a moment. They punched deep into the hail curtain. Although only a few dozens of meters thick, it was thousands of meters in circumference and created a vast wall. The fighters at the rear of the formation altered course in order to maneuver around it, but those directly in front plowed on regardless. Many more were destroyed until finally a Skalidion punched through the hail curtain and left a narrow channel of empty space behind it, through which flooded Skalidion fighters by the dozens.
"Secondary defensive curtain. Fire." Pretorius remained calm. "Drive systems to full power. Let's get out of here."
Jack watched the surveillance image disappear from range. The primary hail curtain was still destroying Skalidion fighters, but thousands more were now breaking through and even more were circumnavigating it.
Looking ahead to the protoplanetary disk, Jack could see the benefit of fighting the Skalidion in that space. It was chaotic and would prevent the swarm from advancing in a single mass.
And if the fleet could achieve a tight stellar orbit within the chaotic protoplanetary disk, they would be able to fight as a single unit. Jack knew the Scorpio would be one of the deadliest ships in that fight.
Phisrid raged. The Devex warrior before her had promised to deliver thousands of humans alive. The Devex had failed her. She had promised to spare his planet from the swarm. She would not spare them now. Even though she knew they were fleeing and abandoning the planet they had so desperately wanted to keep, she was determined to have her revenge. Their leader cowering before her would have to be sufficient for the moment.
Phisrid wrapped one of her secondary arms around the Devex while another arm secreted a thick chemical communication pheromone slime over it. She sensed his pleas and the bargains he hoped to strike, to deliver even greater numbers of live humans to her.
“Give me one more chance,” he pleaded.
Sending the signal through the pheromone slime into the Devex leader, Phisrid told him his planet now belonged to her. He would belong to her. She would satisfy her hunger for humans herself.
And even as the Devex warrior pleaded, she crushed the life from him, squeezing the body within the heavy exo-armor. It cracked like a shell, the soft parts of the Devex leaking out of the exo-armor as it cracked in her grip.
Phisrid raised the broken Devex to her mouth and rasped at the soft parts leaking out. The taste was bitter and sweet. But human was all sweet, and Phisrid had to have the taste. She could not ignore the lure of that taste. She would have that taste again. But not remotely through her builders as they transmitted the flavors to her through the pheromone field.
No. She would have the taste in her own rasping mouth.
Phisrid dropped the broken Devex at her feet. A builder drone scuttled in and began to drag the body away, breaking it down into its constituent matter. This single Devex would be broken down and secreted on the outer shell of Phisrid's enormous nest asteroid to provide some part of the spawn pods ready to develop a new generation of Skalidion drone.
Phisrid snatched a nurse drone from the inside of her central chamber and ate it. Her daughter nurse drones were a favorite treat, but nothing could stave off the hunger for more human.
Looking through the eyes of her distant observer drones, she saw her fighter swarm breaking through the human fleet’s defenses. A shimmering wall of fiery shards destroyed her fighters and blocked their way to the fleet. And beyond that fleet lay hundreds of civilian craft, each packed full with thousands upon thousands of live humans.
Her hunger would never be sated, but that many humans would satisfy her for a long time. She urged her swarm onward into the seething protoplanetary disk where the fleet were retreating.
Her swarm would be fragmented in that swirling mass of rock and dust. She sent out the pheromone signal to other swarms within her nation. All drones, all fighters were to converge on the protoplanetary disk. The human fleet must be destroyed. She must have human flesh.
The fleet moved swiftly through the protoplanetary disk, moving as individual ships through the swirling mass of rock and dust, heading toward the very inner system where clear space would give the fleet a chance to reform into a battle formation and fight off the incoming swarm.
The Scorpio plunged toward one of the larger protoplanets and used its gravity well to draw it on ever faster. At the last moment, Captain Pretorius gave the order to flip the Scorpio around the protoplanet and send it at all speed toward the inner system and the new, bright blue sun. The Scorpio arrived in stellar orbit as the first of the major battleships. The Blades, the corvettes, and the frigates, the fastest ships in the fleet, had already made it to the inner system and were there to receive the destroyers and finally the Scepter.
The fleet formed into its battle formation, and a moment later, the Skalidions began to infiltrate the protoplanetary disk. Each fighter came on fast, but the chaotic swirling mass of the infant planetary system caused them to spread out into a diffused mass.
And in went the Blades, racing away from the fleet formation to engage the Skalidion fighters.
The Fleet fighters danced around asteroids and protoplanets and picked off the Skalidion craft. Lasers and hail cannons tore through one Skalidion after another. The Blades moved independently, every Blade pilot a superb fighter. They operated throughout the swarm seemingly at will, picking off the Skalidions that seemed only able to fight as a mass.
But the Blades could not hope to destroy the thousands of Skalidion fighters pouring into the system. Soon they would be overwhelmed and swallowed up by the sheer number of Skalidions. With every Blade chalking up a huge number of kills, it was difficult for them to fall back. But then the orders came.
It was now the fleet’s turn to engage the swarm.
Cannon and laser batteries lit up across the fleet. Dozens of corvettes, dozens of frigates, and hundreds of tac boats all fired into the protoplanetary disk and picked off Skalidion fighters. And then the main ships of the line added their firepower.
The Scorpio was filled with the dull thump of hail cannons firing repeatedly. The hail spread outward from the inner system, smashing dozens of Skalidion fighters every second. Smaller protoplanets were torn apart by the huge amount of kinetic hail, and the debris flung out from the smashed planets further disrupted the Skalidion formation, some destroyed by wildly flying chunks of rock.
Jack watched the holostage closely. Despite the huge amount of destruction going on within the swarm, Jack could see the inevitability of them breaking through. They relied on the sheer weight of their numbers. Even though the fleet were destroying more and more of them by the second, there were too many, and the Skalidion would not give up this fight.
The sudden flicker of green light throughout the protoplanetary system told Jack one thing: The Skalidion fighters had battled into firing range. Every fighter within range was firing their weapons.
A seething mass of green fire raced toward the fleet. The Scorpio took the first hit. Collision alarm sounded on the command deck. The stability field control console officer called out the impact and the reduction in the field strength covering their forward section.
And then another bolt of green fire struck, and another, and another. The Scorpio began to shudder under the impacts.
Jack looked up to Captain Pretorius in his command chair. The captain appeared completely at ease. He was looking at holofiles on his armrest and managing the ship. Jack looked back to the holostage. The fighters closed in and were moving freely through the fleet’s formation. The Blades were re-engaging the Skalidion fighters, chas
ing them between the ships of the fleet.
Thousands upon thousands of Skalidion fighters raced between the ships, pouring their green fire into their targets. A frigate went down, its signal lighting up red on the Scorpio’s main holostage. Then a tac boat, then another frigate, and then the warning from the Scorpio’s stability field officer.
"Captain. Outer hull stability field at thirty-five percent."
Captain Pretorius did not look up from his work; he simply called out his orders.
"Laser fire command. Protect the field generators. Target any Skalidion firing on those locations."
The fleet formation was completely surrounded and shot through with Skalidions. The position had fallen. But to flee now would mean destruction for sure. Only by fighting as a fleet could they hope to win.
And then the signal from the civilian fleet. A new swarm of Skalidions were moving in on the unprotected civilian fleet as it raced toward the safety of the interstellar void—the vast empty space, devoid of stars, a passage to a new region of space and safety. But they were not going to make it. And the message chilled Jack.
The Skalidions were capturing the civilian transports and taking the passengers alive.
12
With the Scorpio rocking under the onslaught of Skalidion green fire, Jack Forge stepped over to Captain Pretorius up on his command chair.
"The Skalidion are all controlled by a swarm queen," Jack said.
"Your point, Mr. Forge?" Pretorius said, looking at his work, rocking in his seat as another blast of struck the Scorpio.
"If we can attack the queen, we can disrupt the Skalidion attack. We can triangulate between the civilian fleet and our position and pinpoint the location of the nest asteroid. If we can locate the nest, we can locate the queen and kill her."
Captain Pretorius tapped away at his armrest controls. He placed a call to Captain Tanaka.
Tanaka appeared on the central holostage. The image was fragmented as the Skalidion green fire slammed into the Scepter.
"Yes, Captain?" Tanaka said, looking out of the holoimage onto the command deck of the Scorpio.
"Major Forge has a request," Pretorius said.
Without waiting for an invitation to speak, Jack stepped up to the holostage and looked up into the large holoimage of Captain Tanaka.
"The Skalidion Swarm Queen. She must be nearby. She can only operate over a certain range, and if the civilian fleet is being attacked as well as the fleet here, then we can locate her. We can attack the queen."
Tanaka turned away, looking to someone on her command deck.
"We are searching. But if we move to intercept the nest, we will expose ourselves even more to this fighter swarm. And the nest is mobile and will surely move off if this queen detects us. Do you have a suggestion, Major Forge?"
"Give me a tac boat and a combat drone and I'll destroy the nest."
The image of Captain Tanaka shrank aside and was joined by the image of Chief Agent Pound. Jack was not surprised to see the Fleet Intelligence Agency listening in to all conversations, but he was surprised to see the chief agent interrupt his call.
"Fleet Intelligence has been working on a plan that might suit the major. Report to Agent Sarah Reyes. She has Devex technology that can help you now. Intel authorizes release of the tac boat and combat drone. Proceed with all haste, Major. Good luck."
The image of chief agent shrank away from the holostage. Group Captain Tanaka restored to full size. She looked down at Jack.
"Well, there you have it, Major. You are working for intel. Report to Agent Reyes. Tanaka out."
Jack was already running off the command deck. He knew where Sarah Reyes was working. She was aboard the Scepter. The tac boat was prepped by the time Jack reached the Marine deck, the boarding ramp lowered. Jack ran up the ramp, and a Marine pilot initiated takeoff the instant Jack was aboard.
Dropping into the copilot’s seat, Jack activated the holostage. The Scepter was close, but hundreds of Skalidions moved between the ships. A squadron of Blades swept in to cover Jack’s tac boat as it headed toward the Scepter, their cannons tearing a path through the swarming fighters.
The white-knuckle ride ended with a combat landing on one of the Scepter’s huge landing pads. Jack was out of his seat and running in an instant. An enforcer fell in with Jack, escorting him to Sarah’s workshop, but Jack was too fast and soon outpaced his escort.
Sarah’s workshop was guarded by a single enforcer, but he stepped aside as Jack approached, clearly already informed by his commanding officers to let Major Forge into Agent Reyes's workshop.
Sarah came walking over toward Jack quickly the moment he came in. She had in her hands a large backpack. She held the shoulder straps out.
"Put this on, Jack."
Jack turned around and held his arms out for Sarah to slip the backpack on him.
"No time for a quick hello?" Jack said. Sarah spun Jack around as soon as she had slipped on the backpack and handed him a small device.
“This is the targeting device. The transmission device is in the backpack. Target the center of the Skalidion nest, strap this backpack onto the combat drone, and then send. It's the Devex matter transport device that I've shrunk down. You can transport the drone from your tac boat directly into the center of the nest asteroid. Just make sure you clear the area before it detonates. We have set it to ultra-high yield. It's going to destroy everything within a few kilometers."
"Another one of your projects?" Jack said.
Sarah ignored the question. "The tac boat and combat drone are ready for you now. Good luck, Major."
"Major? Are we all formal now, Sarah?" Jack said with a half-smile. He had known Sarah since his first days aboard the Scorpio. He thought they were friends, but now she was Fleet Intelligence. She was now as cold as any agent Jack had encountered.
Sarah laid a hand on Jack’s shoulder. "I'm an intelligence agent, Jack. It's difficult to have friends now. But you can rely on me. We will always be friends, but I might have to send you on a dangerous mission one day. We need to keep it professional."
"A dangerous mission?" Jack said with a smile. "You mean more dangerous than this?"
Sarah marched Jack toward the exit. She called out to the enforcer guarding the door, who stepped in.
"Escort Major Forge to the Marine hangar and his tac boat."
Jack had lost many friends, and now it seemed he had lost another.
"Thank you, Agent Reyes. I will not let you down. "
Former Agent Mallet watched through the micro drone she had hidden aboard the Scepter as Jack Forge climbed aboard a tac boat. She had followed him closely, waiting for her chance, and now she had him in her sights. She would finally get to kill Jack Forge.
As the tac boat lifted off and drifted out of the doors into the space filled with the weapons fire, Mallet made her move.
Mallet dropped from her hiding place high on the side of the hangar deck. She rushed across to the single Blade fighter being rearmed to be returned to the fight. She dropped the pilot with an electron blade to the back of the neck, and then she slashed the throat of the engineer who was closing up a conduit cover.
"Thank you for getting a ship ready for me," Mallet said, stepping over the body as she climbed up into the cockpit. She sent her cloned security codes to the Scepter command deck and gave herself clearance to leave.
Mallet had been one of the best agents in the fleet. If they had just given her Forge, a disposable Marine major brought up through the ranks, they would not have turned her into an enemy.
She would have her revenge on Jack Forge now.
Jack raced away from the Scepter. A squadron of Blades fell in on his position.
"We are the Blades," the lead Blade came over Jack's flight deck holostage. "We have orders to see you safely out of the protoplanetary disk. Kick up to full speed and watch out for those flying rocks. You leave the Skalidions to us. Blades out."
Jack hit the main drive and flung the tac boat
out from the blue star into the swirling chaotic mass of rocks, dust, and Skalidion fighters and fleet ordnance. He sent the tac boat on the heading that had been preprogrammed into the flight system.
The flight console was lit green. Every system was operating at peak efficiency. Jack had no weapons, he noticed. All he had was his sidearm—the Fleet Marine pulse pistol strapped to the hip holster of his tactical suit.
Racing away from the battle raging below him and heading toward the location of the nest asteroid, the Blades left without a word, leaving Jack racing across interstellar space.
At full speed, Jack closed in on the nest location faster than expected. Jack checked the active scanners for the asteroid, but what he located was a swarm of Skalidion fighters surrounding it. The swarm queen had not left herself defenseless. Jack cut the main drive and continued toward his target on stealth approach. The tac boat was dark and silent. He closed in toward the nest asteroid.
Climbing out of his chair, Jack moved to the back. The small passenger area designed to carry a squad of Marines was now dominated by the single combat drone. The long, black torpedo with its own on-board drive system and targeting system easily filled the compartment. Jack grabbed the backpack Reyes had given him and looked for a suitable spot to attach the matter transport device.
And then the tac boat bucked violently. Jack was thrown forward, a collision alarm sounding from the flight deck. He grabbed the backpack and hooked it over his shoulder, walking back to the flight deck.
The Skalidions must have found me, he thought.
Checking the passive scanners for the attacker, the boat bucked again. Jack rocked in his seat. He slipped his arms through the matter transport backpack and held it over his chest to save it from being lost as the boat was thrown about. He checked where the fire was coming from…
…and saw a single Blade.
Betrayal (Jack Forge, Lost Marine Book 6) Page 9
