Forged in Battle (Jack Forge, Fleet Marine Book 5) Read online

  Forged in Battle

  A Jack Forge, Fleet Marine Story

  James David Victor

  Copyright © 2018 Fairfield Publishing

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Except for review quotes, this book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the written consent of the author.

  This story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual people, places, or events is purely coincidental.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Thank You

  1

  Jack sat in the cock pit of the landing craft and looked at the distant asteroid. It was massive, larger than some of the moons around the system’s gas giants.

  “Let the Tac boats go in first,” Jack directed the pilot. “Watch out for ground fire.”

  The asteroid belt was filled with these huge chunks of rock and metal. They had been a perfect resource in the early days of the system but now they were so vulnerable to Chitin attack few were still in operation. This one had reached the end of its working life a few days before when the Chits discovered the community and attacked.

  The asteroid belt was littered with active mines. There were some rogue settlements in the mined out husks of the bigger asteroids. Rouge settlements were being given as much attention as legitimate ones. All humans were to be withdrawn from the outer system.

  The engine from the lead Tac boat flared as it powered toward the asteroid. The remaining Tac boats lit up in unison and followed the leader. Jack and his landing craft brought up the rear. The landing craft was going to transport the miners from the asteroid and to the relative safety of the destroyer, Scorpio. Before that could happen, Cobra Company had to destroy the Chitin attackers dug in on the surface of the massive asteroid.

  The surface of the asteroid was dark, the crust baked in the cosmic rays over billions of years. The habitation complex and the surface gear for the mine would usually be a glittering array of lights but the community was dark. Their last transmission informed the evacuation flotilla that the Chitins had surrounded the mine. The miners had cut all non-essential power use and were dug in for a siege.

  Jack knew there would be lights before long. Fleet Marine Pulse Rifles and Tac boat Hail Cannon would soon be alive, peppering the Chitin positions. Chitin plasma spears and Spitz cannon would light up the dark asteroid as they poured fire into Cobra Company in a few moments time. Jack did not care whether it was the Chitins or Cobra Company who fired the first shot. He was determined that it would be Cobra who fired the last. He was here to rescue the miners. If he could destroy the besieging Chitin soldiers then so much the better.

  A flash of light on the surface caught Jack’s eye. A lone flare arching away from the mining community structures, arching over the dark ground surrounding the mine.

  “Hold fire,” Jack messaged the Tac boats. “It’s a flare from the miners. They want to show us the enemy positions,” Jack said. “We’ll see them soon enough.”

  And then they did. A scattering of flashes from the surface gave away the Chits positions as dozens of Spitz cannons burst into life. The bright energy pulses racing away from the surface toward the incoming Marine company in their craft.

  The pulses slashed around the cockpit of the landing craft, each one narrowly missing as they were deflected by the landing craft’s forward deflection field.

  “Scorpio’s returning fire, commander,” the pilot said.

  Jack saw the high density shot flash past the landing craft and the Tac boats, the rounds super heated by their launch from the Scorpio’s port side cannons. The rounds slammed into the asteroid creating small balls of light that grew suddenly out of the dark surface. The light from the high ex rounds died away and the Spitz cannons on the ground went dark.

  “They killed them all,” the pilot said nervous and excited.

  “Don’t be too sure,” Jack said calmly. “Some of them were stupid enough to give away their positions once. Now they know the Scorpio will engage them and they won’t do it again, at least not until we are on top of them.”

  Jack checked the surface data on the cock pit holostage. The locations of Chit Spitz cannons were mapped now. A network of prepared positions ringed the mine buildings and ensured the trapped miners stayed trapped. All Cobra had to do was punch a hole through that ring and keep a corridor open for the miners to escape to his landing craft. He hoped he could get all his Marines off the asteroid too, but the priority was the civilian miners. As a commander his duty was to accomplish the mission. Every mission had its objectives. Every mission had its cost. Jack knew only too well the cost.

  Unclipping his harness and standing up Jack gave the pilot an encouraging pat on the shoulder.

  “Keep her steady and put her down safely, pilot,” he said and then stepped into the passenger deck. His old squad was sitting near the starboard side exit. 6th squad was low on numbers but high on experience. Sam Torent was squad leader and 6th squad trusted him. Osho, Jenks and Bubble had been with Jack from the first days of training. Bailey was one of two recent replacements and the only replacement to survive their first action with 6th squad. The boy was brave but nervous.

  “Ready your gear,” Jack said. “We will be touching down in moments. Move fast. Keep low.” Jack turned to Bailey, “and don’t get lost.”

  “This rock is too small to get lost on, kid,” Torent said. “Stick with me and you’ll be ok.”

  Bailey looked at Jack. Commander Forge was fast becoming a legend in the Fleet Marines, his name was known to all recruits. He was the Marine who had single handedly killed a Chitin Leviathan, the Marine who’d saved a destroyer. Jack was the Marine’s secret weapon against the Chitins. Bailey didn’t believe half the stories that had circulated about his training squad but he knew Commander Forge was real and he was grateful to be in his company.

  “You listen to your squad leader,” Jack said, “and fire at the Chits.”

  The pilot shouted back from the cockpit. “Thirty seconds. Good luck commander.”

  Jack checked the medical data for each of 6th squad. Torent was calm. Osho and Jenks were getting nervous. Bubble was quaking and letting out his usual involuntary murmur of fear. Bailey’s heart rate was through the roof.

  Jack stood by the exit and checked his pulse rifle one last time.

  “Ten seconds.” The pilot called out.

  “Keep those electron bayonets powered down.” Jack called out. “We don’t want to show them where we are.”

  The landing craft touched down and the door fell open, hitting the ground hard. Jack ran down the short ramp and onto the crusty surface of the asteroid.

  “Move out,” Jack called.

  Sam Torent was already running down the ramp, his pulse rifle on his shoulder. He moved in a semi crouch, his legs moving fast, his pulse rifle steady, aimed forward and ready to fire.

  Half a kilometer ahead the Tac boats had already touched down and the rest of Cobra Company was spilling onto the surface of the asteroid. The Chits were keeping their plasma spears and spitz cannons quiet for now.

  Jack moved behind 6th squad, his eyes fixe
d on the horizon. He scanned left and right for any hint of Chitin movement.

  “Maybe they’ve all gone,” Bailey said.

  Jack recognized the hope and fear in the boy’s voice. “Focus, Bailey. Watch for movement.”

  The movement, when it came, was sudden and close. The ground next to Jack seemed to writhe and erupt in a mass of black tentacles as the Chitin soldier next to him broke cover.

  “Contact right,” Jack shouted as he turned. His pulse rifle burst into life and poured a hail of pulse rounds into the Chitin.

  The Chitin staggered and thrashed about as the rounds hit home, smashing chunks out of its thick carapace.

  “Contact left,” Osho said as another Chit stood up from the ground. She fired a burst of well aimed pulse rounds at the Chit.

  Torent called out as he fired at a Chit that stood up in front of the advancing 6th squad. “Contact front.”

  Jack stepped backward as the Chitin came toward him. He maintained his fire and targeted the massive head. The Chitin fell, its tentacles thrashing the ground, throwing up fragments of the crusty surface.

  “They’re all around us,” Bailey said, stumbling backward, away from Torent who was pouring pulse fire into the massive Chitin soldier towering over him.

  “Fire your weapon, Marine,” Jack stood behind Bailey and pushed him forward.

  “Target down,” Osho said as the Chit on the squad’s right fell. Bubble was next to her firing and whimpering in fear.

  “Target down,” Torent said.

  Jack walked toward the squad leader and poured fire into the fallen but still writhing Chit.

  “Sound off, 6th squad,” Jack said and he stepped around the still Chitin soldier.

  All Marines spoke up and reported ready.

  “Move your squad forward, Sam.” Jack said. “Watch out for Chits in the dirt. They must know we are coming and they would like to kill us all.”

  The light from the Spitz canons flashed in the distance. The flashes from the pulse rifles replied and Cobra Company advanced.

  “Doesn’t seem right, sir,” Torent said. “The rest of the company is up there fighting and we’re back here, mopping up a few strays.”

  “We are going to keep a clear passage for the miners back to the landing craft,” Jack said. “If we want to rescue any of them there must be a clear path for them to their only way off this rock.”

  “I guess I don’t like seeing the others doing all the work, sir.” Torent checked his weapon.

  “If you want to file a grievance with the battalion commanding officer,” Jack said stepping forward, scanning for any signs of Chitin soldiers, “I’m sure they will be happy to hear from you, squad leader Torent.”

  “Don’t want to make work for the battalion, sir,” Torent said. “Just want to kill more Chits.”

  “As do we all, Squad leader.” Jack scanned the ground ahead. “Wish I had a dozen like you.”

  A Chitin soldier in front stood up and fired a plasma spear. The fizzing lance of energy burned through the air and slammed in to Bubble’s chest. The force sent him flying backward.

  The squad fired at the Chit and sent it flailing back. A second plasma spear leapt from the Chitin but it was poorly aimed and raced upwards and away in to the darkness.

  Bailey fired as he ran toward the Chit. He stood over the fallen soldier and poured fire into the smashed carapace.

  “Stop him, Sam,” Jack said as he walked back to Bubble who was lying on the crusty surface, face up, pulse rifle at his side.

  “How are you doing, Marine?” Jack said as he stood over Bubble.

  “It hurts.” Bubble said. His voice steady and calm.

  “Ok, Bubbs. We’ll get you out of here.” Jack knelt down next to Bubble. He looked back to the landing craft just a few hundred meters away. “We’ll get you on board you’ll be the first in medbay, ok.”

  “My suit is broken, Jack,” Bubble said.

  Jack checked the suits status on his enhanced data view. The suit was fine but Bubble had taken a plasma spear to the chest. The force had ruptured his lung. Smashed ribs perforated the other.

  Bubble held up his hand to Jack. “Help me up, sir. I can make it.”

  Jack took hold of Bubble’s hand. “Just take it easy, Bubbs.” Jack used his command override to access the suit’s medical package. He administered a pain killer.

  “I’m not afraid, sir,” Bubble said calmly. “Make sure they get me home.”

  “You bet, Marine,” Jack said.

  Bubble’s heart beat was weak and erratic. Then it stopped.

  Jack took the dog tag off the meat suit and stored it away. Torent was standing at his side.

  “You want me to get him back to the Scorpio?” Torent said.

  Jack looked to the flashes of light over the battle in the distance. “Move your squad forward. We’ll pick him up on the way back.”

  Jack reached his way point and took a knee. He activated the small holostage on his suits cuff and checked the battle’s progress.

  1st and 2nd squads had punched through the Chitin perimeter and had reached the outer walls of the mining community. 3rd and 4th were holding the Chits back on one side of the corridor through the Chitin lines. 5th and 6th squad were holding the other.

  Navidi, the squad leader from 1st, sent the call that the miners were ready to move.

  “Ok, this is it,” Jack said. “Watch for the Chitins. Check your targets. We don’t want to drop any miners. Here they come.”

  The most dangerous part of the operation was moving the group of miners the kilometer through the Chitin siege lines to the waiting landing craft. Jack watched the flanks as the miners came running. Then the spitz guns started up. With the miners and Cobra Company so close to the enemy there was no way the Scorpio could lay down any supporting fire. Only the Marines with their pulse rifles could hold back the Chits.

  As the last miner left the building Navidi called in that the facility was clear.

  Jack watched the rescue in operation. 1st and 2nd moved behind the running miners. Chits came on from both sides, their movements immediately detected by the meat suits sensors. The Chitin bodies riddled with pulse rounds from a dozen well trained and experienced Marines in seconds.

  The fire from 3rd and 4th squads kept the Chits at bay as the miners ran through the narrow corridor they had created.

  The first of the retreating miners came along side 5th squad. Stuart Laidlaw messaged Jack.

  “Commander Forge, the miners are with me now. We’re rear guard now, sir.”

  “Copy that, Stuart,” Jack said. “Hold those Chits and get your people to the Tac boats as soon as you get my signal. Copy?”

  “Copy that, sir.”

  The miners came out of the dark running toward Jack and 6th squad. The flashes of light from the pulse rifles and the plasma spears flickered over the dull crusty surface of the asteroid.

  “Ok, here they come, 6th squad.” Jack said. “you know what to do.”

  Torent called out to 6th squad. “Spread out. Back to the landing craft. Make sure we have a clear path.”

  Jack let 6th squad go ahead. He waited for the miners to come running. They were dressed in the heavy coats that protected them against the cold and they had breathing masks over their frightened faces. Hard, grizzled men, who had no fear of hard work in the harshest conditions, mining out the vital materials for the human’s war effort. But now, running for their lives from Chitin soldiers they wore the looks of frightened children. And Jack could not blame them. Not once had Jack seen a Chitin soldier and not felt fear. Not once had he faced Chitin plasma spears and not wished to be somewhere else, anywhere else. Jack waved the miners past him toward the waiting landing craft that would take them up to the Scorpio.

  “This is Laidlaw,” Jack heard the shouts from the squad leader of 5th. “They are coming on hard now. They can see we are running.”

  Jack started walking toward the rear guard. He brought up his pulse rifle. He had the u
rge to run to Laidlaw and help fight off the Chits.

  “This is 4th squad. We are in position to assist. Permission to assist the rear guard.”

  Jack considered the request. 4th squad’s Tac boat was close to that of 5th. They could hold the rear as the miners fled and could evac together. The miners were almost at the landing craft and a few minutes support from 4th could save a few lives of 5th squad Marines. But the decision was taken from his hands as the orders came down from Major Griff on the Scorpio.

  “Negative, 4th squad. Hold them off as long as you can, 5th. All other squads evac now.”

  Jack looked at the data on his wrist holostage. The Chits were circling around 5th squad. They would be cut off from their Tac boat any moment now. Jack watched the last of the miners with their 1st squad Marine guard go past. Navidi stopped in front of Jack.

  “We’ve got them all out, sir. Get to your boat.”

  “We need to assist 5th squad,” Jack said. “2nd, make sure the miners make the landing craft. 1st squad, you are with me. Ok, Joe?”

  Joe Navidi was one of Cobra’s most experienced squad leaders and Jack would always be confident to have him alongside him in a fight.

  Joe nodded. Jack saw the sudden spike in his heart rate as he prepared to go back in to battle.

  “Commander Forge,” the voice of Major Griff came over Jack’s helmet communicator. “What are you doing on the field? Withdraw to your landing craft and bring those miners home. That is an order, Commander.”

  Jack glanced at his wrist holostage. Laidlaw was in a fighting retreat, falling back to his Tac boat. The engines of 4th squads Tac boat flashed over the dark surface as it blasted off. The sudden flash attracting Spitz cannon fire from a dozen locations.