New Enemy (Jack Forge, Lost Marine Book 4)

by James David Victor

  But the sight of the Devex warrior made them all recoil.

  “It’s okay,” Riya said, reaching out to one man. He turned, glancing back in fear, and ran away into the darkness.

  Jack checked his holostage. Bren was nearby.

  “This way,” he said and led the way.

  Bren was sitting and looking up at the darkness above as Jack approached.

  “Bren?” Jack said.

  “There haven’t been any lights for a while,” Bren said. “Do you think they’ll let me be with my sister?”

  Riya stepped forward.

  “Bren, it’s me.”

  Bren looked at the Devex faceplate looking down at her.

  “You are not my sister,” Bren said, distant and matter of fact tone as she dismissed the Devex warrior before looking back up. “My sister isn’t an alien.”

  Jack stepped up next to Bren with Riya kneeling next to her. He turned to Sam.

  “We need a way out,” Sam said. “We should be able to get into the civilian transport from here.”

  “No,” Jack said. “It’s a message from the captain. There is a Skalidion swarm on its way.”

  “Well then, we really need to go. We might find a small ship on the civilian transport. The captain’s shuttle. Something.”

  “But this ship is defenseless. You knocked out all the power.”

  “Good,” Sam said. “It’s a Devex ship. Leave them to the Skalidions.”

  “But they are not Devex. They are people. Our people. They are just standing there. Thousands of them. When the Skalidions get here, they’ll be torn apart.”

  Sam checked the message from the captain. “So, we don’t have much time. We can’t save them all, Jack. We have our mission objective. Now we need to complete our mission by getting these two back to the fleet. That is all.”

  “No,” Jack said. “It’s not all. We need to activate this ship.”

  “Are you crazy? The Devex have been attacking us for ages. It’s their fault we are scattered across the sector like we are. Too bad for the Devex. Let’s go.”

  Jack looked around.

  “These people aren’t Devex, Sam. These are innocent people. We can’t leave them. I’ve got an idea, but I’ll need your help.”

  Riya stood up, Bren holding her hand.

  “I’ll help. My father always said it was his duty to defend the people. He’s not here, but I am. I must help.”

  Jack nodded. “You know what? I think you can. Let’s get back to the sub-command rooms. We don’t have much time.”

  14

  The sub-command level was busy with Devex running between rooms.

  Jack crouched at the side of the corridor and looked back to the far sub-command rooms. Behind him was the matter transport device.

  “They don’t have a central command,” Jack said.

  “Yes, they do,” Riya said. “But it’s not aboard this ship. It’s on the home world. Massively centralized.”

  “How do you know that?” Jack said.

  Riya shrugged, a difficult thing in the exo-armor.

  “I don’t know, part of becoming a Devex warrior, I guess.”

  “We need an accurate position on the incoming Skalidion fighters,” Jack said.

  Riya pointed along the long corridor at the command level of the ship.

  “Sensor sub-command is back there.”

  Jack calculated the chances of making it past the Devex in every room along the way, just him and a fellow Marine, a Devex warrior who only hours ago was a frightened girl, and a second girl, unarmed and unequipped. Jack looked at Bren. To be fair, she appeared the most relaxed of them all.

  “How do we get there?” Jack said. “We can’t fight our way along. Is there a hidden route?”

  Riya reached down to her hip and pulled a small device from a holster there. Jack recognized it as a Devex concussion device.

  Riya aimed it along the corridor and activated it. A shimmering wave expanded out and crept along the corridor.

  “Let’s go,” Riya said. She started walking behind the slow-moving field.

  Sam turned to Jack and punched him in the shoulder.

  “She’s got some fight in her, that one, eh, Jack?”

  Jack nodded and started walking. “Seems so.”

  A Devex warrior stepped out on the right-hand side of the corridor. The concussion wave hit and sent the warrior crumpling to the ground. At the entrance to the sub-command room, Riya aimed her concussion device inside and fired another shimmering wave.

  The occupants fell in moments. Jack stepped inside.

  Sam went to one of the consoles, a twitching Devex warrior lying on the ground at the base of the console. He began to thread his Mech tissue into the machine.

  “How long will they be knocked out?” Sam asked, moving the Devex aside with his boot.

  “Not long,” Riya said. “And the rest will be expecting it, so I won’t get another shot.”

  “I’m in,” Sam said. “I’ve connected to their sensor net. I can see the Skalidion. They are on their way. They’ll be here soon.”

  Jack took a deep breath. He could not run. He had to fight.

  “We need to activate all those new Devex,” Jack said.

  “But they are civilians, not soldiers,” Riya said. “We can’t send them into battle.”

  “You’re right, they’re not soldiers,” Jack agreed, “but they are Devex warriors. And they are going to be destroyed if we don’t give them a chance. How do we reactivate them?”

  “They are all connected through a sub-command here on the ship,” Sam said. “If I can get access to one of the Devex, I might be able to route to the sub-command.”

  Jack looked down at the Devex at Sam’s feet.

  “Will that one do?”

  Sam smiled. “As good as any.”

  Riya hung her head. “They will turn on us if we activate them.”

  “Not if we deploy them,” Jack said.

  “Deploy them? Where?” Sam asked.

  “Follow me, and bring that Devex with you, Sam.”

  Jack ran back to the forward section of the ship overlooking the assembly area. The openings over the area showed Jack that no more Devex were appearing. There were thousands of newly-constructed Devex warriors, though. Jack hoped it would be enough.

  The area above the matter transfer pad was mesmerizing to Jack. The device was strange, unlike anything he had seen before. He only wished he could study it and learn how it worked, but he needed to use it now so there was no time to understand how—he just needed to make it work.

  “Riya, do you know where they are sending these warriors?”

  Riya thought for a moment. “Yes, I do,” she said. “I know it all. We were going to a Devex world on the edge of their territory. The Skalidion are mounting an invasion. We are going to hold them off.”

  “Can you reset the destination?” Jack asked.

  Riya shook her head. “I don’t have authority to do that.”

  Sam stepped up. “Neither do I, but they can’t seem to stop me. Where can I interface?”

  Riya pointed at a series of knotted pipes. “That’s the targeting beam calibration system.”

  Sam placed his hand over the pipe and his hand dematerialized, thread in. “I think I can do this.”

  “How many can we send at once?” Jack asked Riya.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know how it works.”

  “I do, kind of,” Sam said. “It depends how far we want to send them.”

  Jack walked over to Sam. He held out his wrist and showed the holoimage he had displayed above his wrist-mounted holostage.

  “We need to send them this far,” he said, pointing at the Skalidion swarm racing toward them.

  Sam smiled at Jack with a broad, cheeky smile.

  “That isn’t too far, Jack. I can send the whole kravin lot.”

  “Okay, do you want to wake them up first?” Jack said.

  Sam pulled his hand from the matter tr
ansfer machinery and let his Mech tissue flood in through the neck of the unconscious Devex warrior on the deck.

  The noise from the assembly area told Jack that Sam had woken them.

  “Are they ready for combat,” Jack said, “or are they like…” He nodded at Riya.

  “They are normal Devex,” Sam said. “Programmed and ready to fight.”

  “Okay,” Jack said. “Send them in.”

  Phisrid watched the Devex warship through the dark eyes of her observer caste. The ship was locked in an embrace with a second ship. Her swarm was growing closer. Phisrid could almost taste the new matter that would soon be added to her nest asteroid.

  The fighters were arranged in the forward bow wave of the swarm, observers dotted throughout, the builders in the tail, ready to consume all the debris left by the fighters.

  She could sense the fighters nearing, and she let the swarm charge in. These were not her own offspring. She wanted to see how the enemy behaved before she deployed her own spawn.

  Then she saw the Devex warriors appear, as if from nowhere, thousands of Devex warriors appearing amidst her formation.

  Immediately, the Devex rapid-fire blasters opened up and streams of white energy bullets raked through the forward fighters. The builders moved in to consume the Devex in the swarm but were no match for their weapons, blaster fire steaming out in all directions, tearing the swarm individuals to pieces. The builders became confused and consumed everything in their path, Devex and Skalidion alike.

  Phisrid sensed her anger spread out from her. Her builders in the nest, laying down the next generation of fighters, became agitated as their queen grew angry.

  She lashed out with a long limb and gripped a builder. She brought it to her mouth and shredded it as she fed the builder in, the taste bringing a measure of calm.

  The view from the observers in the attacking swarm became fragmented as more were destroyed. Phisrid calmed herself with the thought that it was only her sister’s leftovers that were being destroyed. They had submitted to her now but could easily have turned on her at some point. Maybe better that they were sacrificed this way.

  Phisrid looked at the ship beneath the Devex warship. It was new, and these tactics were new too. The Devex had never countered an attack in this way. It was aggressive. It was impressive. She sensed she had a new enemy. An aggressive tactician. It would be good to consume them and add their matter to her swarm.

  Her calm rippled through the nest and the builders worked on expanding the number of fighter chambers on the edge of her nest asteroid.

  Jack ran from the matter transfer room to the corridor above the assembly area. It was empty now. He dropped from the high corridor to the deck below, carrying the young Bren with him, running back through the assembly area, through the construction chambers, and down to the dark holding area. Riya opened the way to the Devex puncture arms, shafts of light along the sides of the dark space that led back to the transport.

  Jack activated the loudspeaker on his suit. He leapt up a few meters above the frightened civilians.

  “Head to the light,” Jack said. “Head back to the transport. Move quickly.”

  The transport was still powered, but the drive reactors would most likely be out of action. The Devex’s first move was always to deactivate the drive.

  Jack grabbed Sam.

  “We need power. Can you get to the drive section? Try and get one of the reactors burning. I’ll go to the command deck and get us out of here.”

  “What about the Devex warship on our back?” Sam said.

  “We’ll deal with that later. For now, we need to get out of here.”

  “What about us?” Riya said.

  “Find your cabin and stay there until we get back to the fleet.”

  Bren looked up at Jack. “I think you need us,” she said. “We had better stay with you.”

  Jack looked at Bren, thinking of how to convince the girls to run and hide, when Riya spoke.

  “We’re coming with you.”

  Jack nodded.

  “This way.”

  The command deck was empty, the crew having been taken by the Devex. Fortunately, the consoles were still active.

  Jack pulled off his helmet and climbed into the command chair. He activated the holostage and plotted a route.

  The battle in space between the Devex and the Skalidion swarm was petering out. A few flashes of Devex weapons fire lit up the distant swarm. Jack zoomed in. The Skalidions had been surprised, attacked from within their swarm, and they were fighting to the bitter end. As their number grew fewer so their fighting spirit died away and they became less effective.

  Jack looked down from the command chair to Riya and Bren. Riya was looking up at him, her face still hidden by the Devex helmet.

  “I didn’t know what you’d look like under there. I expected some grizzle old Marine. You look…” Riya trailed off.

  Jack looked at the dull gray faceplate.

  “And my sister is quite pretty, when she’s not dressed like an alien,” Bren said.

  Riya touched the helmet with her fingertips. She turned away from Jack and looked at the main holostage.

  Sam arrived on the command deck. He’d run from the drive room.

  “We’ve got power. Let’s get out of here.”

  “What about the Devex out there?” Riya said.

  Jack looked up from his armrest console.

  “Umm,” he hesitated. “The Devex will rescue them, I guess,”

  Riya drew her concussion device and aimed it at Jack.

  “No, I think I will,” she activated the device. The wave spread out, knocking her sister to the deck a moment before Jack was hit by the blast. As his suit struggled to deal with the concussion wave, Jack saw Riya run off the command deck and away.

  15

  Jack woke slumped in the command chair. Bren was lying unconscious on the deck, and Sam was slumped over the holostage.

  “Sam,” Jack said. The sound of his own voice echoing through his throbbing head. “Sam. Stand to. Report.”

  Sam pressed himself up off the holostage.

  “Sir,” he said, uncertain and groggy. “Report. Copy.”

  Sam tapped the controls on the side of the holostage and called up a local image. The civilian transport was still attached to the Devex warship above.

  Jack checked the time. He had been out for a little under fifteen minutes. He checked his wrist-mounted holostage and sent the ident tracker data on Riya Henson to the main holostage.

  “Locate Riya Henson,” Jack said.

  Sam called up the location of the tracker. She was on the Devex warship.

  “Found her,” Sam said. “She’s on the upper decks. She’s not moving much. I’ll go and recover her.”

  Jack climbed down from the command chair.

  “I’ll get her,” he said.

  Jack stepped over the unconscious Bren and noticed her stirring, starting to wake.

  “Jack,” Sam called Jack’s attention to the holostage. “We’ve got a signal coming in. It’s huge. Look.”

  It was a rough image at this distance but resolving to a cleaner image by the moment as the signal came closer. The distinctive teardrop shape could only mean one thing.

  “Skalidions,” Sam said. “Thousands of them. Moving in fast. How many of them are there?”

  Then the transport began to shake, a ship-wide quake. A screeching noise echoed along the corridors outside of the command deck.

  “Look.” Sam pointed at the image of the transport. The Devex puncture arms were retracting, pulling out of the guts of the civilian transport. Huge gaping holes vented gas into space.

  “Locking down all emergency bulkheads,” Jack said, climbing back up into the command chair.

  The bulkheads clamped down in place all across the ship. Jack hoped those passengers who had been rescued from the Devex ship were safe in their cabins.

  “Devex warship moving off,” Sam said.

  Jack looked
at the holostage. The huge Devex ship was moving away, heading for the stranded Devex warriors. Beyond the warriors was the fresh wave of Skalidion fighters.

  “She’s crazy,” Jack said. “She’ll never get there before the Skalidion.”

  “We need to get out of here, Jack,” Sam said. “We’ve got one Henson girl. We’ll just have to go back without Riya.”

  “Where’s Riya?” Bren was standing up, looking confused.

  Then a communication channel opened and an image of a Devex warrior appeared on the holostage alongside the image of the Devex warship heading on a direct course for the incoming swarm.

  “Forge, this is Riya Henson. Get my sister to safety. Those Skalidions are closing in fast.”

  “Riya!” Jack shouted. “I have orders to return to the fleet with you and your sister. Get back over here now.”

  “I can’t do it, Jack,” Riya said. “I’m the only one in control of this ship. I don’t think I can save those Devex warriors, but I can save the civilian transport. I’m heading for the Skalidions. I’ll try and get away before it’s too late.”

  The communication channel dropped.

  “Get her back,” Jack said to Sam.

  Bren cried out for her sister.

  “It’s not us. The signals are being jammed. It’s the Skalidions.”

  Jack watched as the Devex ship charged headlong toward the swarm, pulling away, accelerating toward the enemy.

  Then the Skalidion reached the Devex warship.

  “Riya,” Bren cried out.

  Jack leaned forward in his seat.

  The detonation filled the holostage.

  Jack tapped away on his command chair console to try and clear the image. He rushed over to the main holostage and accessed the system directly.

  The glow of the detonation faded as bandwidths of spectrum were filtered away. The glowing core of the detonation was all that remained of the Devex warship—and around the warship, thousands of glowing embers of Skalidion fighter craft.

  “Set course,” Jack said, his voice dropping to a whisper. “Let’s get back to the fleet.”