And then Jack saw fighters from the defense swarm stream across space toward him.
A message appeared on the flight deck holostage.
"I know you can hear me, Jack. This is Mallet. You killed Stone. You've killed so many. But you won't kill again. The Skalidions will take care of you now. I gave everything to destroy you, Jack."
Jack stared at the holostage and the image of the former Special Agent Mallet. Jack couldn't believe she was here now.
Jack checked his proximity to the nest asteroid. He was still too far out for the device to send the drone to the nest. Jack knew there was only one way he could deliver the combat drone now.
He set a collision course.
He made ready to kick up the main drive, to break his covert advance and to go racing toward the asteroid where he would deliver his deadly payload.
The tac boat rocked again. This time, Jack knew it was not fire from Mallet’s ship. Something had hit the tac boat. And then the screeching and the tearing echoed around the ship. Jack looked up and saw the hull being torn apart. Looking down from the dark space above was a Skalidion drone, fine strands reaching for Jack. It pulled him out and raced toward the nest asteroid.
Jack struggled against his hands clamped at his sides. He tried to grab his pistol off his hip, but he was stuck. The nest asteroid was growing ever closer. He looked back at his tac boat as it was torn apart by a group of Skalidion builder drones.
If the builders tried to devour the combat drone, it would be destroyed. But he was still too far out for it to destroy the nest asteroid. Jack had failed. He had been captured. Jack could only guess what was coming next.
13
Jack was carried into the nest asteroid through a tunnel on the outside of the dark surface. The lights on his helmet lit the way. Small Skalidions scuttled aside as Jack was carried into the interior.
The tunnel opened out into a vast internal chamber. And within that chamber stood the single largest Skalidion Jack had ever seen. It was almost the size of a corvette. A huge head was ringed by a hard bone crown, many arms protruded from the huge central portion of the queen’s body, and a vast bulbous abdomen with a slime-covered tube protruding from the end deposited small, black, glistening globes to the floor that were carried away by small scuttling creatures.
Jack was released and floated freely in the inner chamber. He drifted toward the large face of the massive Skalidion Swarm Queen.
Dark eyes dominated the large head. A huge rasping mouth that was larger than a person dripped with thick slime. Jack twisted and reached for his pulse pistol. As he turned, he saw another person drifting in the chamber beside him. They were dressed in black enforcer uniform, and Jack knew it was Mallet.
A channel opened on Jack’s communicator.
"They may have captured me too," Mallet said, "but it least I'll get to see you die."
Jack twisted and grabbed his pulse pistol. Mallet collided with him and wrestled for it. She punched him hard in the helmet, using her wrist thrusters to add weight to the blow.
An arm with many fine, fibrous fingers reached out from the huge queen and gripped Mallet around the chest. She was tugged away from Jack toward the queen. The pulse pistol was wrenched from Jack's hand and now floated away from him. Jack activated his thrusters and moved toward the weapon.
With the channel still open from Mallet’s suit, Jack heard her laughing manically as she was drawn ever closer to the huge rasping mouth of the Skalidion queen. The crushing of her bones silenced her laughter and brought on a brief shriek of pain. Jack reached out and grabbed the pistol as he saw the fleshy parts of the former agent erupt from the tactical suit only to be sucked up by a number of feeding tubes that reached out from the Skalidion queen’s mouth.
Jack reached for the pulse pistol and took hold of it with fingertips just before he was grabbed by the dark fibrous fingers of the swarm queen. She drew him in. The large rasping mouth grew ever larger in his vision. With his arms pinned at his sides, he could not bring up the pistol to take aim at the Skalidion, but Jack was not sure how much damage a pulse round would do to her anyway. However, within reach of his other hand, strapped to his hip, was the matter transport activation unit. On his chest, he had the matter transport device. Jack thought fast. And acted even faster.
With the targeting and transmission device in his right hand, Jack estimated the distance to the swarm queen. He input the coordinates and activated the device on his back.
Jack had traveled using the Devex matter transport device before and the sensation was even more disorientating this time. Light seemed to flood his senses. He could feel space-time expand and contract around him and through him.
And then Jack dematerialized. He felt the tight grip of the queen disappear. And then Jack re-materialized. He could not see, and he felt pressure on all sides. Jack knew he was inside the Skalidion.
The warm, slimy, internal mass of the queen gripped him in tight slick. He moved his arm through the thick slime and internal structures. Blinded by the material all around, Jack operated on touch alone. He brought the pulse pistol close to him, still gripping it with his fingertips alone, pulling it through the slimy mass. And finally, with the pulse pistol gripped firmly in his hand, Jack activated the electron bayonet.
The white blade shone through the dark slime surrounding him, and he moved the blade little by little this way and that. He quickly freed up a cavity and was able to move more freely, then he began to slash away—left and right, up and down, moving all around, cutting through the thick slime until it became a thin liquid. Then Jack came to a hard edge.
The exoskeleton.
Jack thrust the blade forward and it burst out of the queen’s thorax. Jack sliced upward, downward, and cut an exit. With his suit’s thrusters burning, boiling the slime and liquid behind him, Jack burst out of the Skalidion.
The swarm queen thrashed violently. Jack brought his pulse pistol up and took aim at a small drone coming toward him. Jack realized the small Skalidion was tumbling, its legs thrashing uselessly, and it mirrored the frantic actions of its mortally-wounded queen.
Jack turned and saw the queen collapse to the side of the central chamber. Dark red slime oozed out of the opening Jack had cut through her thorax. All around, the Skalidion drones were helpless. Jack looked again at the queen. Her arms were thrashing but less violently now, and she tore at the opening in her thorax. She gripped her the drone and pressed it into her rasping mouth. Blood from Mallet was still smeared over her face.
Taking aim, Jack fired a round into the huge mouth. The pulse rounds slammed into the hard teeth, smashing them into fragments. Jack moved in closer, as close as he dared. The thrashing queen was slowing but still moving. Jack unclipped the pistol’s powerpack and set it to overload. He raced toward the massive head of the Skalidion queen and pressed the pack into her face. And then, kicking up his suit’s thrusters, Jack raced across the vast internal chamber of the nest asteroid. Skalidion drones floated around helplessly, uselessly, and Jack made his way to the access tunnel that had brought him into this terrible place.
As Jack raced down the dark tunnel, he felt the rumbling of the detonation. Bursting out into space with fire, slime, and Skalidion body parts racing after him, Jack found himself alone in the dark. The defensive fighter swarm that had been surrounding the nest asteroid drifted aimlessly. None approached Jack. Their bright green outer hulls dimmed and lost color by the moment.
Jack opened a communication channel and sent a message to the fleet. A simple message.
The Skalidion Swarm Queen was dead.
14
Jack woke up in the familiar surroundings of the Scorpio's med-bay. He had spent far too long in this facility, but here he was again.
"At least you're alive, Jack," Sam said. His old friend patted him heavily on the shoulder.
Jack winced as Sam touched him. He looked at that bruises from shoulder to elbow on both arms where the queen had gripped him.
"Yeah, and in enoug
h pain to know it." Jack sat up on the bunk. A med-drone rolled over and pressed Jack back down.
Sam grabbed the drone with his Mech arm and held it back. "Don't touch him, drone. That is Jack Forge there, hero of the fleet. If it wasn't for him, we'd all be dead. If he wants to sit up, he can kravin well sit up."
Jack sat up and pulled the various probes off his body, dropping them onto the small unit next to his bunk. He felt strong enough to walk, and he'd spent enough time in the med-bay.
With his pants on and still pulling on his jacket, Jack walked out of the bay toward the command deck. As he walked along the corridor, Sam at his side, he received salutes, applause, and cheers from the crew and officers that passed.
Stepping onto the command deck to applause, Jack held up his hands to call for quiet. He did not like the attention. He had only been doing his job.
"You are supposed to be in the med-bay, Major," Captain Pretorius said, climbing down from his command chair. "Do you need me to suggest to the admiral that we submit you for a court martial for disobeying medical orders?" Captain Pretorius stepped up to Jack, his hand held out for a handshake.
Jack took the captain's hand and shook it warmly. He looked over at the holostage. Only an image of the Scorpio appeared there. The commander put a hand on Jack’s shoulder and walked toward the holostage. Pretorius gestured at it and looked at Jack.
"This is where we are, Jack," Pretorius said. "In the middle of nowhere. We have entered the interstellar void. Navigation estimates it will take several months to cross. No stars, no planets, no Devex, and certainly no Skalidion. We estimate there to be a rich region of space on the other side, though. We’re certain to find a new home. I know you don't want to hear it, Jack, but it’s all thanks to you."
Jack looked at the holostage. Commander Chou smiled back and then zoomed out to show the fleet, the entire fleet, military and civilian. Hundreds of ships all being escorted by the three destroyers, the single carrier, and dozens of corvettes and frigates. All making for the far side of the interstellar void. They seemed to hang in empty space, drive systems powering them across the empty region.
"So," Pretorius continued, turning Jack away from the holostage and marching him off the command deck, "will you return to the med bay, Major, or do I have to order you?"
"Thank you, Captain, but I'd like to return to my quarters for now. I don't think I'll be taking orders from you now, with the greatest of respect, but I think my days as a Marine are over. My intention is to resign my position. I'm leaving the Marines."
Pretorius stopped and looked at Jack. He nodded, tugged his cuffs, and placed a hand on Jack’s shoulder.
"No one has done more than you, Jack. If anyone deserves to give up their position, it's you. You should be able to retire, and once we get to our new home, you should be able to live anywhere you like, and live a long and happy life in peace. But I won't accept your resignation. The admiral won't accept your resignation. You are a Marine, Jack. And when we get to the other side of this interstellar void, we will have a whole new set of challenges. Someone of your ability is going to be required to give his service. I'm sorry, Jack, but you won't be leaving us. As it stands, I can order you. I order you to take a vacation. We are all alone out here, so you can be sure you won't be disturbed. I'll inform the admiral that Major Forge is on leave."
Pretorius marched Jack off the deck and left him at the door. He patted him heavily on the back and sent him on his way.
Jack walked down the corridor, his eyes fixed on the deck plates in front of him and Sam Torent at his side.
"I hear some former swerveball players have set up a mini league. They're playing a match at the end of red watch over on one of the civilian transports in the central arena. You want to go?"
Jack kept looking at the deck. "You got tickets?"
Sam laughed hard and hit Jack hard on the back. "Tickets?" Sam laughed again. "I don't think you are going to need a ticket, Jack. But I might.?"
Jack looked up at Sam.
"Guess I'm on vacation." He shrugged. "I can't think of a better way to start a break than going to watch a game. Do you think we could have a few sips of Amber while we are there?"
"A few sips?" Sam said, laughing and hitting Jack again. "A few bottles maybe? A few cases even!"
Jack was still feeling a little worse for wear. A sip would be more than enough. A short break could be good, and a couple of tickets to the game with his friend for company would be the best.
"Sure," Jack said. "Let's make the most of being a hero while we can. Guess we will be back to normal soon enough. Now who do I have to talk to for some halfway line tickets?"
And as Jack walked through the familiar corridors of the Scorpio, with his old friend at his side and free time ahead of him, he felt like he was moving into new and unfamiliar territory.
Whatever lay on the far side of the interstellar void, Jack knew he wouldn’t face it alone, but he would face it soon.
Thank You For Reading
Thanks for reading this installment of the Jack Forge, Lost Marine saga. Jack is doing everything he can to save humanity but there’s still a lot of work to do (and fighting) if they are going to find a safe haven for the human race.
The next story is called Enemy Within and you can order it on Amazon.
Order Enemy Within here:
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And if you would like to know about the events that led to Jack and Sam being stranded in space, check out the Jack Forge, Fleet Marine series where Jack goes from unwilling Marine to savior of humanity.
Get Recruit, Book 1 in the series:
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Betrayal (Jack Forge, Lost Marine Book 6) Page 10
