Federation at War (Blue Star Marines Book 1)

by James David Victor

  The Skarak weapon struck the Fist a glancing blow.

  “I can ram her with the bus. I’ll drop the reactor containment at the last moment. If you and the Creeping Fate can keep the Skarak fixed on these two ships, I can advance the small ship without being spotted.”

  “Go. Take her,” Poledri said. “How will you get back aboard?”

  “Let’s hope the environmental suits can handle it,” Boyd said.

  He jumped up from the pilot’s seat, and Poledri took his place.

  Marching off the deck, Thresh followed.

  “This is a one-person job, Thresh,” Boyd said.

  “If anyone can get a big enough bang out of the reactor on that old bus, it’s me,” Thresh said. “Captain?” She turned to Poledri.

  The captain was enjoying himself, moving the ship from one firing position to another. The ship took a hit from the Skarak weapon, shaking the half-smile from his face.

  Poledri waved them off the bridge without looking up. “Go. The pair of you. Kill that bastard.”

  Boyd and Thresh ran along the corridors. Alarms were sounding. A whistle in the air suggested a minor hull breach somewhere.

  “Are you really this desperate to get yourself killed?” Boyd asked Thresh as they came to the shuttle bay.

  “Just want to make sure you don’t try to run out on us. There’s something not right about you.” Thresh smiled.

  Bursting into the bay, the pair pulled on flight suits and squeezed into the bus. Boyd dropped into the pilot’s seat while Thresh went to the rear section.

  “I’ll give you enough power to get us there,” Thresh said, “then this old bus is going to go out with a bang.”

  Boyd watched the outer door open. The massive Skarak warship was twisting and turning, its blue beam firing at the two ships dancing around her. The hail cannons were just pinpricks on a giant.

  “I will fly us directly at the primary weapon.” Boyd set off across to the void toward the massive Skarak ship.

  One huge blast from the drive and then Boyd cut the power. The bus fell toward its target, thruster jets keeping it on track and avoiding the battling ships—a small, insignificant ship in a battle of giants.

  The two Faction ships were small by comparison to the Skarak ship, and the bus was smaller still, and with no drive trail or energy signature, they were practically invisible.

  The bus fell in closer to the large rapiers. Blue energy crackled deep inside the outer surface. It was as if the surface existed at several levels, and the blue energy seethed within.

  “This old reactor only has a few million kilometers in her anyway,” Thresh said, stepping forward. She leaned over Boyd’s shoulder and looked out of the forward transparent composite, the rapiers of the Skarak ship all around.

  “Let’s go,” Boyd said, standing up. He checked his suit and realized it was pointless at this stage. It either worked or it didn’t. There was no backup plan.

  Boyd stepped over to the hatch and slid it open. He stepped out from the bus, Thresh grabbing his hand.

  “Our combined thrust should be enough to get clear,” she said.

  “Should be?” Boyd asked. He hit the suit’s thrust and looked back over his shoulder nervously.

  The bus disappeared into the depths of the Skarak’s dark rapiers, and then a white flash lit them up, silhouetting the entire ship. It hung there for a moment of stillness in the dark.

  And then the blast wave hit.

  Boyd felt the blast like a hammer blow. His vision blurred, his suit began reporting malfunctions, and his life support was compromised. He only had a few minutes before he suffocated or froze to death.

  Thresh was out for the count, her body limp next to him. He dragged her closer to him and pushed his suit’s thrusters to the limit.

  Looking back, the Skarak ship was turning. Hail cannon fire still flickered over its black hull. And then it was gone, racing toward the outer asteroid sphere and away from the Scorpio System.

  “This is Boyd. Thresh is out cold. I’ve only got a few minutes. Any chance of a pickup?”

  The helmet speaker crackled to life and Boyd heard the delighted cheers from the flight deck of the Fist.

  “Great job, Boyd,” Poledri said. “The Skarak have turned tail and are running. I’ll come about and pick you up. Hang tight. I’ll be there in a moment. Poledri out.”

  As Boyd drifted, he saw Thresh’s eyes flicker to life again.

  “Where are we?” she asked. She reached around Boyd and held him tight.

  “Just floating,” Boyd said. “Awaiting pickup.”

  “Did we win?” she asked in a sleepy, lazy, dreamlike tone.

  “Not yet. I think the war has just begun,” Boyd said.

  “Maybe we can have a rest before our next battle.” She rested her head against his, their helmets knocking lightly.

  The Fist came racing in then turned to present its open shuttle bay. It swallowed the pair up. Artificial gravity caught them both and they fell to the deck as the hatch sealed behind them.

  Boyd was back aboard the Odium Fist. Back with the Faction crew he had just saved. Saved for now, at least, but one day, he would destroy them. First, he needed to get close to Kitzov, then he would take down their leader, along with the crew of the Odium Fist.

  Boyd was a Blue Star Marine, after all, and he was going to destroy the Faction.

  16

  Boyd sat in his cabin, the image of Major Featherstone hovering over his clandestine transmitter.

  “I was this close,” Boyd said, holding his finger and thumb a centimeter apart. “This close to Kitzov.”

  “It was good work, Sergeant,” Featherstone said. “No one has ever gotten that close. If the Skarak hadn’t had come into the picture, we would have Kitzov at the end of a rope by now.”

  “Sir,” Boyd said. “The Skarak? Who are they? What do they want?”

  “The tactical intelligence believes they were just observing us. As soon as we discovered them, they started to leave. They have been watching us, though. Studying us.”

  “Does the tactical intelligence believe they are gone for good?”

  Featherstone avoided the question.

  “We heard about the Truth,” Featherstone said.

  “It was an impossible situation, sir.”

  “It’s a tough job, Boyd. It’s why you got it.”

  “Maybe I should request extraction. If the Skarak come back, the Union is going to need good pilots.”

  “Kitzov is still one of the most dangerous men, if not the most dangerous, in the Scorpio System. We can’t fight the Skarak and the Faction. Taking Kitzov out is still a priority for the Union, and you are still our best chance of achieving that. You are to hold your position and try to get close to this Faction Leader. Without him, they will be little more than a scattered bunch of gangsters and pirates.”

  Boyd nodded. He wanted to take Kitzov down. He had more reason than most in the Union to want to see the man destroyed. Kitzov was a killer, and Boyd wanted justice…and revenge.

  The corridor proximity alarm sounded in Boyd’s ear. He canceled the transmission, Featherstone’s image vanishing in a second. Boyd stuffed the transmitter up his sleeve and sat on his bunk.

  The door to his cabin burst open, and Enke Thresh was standing there. She was wearing a tight tank top, her arms heavily bruised from the blast wave thrown out from the exploding bus.

  “Not another sparing match?” Boyd asked.

  Thresh grinned. “I know you couldn’t take it.”

  Boyd looked up at Thresh. Her thick, dark hair was covering a heavy bruise on her upper cheek, and her eye was bloodshot red.

  “You need a med-pack?” Boyd asked.

  “The captain wants you on the flight deck.” She leaned against the doorframe.

  “What now?” Boyd complained, standing up, making sure the clandestine transmitter stayed up his sleeve.

  “Unless you have something else you’d rather be doing.” She grinned.<
br />
  “Better see what the captain wants first,” Boyd said.

  “I knew you had a strong streak of self-preservation about you. It’s almost cowardly.”

  “You have no idea,” Boyd said. “You think I want to get myself killed?”

  He stepped past Thresh in the doorway. She made him squeeze past her.

  “I think they have a bottle of something cold for you, as a thank you for saving the Fist and the Creeping Fate.” Thresh fell in step alongside Boyd.

  “Oh, good, something to take the edge off,” Boyd said, but he needed to stay alert. He needed to keep a clear head. He was still in enemy territory. He was still in danger.

  And a second war had just begun.

  Thank You For Reading

  Thanks for reading Federation at War, the first book in the epic Blue Star Marines series.

  Will Boyd has definitely found himself between a rock and a hard place. He’s a double agent in a now three-way war. How in the world is he going to get out of this mess alive?

  The next story in the series is called Alien Assault and you can order it now on Amazon.

  Get Alien Assault here:

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