Last Stand Boxed Set Read online

  Last Stand Boxed Set

  Jack Forge, Lost Marine, Books 7 - 9

  James David Victor

  Fairfield Publishing

  Copyright © 2020 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

  Enemy Within

  New Home

  Last Stand

  Thank You

  Enemy Within

  Jack Forge, Lost Marine, Book 7

  1

  “Listen up, Recruits!” Jack Forge walked along the line of raw Marines ready for their first active training session. “We’ve done everything to make this as brutal as the real thing. The central arena on this civilian transport has been fully kitted out according to the specifications of the Marine training moons in the old system. With your tactical suit’s VR systems booted up, it is going to look, feel, and smell just like the real thing. And if you recruits are going to stand a chance of getting out of a real firefight with all your limbs intact, then you will take this training seriously.”

  Jack turned at the end of the line and looked back at his half-dozen recruits drawn from across the civilian fleet. Most seemed too young to be here, but one or two seemed too old. The enhanced data view on Jack’s visor showed him the vital signs of each of his new recruits. The younger ones were showing heightened pulse and breathing rates. They looked nervous, or it might just have been excitement. Either way, these youngsters were too emotional. In a battlefield situation, they would have to be calm, and if they were going to remain calm in combat, Jack knew that training was the key.

  Two of the oldest recruits were former cops who had previously joined Jack’s militia in the defense of a civilian transport. Operating as part of a military force instead of a civilian force was a completely different prospect, but obviously something they wanted to pursue. Given their experience, however limited, and their enthusiasm, Jack felt it was worth giving them a shot. Who said Marine trainees had to be young?

  “In my time with the Fleet Marine Service, I have faced off against some of the deadliest enemies ever encountered, but today, we are going to train against one of the most brutal, aggressive, and devious enemies we are ever likely to face. If you can come through this training, you will be ready to meet anything the Fleet Marine Service will ever be asked to deal with. Today, Recruits, we will be going into battle against one of the toughest Marines ever to pull on a tactical suit. We will face Commander Sam Torent. If you have a chance to take him down before any of his squad, then do it. If you corner him, you better finish him quick.”

  Jack turned and walked back along the line of recruits. He imagined Sam was doing the same thing on the other side of the central arena, preparing his squad of six recruits for a training session. Training against each other rather than some VR opponent was going to be more useful than pre-programmed scenarios. Even programming the holographic projections with images of Chitin soldiers, Devex warriors, Skalidion fighters, or any of the other enemies the Marines had faced would not present the challenge of engaging a living, thinking enemy.

  And Jack could not think of any Marine who would provide Jack and his trainees with a greater challenge than his old friend Sam Torent. Sam was a seasoned Marine, a veteran of dozens of critical battles. He had fought overwhelming enemies on every conceivable terrain, and he had won.

  Jack knew Sam was determined to win against his old friend, and Jack was determined to give Sam the fight of his life.

  “Your pulse rifles are all equipped with training power packs. With your tactical suit stability field tuned to the same power range, you will not suffer any injury, but this is not playtime, people. If you get hit, you will know about it. The tactical suit’s on-board medical packs have been disabled so you won’t be able to blot out the pain using any medication. Use that fear of pain, but don’t let it overwhelm you. Keep your thinking clear and your moves sharp. Listen for my commands and do exactly as I say when I say.”

  Jack stepped in front of the line of recruits. He swung his pulse rifle off his shoulder and held it across his chest. Sending an access code to the central arena, Jack activated the training program. The three-hundred-sixty-degree field was ready to become a battlefield on some distant asteroid. Jack’s team was ready to take on Sam Torent.

  “On me, Marines. Move.”

  Jack turned and ran toward the double-doors in front of him. The door slid open, and Jack had his first glimpse of the battlefield.

  The training field Jack and Sam had agreed upon was a dense asteroid cluster. The simulation VR had been enabled to generate the asteroid field independently so neither Sam nor Jack had any knowledge of the terrain other than its basic nature.

  Stepping into the arena, Jack felt gravity drop away. He zoned in on the nearest gravity well, a simulated asteroid laying ten meters from his entrance. Jack dropped to the asteroid. His training squad landed clumsily around him, one youngster rolling over to his left to land heavily on his side. Immediately, the boy clutched his ankle and yelled in pain.

  Checking the medical readout on his enhanced data view Jack could see the recruit had torn a ligament. Only one maneuver into his training and already he had a casualty.

  “You, Recruit,” Jack said, pointing at the injured recruit, “hold position. You will cover us from this asteroid while we advance.”

  “It hurts. I surrender. Get me out of here.”

  “You surrender again, Recruit, and I’ll shoot you myself. You are injured, it will hurt, but you are going to be Marine and cover my squad. Do you get me, Recruit?”

  “Sir. Yes, sir,” the Marine said, clutching his ankle and wincing in pain.

  “Let go of your ankle and take up your pulse rifle. You are not going to provide cover to anything by rolling around in agony. Rifle. Now.”

  Jack knew he could not do the recruits any favors at this stage. Although volunteers, they had signed up for a mandatory training term and were required to complete it. Jack was not about to let one of his recruits abandon the program on the first day of combat training. They might not have earned their stripes yet, but they were no longer civilians either.

  Jack saw the flash of a pulse rifle out of the corner of his eye. Instinct fired his response, and he rolled into the cover of a shallow crater on the asteroid’s surface just to his right, calling out orders as he moved.

  “Take cover. Attack coming in one o’clock high.” Jack swung up his pulse rifle and took aim. “Return fire.”

  The stream of pulse rounds came across the dark from one small asteroid high above Jack. The weapons fire slammed into the asteroid’s surface around his squad. The dust thrown up by the impacts looked so real. Even the way it hung in the low gravity around the asteroid looked authentic.

  The yelp of pain from a second of Jack’s recruits was also entirely authentic as a pulse round slammed into his right shoulder. The recruit dropped his pulse rifle and squirmed in the dust, yelling for the training to stop.

  Jack picked the target on the asteroid where the attack was coming from and laid down a stream of return fire.

  “Pick up your rifle, Recruit,” Jack said, letting off another burst of pulse rounds. “Your left arm still works, doesn’t it?”

  He was satisfied to see the recruits who were still standing join him in laying down a barrage of fire against the enemy still hiding somewhere on the asteroid above them. Jack zoomed in with his tactical suit to try and identify any of the attacking recruits. Flashes of pulse fire was all he could see, but the shadows
cast over the asteroid’s surface showed him the location just on the edge of the asteroid horizon, behind a low ridge.

  Moving quickly from his shallow crater, Jack moved to his left. He fired up his thrusters and roared across the asteroid’s surface, mere meters above its dusty surface.

  “Hold position and lay down fire on that location.” Jack sent the target location coordinates to the group enhanced data view. “Keep your heads down and stay in cover.”

  Jack raced across the surface of the tiny asteroid to the far side. He scanned for another asteroid to give him cover from their attackers. He spotted the best possible cover location and made ready to launch himself across the open space to that point where he could lay down crossfire on the attack and start to build his counterattack, but just as he was about to leap into the empty space between the asteroids and take up position, he saw a group of three attacking recruits racing toward him from that same location.

  Falling back, Jack opened fire. The pulse rounds raced across the emptiness toward the distant targets moving in at pace. His shots found their marks. Jack landed a chest hit on each attacking Marine.

  But the Marines had already opened fire, and Jack found himself twisting as pulse rounds raced past him and slammed into the asteroid beneath him. The Marines he had just fired on were still falling, even though he knew they would be in agony from the pulse rounds he had landed on them.

  With a huge amount of admiration, Jack saw one recruit raise his pulse rifle against the pain and take careful aim on Jack. This recruit was totally Marine. He was carrying on the fight despite his obvious discomfort.

  Jack reached out to the asteroid with his on-board gravity field and pulled himself into the gravity well even faster, accelerating to several points beyond standard gravity. And then, activating his thrusters at ninety degrees, he skirted across the asteroid, racing towards the horizon where he could take cover from the three recruits falling toward him. Jack twisted as he raced forward and took careful aim on the three falling Marines. He delivered a stream of pulse rounds and took them out of the fight for good.

  Landing heavily on the dusty surface, Jack reset his on-board gravity and reversed the thrusters to slow him down. He skidded sideways across the asteroid, his feet throwing up dust and pebbles as he came to a halt. That was when he saw another group of the attacking recruits land on the asteroid, Sam in the center.

  Jack’s squad turned to run and took pulse rounds in the back for their trouble. Now they were writhing on the ground in agony as Sam Torent and his group closed in.

  Jack ducked for cover as the attacking Marines turned their rifles on him. As he flew, he pulled a pulse grenade off his right hip, flipped the primer with his thumb, and tossed it directly toward the group of Sam’s trainees. He landed on his left shoulder and rolled, bringing his pulse rifle back to his hands and laying down a stream of fire.

  With the pulse grenade still tumbling slowly across the asteroid, the attacking recruits leapt away. The grenade detonated, sending out a sparkling silver sphere that caught all but one of the Marines.

  Jack knew that Marine was Sam Torent.

  With the blast wave settling, Sam Torent raced back in. He grabbed one of his stricken recruits and held the recruit in front of him like a shield. Sam rested his pulse rifle on the right shoulder of the recruit who had been caught in the grenade blast, the recruit quivering with the pain of the blast.

  Sam opened fire.

  Jack opened a channel to Sam. All recruits were out of the fight. Only the two officers left.

  “That’s it, Sam. Training over.”

  Torent raced in, pouring weapons fire at Jack. Jack took cover behind a small boulder, his back to the boulder and rifle close to his chest.

  The med data from Jack’s recruit squad showed him pulse rounds hitting each of the recruits who had already taken hits.

  “Stand down, Sam,” Jack said. He stood up from behind the boulder and saw Sam walking towards his stricken Marine recruits. He’d slung his pulse rifle over his shoulder and had drawn his pistol. He fired a round at each of the stricken Marines as he walked across the asteroid, dust kicking up in his wake. He moved in towards the Marine with the twisted ankle, the young recruit’s pulse rifle pointed but poorly aimed.

  Jack walked across the asteroid, slinging his rifle as he did.

  “I said stand down, Sam,” Jack said.

  Checking his enhanced data view and tapping into Sam’s feed, Jack could see his old friend was wrapped in bloodlust. He advanced on the Marine recruit with the twisted ankle. The recruit tossed his rifle and was holding his hands up in front of him, begging for Sam to stop.

  “They ain’t going to learn nothing, Jack, if you wrap them up in baby blankets.” Sam took aim at the injured recruit, pointing his pulse pistol directly into the recruit’s faceplate.

  Jack fired up his suit’s thrusters and launched himself across the asteroid. He grabbed Sam’s pulse pistol a moment after Sam had fired a round at point-blank range. Jack tried to rip the pistol away from Sam’s grip.

  Sam let the pistol go, and Jack staggered back as the pistol was suddenly released. He regained his footing, dropped the pistol, and walked back towards Sam.

  “I said the training was over!” Jack shouted.

  “Well, I think it’s only just beginning.” Sam stepped forward, squaring up to Jack.

  Jack felt his usual cool, calm manner failing. His pulse quickened and his blood ran hot as he realized Sam Torent was challenging his authority directly in front of the recruits. He saw the slight movement of Sam clenching his fist. Jack bunched his fists and stood lightly on the balls of his feet, his left shoulder forward, his right arm ready to swing.

  The sudden flickering of the asteroid beneath Jack’s feet did little to distract him at first, but then the flickering intensified until the VR simulation ended and the image vanished completely. Jack found himself floating in the center of the empty arena, slowly drifting toward the edge under the new gravity field. The lights came up in the central arena, lighting rigs, seating areas, exit signs and directions to all facilities suddenly looking strange after having been so immersed in the simulation.

  Sam and Jack landed lightly on the outer edge of the arena, the recruits landing nearby. Jack deactivated the simulation protocols from the squad’s tactical suits. He administered light pain relief to the recruit with the twisted ankle. All other pain from the pulse rounds was merely simulated and it fell away the moment Jack canceled the protocols.

  Standing in front of Sam, Jack pulled off his tactical suit helmet and held it lightly at his side. Sam pulled off his helmet, a fierce glare in his eyes.

  “Square away these recruits, Commander,” Jack said. “Get them back to their training barracks and replay the training simulation. I want tactical awareness reports from every recruit, and I want your report too, Commander. I want to know how we can improve training.”

  Sam Torent stared at Jack, but after a moment, his stare softened slightly.

  “Yes, sir,” Sam said.

  “And get that recruit to the med bay. He has a torn ligament. Get him patched up and back in the line, okay, Sam?”

  He nodded.

  Jack turned to talk to the Marine recruits from both squads now assembled on the edge of the arena, all resting and chatting amicably.

  “Training will continue at the top of the next watch. I’m going to find out why this session was canceled prematurely.” Jack turned to Sam. “Walk with me, Commander.”

  Once Jack was sure he was out of earshot of the recruits, he stopped and turned to Sam.

  “I am going to run this training program,” Jack said, “but I need your support. Do you have a problem with that, Sam?”

  “You were too soft on them, Jack,” Sam said. “If they are going to be at all Marine, you can’t hold their hands. Throw them in and throw them hard. Remember our training? It worked for us, didn’t it?”

  “Our training is not a good example, Sam,�
� Jack said. “As I recall, it was just about getting us to the front line as quickly as possible, and between the drill sergeant tasering us and taking a flogging or two, I’m surprised any of us lived to actually fight at all. I’m not doing it that way. These are volunteers. We were pressed into service against our will. They needed to threaten and beat us into shape, but I want to train these recruits to be useful Marines, not just cannon fodder. We need them to be tactically aware, not just able to rush at an enemy because they are more afraid of what is behind them than what is in front of them. Copy?”

  Sam nodded and glanced at his boots.

  “Get them some rations, some rest, and get them ready for training. We go again next watch. I’m going to speak to the colonel about this training session getting canceled.”

  Jack exited the central arena. He walked through the civilian corridors towards the civilian transport’s docking bay and his tac boat. From a simulated battlefield to a very real battle with the colonel, Jack knew without a doubt which was worse.

  2

  Marine Colonel Snipe was sitting behind his desk, a VR headset on. Jack waited for the colonel to acknowledge him. Snipe swung lazily in his seat, his head turning this way and that, watching the VR images being transmitted directly into his eyes.

  Jack cleared his throat to catch the colonel’s attention. Snipe swiveled around to sit at his desk, tearing off the headset. He looked up and saw it was Jack. His gaze hardened noticeably. Jack realized he had startled the colonel, and the colonel had thought it might be one of his superiors when it turned out to be one of his juniors.

  “What is it, Jack?” Snipe said, tucking the VR headset into one of his desk drawers. “Stand before me at attention.” Snipe pointed, his tone changing.