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

  Jack saw the Chits rushing forward. The Marines jabbed forward with their electron bayonets, multiple blades piercing the massive head a Chitin.

  Jack acted on instinct alone. He jabbed at one Chit and as that one fell away he jabbed at the one that replaced it. A seemingly never ending rush of Chitin soldiers, all determined to kill the Marines that were pressing them back along the corridor.

  Jack felt a tap on his shoulder. A Marine was ready to replace him in the line. Jack was standing alongside the Marines and fighting hard. The Marines around him could only go forward. Jack didn’t feel that it was right for him to step back.

  “I’ve got this, sir,” the Marine said.

  Jack nodded and stepped back, the Marine taking his place in a seamless replacement. Immediately the man was jabbing forward at a Chit pressing up to the line.

  “Keep moving forward,” Jack said. He looked back and saw Jones being dragged back toward the stairs up to the cockpit. A Marine from 6th squad was dragging Jones away, the replacement, Bailey.

  “Get the wounded out of here, Bailey,” Jack shouted. “Get them back to the Scorpio. Copy?”

  “Copy that, sir,” Bailey replied.

  And as Bailey dragged Jones away Jack saw him lift his hand and offer a salute.

  “And clear these dead Chits away,” Jack said and went back to manage the advancing line of Marines that was fighting back the Chitin soldiers that had boarded the civilian craft.

  Standing behind the line of Marines was harder work than standing at the front. Jack watched every movement and every attack from the Chit invaders. Another man fell to the stabbing Chitin tentacles and another Marine took their place. As the Chitin soldiers were pressed further back along the main corridor they fought harder and more frenetically. They came rushing forward in combined attacks that hammered into the line of Marines. But the line held and the Chits were cleared from the central corridor.

  The end of the main corridor split into two corridors. There was room for only two Marines, one on the ceiling panels and one on the deck. Jack set a team of two Marines from 1st squad along one and two Marines from 6th along the other.

  Jack held position at the junction of the two. He could hear the heavy breathing and effort from the Marines over their helmet communicators. It seemed to take an age as Jack waited and listened. Finally relief as the first team reported the area was clear closely followed by the same report from the second team.

  Jack inspected the corridors. The dead Chits covered the walkway. He watched cautiously as he approached the first fallen Chit. He stuck his bayonet into the Chit to be sure. The civilian ship was secure. The civilians were saved.

  The captain of the civilian craft opened the door to the sealed compartment. The occupants were red faced, hot and flustered. They all wore expressions of relief and fear.

  “You’re safe now,” Jack said. “We got them all.”

  The crew let out sighs—and cries—of relief. Jack could see for himself the strain their ordeal had taken on them all. And the ship itself was suffering from the strain put on it by the many Chitin Hydras that were still attached to the hull.

  It had been a tough fight, and for Jack, who had barely got his hands dirty, it had been one of the toughest.

  6

  Writing the after action report was harder for Jack than the actual battle. He remembered in detail every moment of the fight. Every wounded Marine numbered. Although there had been several wounded there was only one fatality. Navidi of 1st squad was dead.

  Jack had fought with Navidi at the Battle of Kratos Drydock. They’d worked together to fight off the Chitin infiltration of the Scorpio. Navidi was a good Marine and Jack would have recommended him for a position as company commander. The battalion had lost another good man. Jack wondered if any of them would survive this war.

  The corridors of the Scorpio were busier than he had ever seen them when he finally left his quarters. The civilians they had rescued were wandering about the ship. He could see their relief on their faces mixed with excitement at being on a Fleet destroyer.

  Jack recognized many of the faces of the civilians but none recognized him. He had been fully suited during the rescue mission, his face covered by the meat suit helmet. Jack passed by them all and walked to the VR deck where he slid into the first free VR pod he could find.

  A high level battle exercise was just what Jack needed to work off his energy.

  Jack fought one Chitin after another. He went running through a variety of environments, firing his pulse rifle to bring down a Chit and then rushing in and finishing the thing off with his fizzing electron bayonet. He increased the difficulty level, introducing more Chits and making the terrain more difficult.

  He ran and he shot and he stabbed. The VR pod reported his heart rate was high and his energy levels low. Jack increased the tempo and fought on. He saw the Chits closing in on all sides. He slashed out wildly with his EB, slicing tentacles way.

  And the Chits closed in, their shining carapaces blocking out the simulated red giant sun as they surrounded him.

  A message from Griff caused the simulation to pause, a Chitin soldier, and its round mouth with its ring of white teeth, dripping with slime and poised to smash into Jack’s body centimeters away from the killer blow.

  “Sorry to disturb you Jack,” Griff said. “I wanted you to hear right away. The Scorpio is leaving the carrier group and we are returning to Eros to drop off the civilians. We are going to be a cruise ship for a few days. Rest up, Jack. You’ve earned it.”

  Jack acknowledged the message and closed the channel. He looked at the face of the VR Chit. He had fought them too many times to count. He’d always had faced them with determination and a cool head, fighting them back time and again. Now his battle with them was more abstract. As a leader and company commander he needed to fight them with tactics and strategy more than with his pulse rifle. The Marines of Cobra Company were relying on him to make the right call and get the job done. They were putting their lives on the line and trusting Jack not to throw their lives away with poor decisions.

  Command was proving to be the hardest fight he had yet faced. Jack cancelled the training simulation and exited the VR pod.

  The flight to Eros would take days. The Scorpio was undergoing running repairs and was on low power. The destroyer had been in too many engagements over the last year in space and was badly in need of a refit.

  The rescued miners were handy with power tools and were drafted to work in the maintenance department. Sarah Reyes had no time for Jack, she was too busy overseeing her new work party, a bunch of grizzled men following the instructions of a young woman.

  Not that Jack had time for socializing. He had a mountain of paper work. He was developing training sessions for the entire battalion and checking the data on every Marine, looking for one who would be suitable for the step up to company commander. He had lists of Marines and their performance evaluations. He had lists of virtual reality training programs and the masses of data that generated. There was data on accuracy, movement rate, and situational awareness. Data in numerical form and graphical form. Testimonies from squad leaders and personal assessments.

  Jack became a recluse, in his small quarters, accompanied only by piles of data. Days went by as he studied every squad leader’s meat suit and VR data closely.

  Jack had watched Laidlaw, the squad leader of Cobra’s 5th squad during the recent rescue mission at the mining asteroid. Laidlaw had handled himself well, and had only narrowly escaped. Laidlaw had been untested in battle when Jack had first met him, but in a relatively short time he had acquired a lot of combat experience.

  Jack had studied Laidlaw’s meat suit data from the recent Chitin incursion on to the Scorpio after the assault on the Chitin surveillance network. Laidlaw had held an access corridor to weapons control and had managed the situation well. The Chits had attacked his position in force. Jack studied the helmet camera data. The Chits were determined to break Laidlaw an
d his squad and stop the Scorpio’s guns. It had been a vital skirmish and Laidlaw had managed the situation well. He fought the Chits off with accurate pulse rifle fire and some neat electron bayonet work but he had also had the ability to assess the bigger picture and managed his squad well. He had a sound tactical mind and an ability to remain calm under pressure. He seemed like a perfect candidate. Jack marked Laidlaw’s file as a potential company commander and moved on to another.

  The call from Pretorius was a welcome distraction. Jack was requested to present himself on the command deck where Captain Pretorius and Major Griff were waiting for him.

  “Well done on the last mission, Jack,” Griff said. “No civilian casualties. Excellent work.”

  Jack nodded. There had been Marine casualties, but as a company commander he knew he couldn’t dwell on it. He needed to move forward. He couldn’t forget those he’d lost, but he couldn’t let their loss hamper his leadership and decision making.

  “We’ve got another one for you, Jack,” Griff said.

  Pretorius tapped the holostage and brought up an image. It was a building on an asteroid. Jack looked closely. It looked to be a heavily guarded building with perimeter fences and electron shielding. Guard towers at regular points around the perimeter and at interior fencing. There were few entry points in the main building. It looked to be heavily fortified. Very difficult to get into. Then Jack realized something else, it would be very difficult to get out of. The building was not designed to prevent anyone or anything getting in. it was designed to prevent anyone or anything getting out. It was a prison.

  Jack looked at Griff when he realized the nature of the structure. Griff was studying Jack. He seemed to notice that Jack had understood what the building was and he nodded.

  “Yes Jack,” Griff said. “It’s a prison facility.”

  “I haven’t done anything wrong have I, sir,” Jack laughed.

  Griff smiled. “Not as far as I know, commander.”

  “What’s the mission, sir,” Jack asked standing upright.

  Pretorius stepped away from the holostage as Commander Chou brought a file for the captain to read. Pretorius left Jack and Griff at the holostage and sat in his chair.

  “As you know, there is a full scale evacuation from the outer system and asteroid belt. All humans are retreating to the inner system to escape Chitin attacks. The civilians are better defended by the planetary defenses around Eros and Eras. No Chit vessel has come within range of those defenses and we don’t think they will be suicidal enough to even try. We are passing this prison asteroid facility on our way back to Eros. We are required to remove the prisoners and bring them safely back to Eros.”

  “How many prisoners are there,” Jack asked. If he was going to take these prisoners away he would need to take enough landing craft to the surface to take them away.

  “Only thirty,” Griff said. “The majority of the low risk category inmates have already been moved on a civilian ship that was passing.”

  “So I get to take the bad guys is it sir,” Jack asked.

  “The high risk category inmates, that’s correct.” Griff looked Jack in the eye. “Some nasty characters down there.”

  Jack nodded and looked at the facility. There was a landing bay large enough for a Marine shuttle craft. A corridor ran from the landing bay to the prison’s main building. A squad or two of heavily armed, fully suited Marines could funnel the inmates along that corridor and into a waiting landing craft. They could be in and out quickly. “Is it an automated facility, sir?” Jack asked. He thought this was going to be an easy mission.

  “Yes,” Griff said. “Fully automated. Even the death row units.”

  Jack looked at Griff. He felt a rush of surprise. “Death row inmates?” Jack said.

  “That’s right,” Griff confirmed. “The government thinks that justice would better be served by a standard public execution on Eros than leaving them for the Chits.”

  Jack looked again at the facility. “I’ll select my team and prepare a plan. How long do I have?”

  Jack and Griff looked to Pretorius up on his chair.

  “We will intercept the asteroid prison in forty five minutes.” Pretorius said without looking up from his work.

  “I’d better move fast then,” Jack said to Griff.

  “It’s not your typical, straight forward mission, Jack. Take as many Marines as you think you need. Get down there. Get them out and bring them back. Easy as that, copy?”

  “Copy that, sir.”

  “Remember,” Griff said, “these prisoners are lifers and end of lifers. They haven’t got anything to lose. They might see this as a chance to get away. Try not to lose any of them.”

  Jack nodded and left the command deck. He quickly chose a group of squad leaders.

  Laidlaw was a clear favorite for commander. He had recently been tested in battle and there could be no doubting his commitment. He had handled himself well and tested off the charts in training. Clearly an intelligent young Marine, Jack wanted to see him in action on this unusual mission. He was in.

  Jarett had impressed Jack when they had fought off the recent Chit attack after the mine rescue. He had held his position and then assisted Jack to clear the Hydra of any remaining threat. Jack had seen Jarett’s data and the squad leader was as good as any. Jack would have Jarett and his squad come along on the prisoner transfer operation too.

  Jack knew the squad leaders of Cobra Company best so there was no surprise that he wanted to bring along some Marines he knew and trusted better than any others in the battalion. 6th squad was in and Jack knew their squad leader, Sam Torent, would not let him down.

  He opened a communication channel to the group of selected squad leaders.

  “Attention. Muster your squads. Prep and suit up. Form up on the Marine deck in ten. Forge out.”

  The acknowledgments came back in moments. Jack knew the squad leaders would be motivating and hurrying their squads in to action. Jack knew that these men and women were the best and they would not need to be told twice.

  7

  “As you can see I have assembled three squads here for this operation.” Jack marched across the front of the group on the Marine deck. They stood with their helmets under their arms and their pulse rifles over their shoulders.

  “We have no prep time on this operation but you’ve all seen the operation brief. We will go down on a landing craft. The prisoners will be released when we are position. Just move them toward the landing craft, strap them in and then back to the Scorpio.”

  Torent raised a hand, “Sir, we haven’t got room in the Scorpio brig for this many prisoners. Where are we going to keep them?”

  Jack nodded. “They will be held in the secondary hangar under Marine guard. We are only a short journey from Eros where they’ll be some else’s problem.”

  “I don’t see why they should be anyone’s problem,” Jarett said. “Half of them are just waiting for the gallows. Why waste the rope when we can just let the Chits take care of them?”

  Jack understood the squad leader’s comment and he guessed most of the Marines going down to the prison would be thinking the same thing.

  “For one thing, Jarett,” Jack said calmly, “fifty four of them are serving life sentences. They are not under sentence of death and so deserve to be spared a meeting with the Chits. Six of them are due to hang in a month’s time. The Chits will be here in a few days probably.”

  “So they die a few weeks sooner.” Jarett said laughing. “They say the waiting is the worst. We’d be doing them a favor.”

  “We are not in the business of doing favors, squad leader Jarett,” Jack said. “We are Marines and we follow orders. Our orders are to bring these prisoners to the Scorpio for transfer to Eros. Do you have a problem following that order?”

  Jarett stopped laughing. “No sir,” he said looking straight ahead.

  Jack studied Jarett’s expression. Jack wondered if he had he misjudged this Marine? Would he be abl
e to do this job? The last thing Jack needed to do now was to second guess his decisions. Running in circles like a headless Chit was no way for a commander to act.

  “But most importantly, those are humans down there. We are going to need every available person if we are going to turn the tide in this war. Maybe one of them can do something to help us win this thing. I do not want any mistakes on this one, ok?” Jack looked at the faces of his squad leaders. They all nodded in agreement.

  Jacks communicator came alive with a message from Major Griff.

  “We are in position. Take your team down as soon as you are ready. Good luck, Jack.”

  “Copy that, major,” Jack said. He turned to his squad leaders. “You heard the major. Get your squads to the lander and let’s go rescue some people. Go.”

  Jack watched his squad leaders order their squads onto the landing craft. Built to carry an entire company it was big enough for the task of transporting the sixty prisoners and Marines. Jack was the last up the ramp onto the lander. Once aboard he closed the ramp he informed the pilot that they were ready to leave.

  The landing craft lurched forward as it left the Marine hangar deck. The Marines jolted about by the uneven motion of the lander. It moved slowly out through the hangar doors into the vacuum of space. Jack walked to the cockpit, staggering as the landing craft moved in a juddering motion. Everything on the Scorpio had been through a lot of action and was in need of repair. The Scorpio battalion’s three landing craft had been through numerous landings. One was awaiting repairs, the other two were badly in need of a full service. This one was the best of the raggedy bunch.

  Jack dropped in to the co pilot’s seat. The asteroid prison was lit up, a landing bay outside the main complex was illuminated by several spot lights.

  Jack noticed the flight control panel was a patch work of amber warning lights. The amber wring lights were all for sub systems and non critical systems. Jack knew that the landing craft should be grounded and serviced if one of these lights were lit. Jack pointed at one and then looked to the pilot.