Invasion (Blue Star Marines Book 3)

by James David Victor

  “Yes, sir, but…” he trailed off.

  “I know,” Featherstone said. “Kitzov, that slippery pirate. Well, it looks like the Skarak may have done our work for us. We traced his ship as best we could, but the signal suggests he ran into a couple of Skarak warships north of the ecliptic, just by the edge of the Sphere. It wasn’t just the mastership attack on Supra, Sergeant. There was a massive Skarak incursion all across the system. They were attacking any ship or settlement from Supra to the Sphere. But if Kitzov survived, and that old pirate could well have done it, we’ll have to let him go for now. The fleet is making the Skarak our priority. The entire fleet is pulling back to the belt and we are defending the inner system from there. The Faction will have their wish at last, they are finally on their own. They want the outer system, and it looks like the politicians are prepared to let them have it, at least until we can get a grip on this Skarak situation.”

  “What about…” Boyd hesitated. He wanted to ask about the crew of the Silence, and one person in particular, but he bit his tongue.

  Featherstone looked down at him.

  “What about Supra? If the fleet pulls back to the belt, won’t Supra be vulnerable?”

  “Supra’s orbital defense is getting an upgrade. A company of Blue Star Marines will be stationed there with a demon device just in case a Skarak mastership arrives, but something tells me we have seen the last of the Skarak. Every time they show up, we have handed them a devastating defeat. If they had any sense, they would stay away.”

  “I’m not so sure,” Boyd said.

  “No? Why not?”

  “They have been watching us for longer than we know. We don’t know them half as well as they know us. We don’t know how they think, we don’t understand their tech, and we don’t know what they even want.”

  Featherstone nodded. “You might be right, but tactical intelligence thinks we can hold them off. Now, get out of here, Sergeant. You did well today. Go take a break.”

  Boyd looked over at the pilot chair, lingering a while.

  “Miss the old chair, do you?” Featherstone said.

  “A little, I guess,” Boyd admitted before saluting the major.

  Featherstone returned the salute and then returned to work.

  Boyd stepped off the command deck and out into the familiar corridors, but they felt strange to him now. He slipped into the sensor main core and looked at the data the Resolute had gathered on the Silence as she fled, leaving him behind. He scanned the path she had taken, hoping to find any evidence of her current location. He searched through all available Union sensor data.

  Somewhere out there was Thresh. He would do whatever he could to find her and make sure she was alive. And somewhere out there was Kitzov. Boyd might be back amongst the Blue Stars, but his mission to capture Kitzov was not over, and it would never be over, not until one of them was dead.

  Thank You For Reading

  Thanks for reading Invasion, the third book in the epic Blue Star Marines series.

  Boyd came so close to getting what he was after, but in the end, everything seems to have slipped through his grasp. And then there’s the massive Skarak invasion. He’s got lots of work to do if he’s gonna help save humanity, and the woman he seems to inexplicably be falling for.

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

  fairfieldpublishing.com/terminalrisk

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