Forging a Trap (Jack Forge, Fleet Marine Book 8) Read online

  All Marines evacuate Eros by any and all means, by order of the Marine general.

  Jack read it again. To leave in a ship with inadequate supplies and no chemical cloak was suicide. To stay and fight was the only chance of survival. Jack looked at his battalion in the scarred battlefield below—broken fences, plasma arc impact craters, and the scattered luggage of a thousand abandoned civilians. Jack knew he had to stay and fight.

  “Jack.”

  The voice on his communicator lifted his spirits.

  “Sarah,” Jack said. “Are you safe?”

  “I am. I’m with the Fleet Intelligence Service on a transport ship. We are past the Chitin armada and heading out of the system. I’ll be out of communicator range soon. Listen, Jack. I know where you are. They wouldn’t let me transmit the cloak production procedure to you. Worried the Chits will intercept the message. But, Jack, if you find my old workshop, I’ve left details on the method for you to find. It’s hidden in plain sight. You’ll know it when you see it.”

  Jack looked out at the Chitin soldiers covering the ground in the far distance, slowly closing in on his position.

  “Good luck, Sarah,” he said.

  And then the channel cracked out of range and was lost.

  Jack climbed down from his observation tower. He opened a battalion-wide channel.

  “Attention, Marines. As far as we know, we are the last offensive force left on Eros. We are outnumbered and outgunned, but we know this enemy, we know their capabilities. We will continue to fight them as long as we have breath in our lungs and ammunition in our rifles. There are people out there who are going to need our help. We will defend them as best we can for as long as we can.”

  Jack stood and looked at his battalion. If he was going to maintain the battalion’s combat effectiveness, he would have to lead them better than ever before. He knew he could lead them, and he knew they would fight. Jack had no doubt about the Chitins’ capabilities. He had no doubt about his own capabilities either. If he was going to stay here on Eros, he would have to fight. He would fight. He was Major Jack Forge of the Scorpio Battalion. He had forged a perfect trap, but now he was trapped himself.

  THANK YOU

  Thank you so much for reading Forging a Trap, the eighth book in the Jack Forge, Fleet Marine series. The battle to save humanity has just about come to an end. And it’s not looking good for us humans. Can Jack save the human race or are we destined for extinction? If you enjoyed this story (or even if you didn’t), it would be awesome if you left a review for me. That really helps me know if people like my stories or if I need to change things.

  The next book in the series is almost completed and will be available in September or October. Make sure you keep an eye out for it on Amazon.

  At the end of the book, I have included a preview of Raven Sharpe which is the first book in the Raven Sharpe Chronicles which follow a galactic bounty hunter whose best friend, and partner, is a cyber-genetically enhanced cougar. It’s right after the information about our newsletter. After you read the preview, you can download the book on Amazon.

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  A thick tree branch came out of nowhere, and Raven had to duck fast to avoid her nose getting broken. She ducked so fast she nearly pitched onto her face anyway, so she just threw her weight forward and rolled, coming back up on her feet and sprinting ahead again.

  You should have shot him in the head instead of the wing. Then we wouldn't have to run like this, Kyra said from the rock ledge several feet above Raven's head and ahead of her. The cougar's paws gripped hard to the rocks, not slipping once although she made several smaller stones slip in her stead and rain down in front of the human running below.

  Raven would have made a disgruntled noise if she wasn't focusing so hard on running and not getting broken by one of the many, many trees of this planet.

  You bloody well know this contract needs us to return with a live body, not a dead one. I haul a corpse back and we don't get paid, Raven replied. She was glad the conversation by neural implant didn't relay her breathlessness like speaking out loud would have.

  If we have a corpse, we can be assured of eating, the big cat replied, sounding like she'd be smiling if her feline face was capable of the expression. There was a screech from up ahead to show her appreciation for her own idea.

  Raven scowled. You forget that some of us don't eat anything and everything meat-related. I don't like eating my credit balance, either. Although she tended to not be sentimental, Raven just couldn't get behind the idea of eating something that could hold a conversation with her.

  There was another scream. Then you'd better pick up your pace, human!

  I'm on two legs and you're on four. What's your excuse?

  At least they kept it lively.

  The surface of Iraklis—the fourth moon of the planet Omiros—was some of the thickest forest Raven Sharpe had ever seen in the four years she'd been flying through space as an interplanetary bounty hunter. At any other time, she would have enjoyed this scenery. She loved trees and being outside; these trees looked good for climbing and there were mountains and rock ledges to explore.

  Unfortunately, she and Kyra were there on business.

  Silvanus! Raven called the AI back in her ship. Can you get any sort of read on how far ahead he is?

  She didn't normally have to spend this much time on foot chasing her targets down, but this one's choice of planet had been a good one. She couldn't fly her ship through this, and she couldn't pierce the canopy from above. Everything was too thickly vegetated for her to use her gun, since she didn't want to set the entire forest on fire. Perhaps he had been counting on flying up and away from her, but before he'd taken off into the trees, she had managed to shoot his wing and at least keep him grounded.

  I'm sorry, Raven, the ship's artificial intelligence replied with the sound of true apology in her slightly mechanical-sounding voice. The foliage is too thick, and there is something growing in the forest that obscures my sensors. I can pick up on traces of your life signs but only in a very general sense. Everything else I can only glean from yours and Kyra's implants. If it helps any, I can tell that despite the exertion, you're both in optimal health and conditioning.

  Raven tried to not roll her eyes, since if she did, she might well end up smacking face-first into a tree. She knew she was doing fine with the running since she wasn't dead yet. That was her meter for pretty much everything.

  Thanks, Silvanus, she replied, trying to not be too sarcastic to her AI. If she pissed off what had turned out to be a slightly sensitive computer algorithm, then she was down fifty percent of her friends in life.

  We're getting close, Kyra announced. I can smell the fear on him and the scent is growing. He knows we're almost upon him.

  Finally, Raven hissed, taking a deep breath and putting on an extra burst of speed from her genetically enhanced body. She wasn't as fast as Kyra, but she was still faster than the average human. The only thing her target had over her, and why he maintained such a lead for so long, was the fact that he knew the terrain better than she did.

  A few more minutes and she could see him up
ahead. Green blood was leaking down the back of his light blue clothing where he was missing a large portion of a gray-feathered wing. His legs certainly weren't affected, however, as they moved with impressive strength. He broke through the tree line and into a clearing.

  He was losing speed, though. Raven could now see the hitch in his gait as it rapidly grew lopsided.

  Kyra screamed and Raven chanced a sidelong glance, realizing that the ledge had run out and she was going to have to come to the ground now. Looking forward again, Raven saw her hunt look back to the sound of the scream as well.

  In that moment, he slowed down just a little too much. A tawny-furred mass burst out of the trees in an athletic flying leap, landing on his back. He squawked in pain, and they both went tumbling to the ground. He battered at the big cat with his one working wing and rolled back, dislodging Kyra before she could get a decent grip.

  He was pulling himself to his feet but couldn't get upright before he saw Raven standing in front of him with her gun trained on his head.

  Anger and fear warred in his piercing blue eyes as he stared up at her. He seemed to be considering if he could jump ahead of her gun and take her down, but Kyra was already back on her feet and padding her way to Raven's side. Maybe he would've done it anyway, but the sight of her licking smears of green blood from her incisors seemed to weaken what will he had left to make another run for it.

  "The security force of Talonos II has a bounty on your head," Raven announced with a smirk. "They didn't like you getting away from them like that. Now, stand up and put your hands behind your back. Don't make me shoot off your other wing."

  He hesitated for a moment, but then the last of the fight left him and his whole bird-like body sagged as he got to his feet and put his hands behind his back. Kyra stared at him while Raven moved around to fasten on the restraints. This included one around his chest to bind his wings to his back so he couldn't use them in any way.

  "All right, back to the ship," she said. Silvanus, we are returning with our captive.

  Congratulations, Raven. Another successful hunt.

  We always bring our target home, Kyra boasted.

  Raven just appreciated that the cat remembered to say "we" instead of "I."

  I do feel I must warn you, Raven, Silvanus said a moment later, sounding reluctant. There is someone waiting for you at the ship.

  Read the rest of the story here:

  amazon.com/dp/B07CTQBGQT