Reclaim: Books 1-3

by J. A. Scorch

  "The front?"

  "Oh, yeah. You wouldn't know. Command has plotted out a predicted path the Zeal are taking. We are going to head them off as much as we can. Estimates put us somewhere out in the belt by the time they arrive. Their ships are so damn fast."

  Porter thought about the strategy. It made sense in one way, but it was a huge risk at the same time. The Zeal would only have one target in their cross hairs when they arrived: Mars. Earth was already broken, but the MAF were the ones to destroy the first Zeal fleet. The Zeal knew what had happened when the final Cyclone got its distress signal out.

  "I can tell what you're thinking," Briggs said. "It's a risky idea, but the MAF plans to lure the aliens into a fight by broadcasting signals to draw them in."

  "Are you serious?" Porter asked. "Who the hell came up with that stupid scheme?"

  "No one who will be in the fight," Briggs whispered.

  "Typical Command," Porter said. "Always going in on some pencil-pusher’s authority. If we stood a chance, the brass has assured us a quick death."

  "Hey man," Briggs said. "It's not all doom and gloom. We can go down swinging. I aim to take out at least 100 of these new fuckers before this all goes to hell."

  "Is that all?" Porter joked. "I thought I was going to have a challenge on my hands for the best pilot award."

  The two shared a laugh. There was nothing else that could be said. The Zeal were coming with a force three times the size of the previous one that had crippled humanity for the last four years. And to top things off, he would have a fight on his hands to be with Nicole one last time before they all had to face the devastating aliens.

  Before the CO came bursting in, Porter asked Briggs one last question. "When do you think you can sneak me on board the Andromeda?"

  "Give me a few hours to sort something out. I'll get you to Nicole, I promise."

  "Thanks, Briggs. You really are the best wingman I could have asked for. I owe you big time."

  Briggs waved him off. "Just settle things with Nicole and get your ass back here for the fight. That's all I want in return."

  The captain came in and starting barking orders at the pilots. They were all assigned a Stalker each. Porter was made flight leader of one of the squadrons. He was almost surprised but grateful he hadn't been made to start training the pilots. If he was going to die in this final sortie, he wanted that to happen from the cockpit of his fighter and not be cowering away in some control room waiting for the carrier to go down.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Romeo and Teve sparred for the next three hours. They were told to fight bare-knuckled and not to hold back. He had a good half foot on Romeo and enough weight to flatten her under normal circumstances, but the young soldier had been pushing her body to the limit with extra training on Earth.

  A fist came flying into Teve's face. He felt the blow crack into his skull and half daze him as he stumbled back. Blood began to stream for a moment before the nanites got to work repairing the damage caused. Another right hook swept out at his head but he ducked down quick enough to avoid the attack. He followed up the move with a sharp jab at her exposed midsection that connected with a decent strike. An elbow met his jaw for the privilege as Romeo put all her weight into a blow that sent Teve halfway to the floor.

  "Holy crap," he said out loud. "When did you get so good at kicking my ass?"

  Romeo stood over him and offered a hand to pull him up. "Please, Tower. I've always been able to kick your ass. You just didn't know it." She got him back to his feet.

  "Remind me not to get on your bad side." Teve circled and got back into position for another bout. He could feel his body dealing with the pain Romeo had dished out. Within a few minutes, he wouldn't even remember getting clocked in the face.

  "All right, that's enough," Captain Delarosa shouted to the group. Teve lowered his raised fists and faced the CO.

  "Listen up, people, we've got five days to get ready for this shit. The joint MAF and UEF fleet will be heading out in the next twelve hours to the belt. We are anticipating an approximate location where the Zeal will arrive in force."

  A show of hands all shot into the air. There seemed to be a lot of different questions for the captain, but Teve figured they were all wanting to know the same thing.

  "Before I take any questions, let me assure you that we will be luring the Zeal to this location to guarantee they don't head to Mars as they are currently doing. Once we have these alien pricks in a secure position, we will strike with everything we have."

  Most of the hands went down. Teve felt a silence wash over the group.

  "People, this is a sink or swim situation. We either cripple the Zeal there and then, or we fail every person on Earth and Mars."

  A long moment had passed before anyone made a sound. One private raised their hand and spoke without permission.

  "What will be our role, sir?" The young soldier asked. She looked to be no older than eighteen. How she got infected by the nanites and lived to tell the tale was beyond Teve. Most SF soldiers not only had to survive the initial invasion of the nanites but the incident that led them to be infected in the first place.

  Captain Delarosa stepped slightly toward the private. "I wish I could tell you, Private, but specifics are off the table at the moment. The Zeal are still alive on Earth and may have systems in place to monitor our plans. You will all have to wait until we launch to know your mission."

  "What can you tell us, sir?" she asked.

  Delarosa huffed out loud as he shuffled on the spot. "Persistent, aren't you? Well, Private, I can say with certainty that you will all be fighting the Zeal up close and personal where your skills can be utilized. None of you need to concern yourselves with how we will get you inside these Zeal ships. What you will need to know is what to destroy to cripple one to its core."

  Teve knew exactly what the captain was talking about before he said it. There could only be one way to disable one of the giant alien ships: by destroying its Orb.

  "We'll save that lesson for the day before we hit the Zeal. I can't stress enough to you all the importance of ship security right now." Delarosa moved along the line of eager soldiers. It wasn't hard to tell by the nervous look on his face that he didn't quite know how to handle the SF Earthers and their prevalent Zeal mutations.

  "Keep training. By the time you all hit your racks tonight, we'll be on our way to the belt. Once we get close enough to the rally point, you will all know the plan. Dismissed." Delarosa gave the group a nod and moved on as some of the MAF sergeants beneath him barked out orders for the SF soldiers to continue sparring.

  Teve overheard Romeo muttering away as they both walked back to their training spot to pound each other again with bare fists. "Not a fan?" Teve asked.

  "No way. Don't trust these MAF officers. No offense to your brother and all. He seems like an okay guy. He didn't mind us rescuing him from a shitload of Stiltz. I know a lot of these pencil pushers wouldn't dare let a lowly UEF grunt save them from a bug on the wall."

  Teve laughed under his breath, trying to conceal his amusement from the nearest sergeant watching over him. Rank didn't seem to mean much on the ship if you weren't part of the MAF.

  "Don't worry. Bradley doesn't trust half of them, anyway. He even got tossed in the brig briefly on another carrier for questioning orders."

  Romeo didn't look surprised. "You should tell him to switch sides. He can be our entire air support." It was no secret that the UEF had hardly any pilots or aircraft to their name. The nations that made up the UEF lost the majority of their fleets when the Zeal first attacked Earth. The scattered powers at the time were no match for the coordinated enemy. Only a unified Mars managed to push the Zeal back enough for the aliens to put all their attention toward the weaker of the two planets.

  Teve laughed off the comment as he resumed training with Romeo. After a while, they were all sent on laps around a designated path on the ship for several hours. The CO wanted to see how much he could push
the SF soldiers. After the third hour, some of the enhanced troopers began to ask how much longer the captain wanted them to continue to run.

  "This is bullshit," Pocket yelled as Teve ran alongside her. She typically didn't cuss or complain too much. But there was something odd about the MAF when it came to the Special Forces.

  "Just keep going. They want to see how long we can go before we break. Don't let them see you falter, even for half a second." Teve kept his eyes forward on the task. By this point, he could almost run the path with his eyes closed.

  "Whatever," Pocket said. "This is time we could be spending planning the damn mission. Instead, they'd rather lump that on us at the last minute."

  "Sounds like the brass to me," Teve said as they rounded the final corner of the current lap. The route brought them back to Deck K where Delarosa stood high up on the top step of a Stalker's loading ladder. The CO stared down at each person as they passed by like he was planning on spitting on one of them. Teve and Pocket blew straight past him, both smiling away as they gave the man a salute.

  "That ought to piss him off," Teve said. "Next lap we'll drop down and fire off some push-ups just to screw with his head."

  Pocket muttered something to herself before she spoke loud enough for him to hear her. "So sick of being treated this way. If it's not the UEF regulars, it's the MAF showing their disdain for us. When does it end?"

  Teve lowered his head with both eyes closed as they rounded a corner. He didn't need to look where he was going. "It won't end until we're all dead. That's what they wanted all along, to use us in the field and toss us out the second we were no longer needed."

  Pocket spat on the ground deliberately. "They can all kiss my ass. Isn't it enough that we are still here ready to fight when we have an expiration date a lot sooner than any other asshole on board this tub?"

  Teve let her comment go by unanswered. He didn't want to think about his imminent death any more than the next person. Mish entered his mind again like clockwork. The only comfort he took in the thought of missing her with every fiber of his being was that the visions and voices of X had died down to a distant roar. He figured being this far out from the nearest Zeal base was finally allowing him to think clearly again. Unfortunately, the distance would also be prompting the nanites in his body to seek out and eventually destroy him from within.

  When the pair finished another lap, they could see SF soldiers gathered at the base of the ladder the CO occupied. The running was over. They each came to a stop and took a few brief seconds to catch their breaths. Teve felt fine. No one was doubled over, gasping for air on the ground as they would be without the nanites. Water was being distributed by a few MAF corporals, possibly ones who drew the short straw by the looks on their faces.

  Teve welcomed the bottle of liquid and downed its contents in one long gulp.

  "Listen up, people," Delarosa said as the last SF soldier finished their run. "There's been a development. We will be moving forward with the trip out to Mars sooner than later. Command has made a few alterations to the plan. It's nothing to concern yourselves with, but I want you all to get some rest. Take the next six hours off. The corporals will show you to your designated berths. Grab your shit before you head out. Get some chow and some shut-eye while you can. Anything could happen from this point out. The brass is choosing to drip out the information to each ship. Dismissed."

  A general chatter erupted across the group. Romeo and Red strolled up to Teve and Pocket. Romeo got her comment out first. "Great, so our CO doesn't even know what's going on. How screwed are we?"

  "About as much as we usually are," Teve said. "Come on, guys. Let's get some food and some sleep. Who knows what BS training we'll be doing next."

  They all headed for the mess along with the rest of the SF soldiers. As Teve collected his belongings from the pile of gear they left in the corner, he remembered that he still had his e-slate from Earth. Out of habit, he slipped the device on over his wrist and checked to see if it would connect to the MAF networks. To his surprise, he was given general access and could communicate with Bradley if needed via a simple text ping. Before he had a chance to play around with the setup, a message that was at least one hour old sat in his notifications waiting to be answered. It was from Bradley.

  He read his brother's message three times over and only had one thing to say. "What the hell?"

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Porter didn't have much time. Briggs had secured him a small shuttle on false pretenses, claiming some critical supplies needed to be ferried between the Orion and the Andromeda. The little two-person transport could hold up to six passengers in the back or some light cargo. He would be arriving with a few crates of ammunition to make the task seem necessary. By the time anyone had worked out what was happening, he would be on his way to find Nicole.

  Captain Nicole Cannon would be up to her eyeballs in jobs designated to her by Commodore Garcia. As her second in charge, a lot of responsibility fell to Nicole, leaving her little time to fly any training missions or spend time with Porter. Over the last year, they only saw each other for a few hours per day if their schedules allowed it. The stress of her role was beginning to take hold while Porter spent all his time training up cadets.

  To give them the best possible chance of meeting up for one last time before the big push, Porter messaged her the second he could using the back-door network—now that it was working. He couldn't risk the internal MAF system intercepting his words and putting the whole thing to a stop, so he encrypted the text with a program only she had access to. He got a positive message back from her almost instantly.

  The second text Porter had sent was to Teve, requesting him to find him in the shuttle bay on Deck A by a certain time. He wanted to say goodbye to his brother in case the entire plan went south. At a critical juncture such as this one, Command could practically execute any soldier on the spot, no matter their rank. There was no telling what would happen if they got caught, but he needed to see Nicole one last time.

  "What's all this about?" Teve asked, half startling Porter when he came around the corner.

  "Sorry to pull you away from your training."

  "All good, man. It was starting to bore me, anyway. What's up? Why did you want to meet me here with such a limited window of time?"

  Porter glanced around and saw that there was no one around to overhear their conversation. "I'm heading over to the Andromeda to be with Nicole. The ship is only a short hop away, so I should be back within a few hours."

  "That's cool. You should see her while you can." Porter could recognize something behind Teve's purple eyes hurting when he spoke. It was clear that he wanted to have gone with Mish.

  "The only reason I'm mentioning this is because I might not be back. What I'm doing is completely off the books. If I get caught, there's no telling what the consequences might be."

  Teve shook his head and muttered something to himself.

  "Is something wrong?" Porter asked.

  "You have to ask? Seriously? You're taking a chance now when we're on the edge of the biggest fight of our lives. I understand that you want to be with her. I really do. Part of me knows I should have stayed on Earth with Mish, but I still came out here to do the right thing."

  "I'm not abandoning my post. If things go to shit, I'm sure Command will still let me fly. They need every pilot they can find, especially ones like me."

  "So you know you are a skilled pilot, and yet you still push your luck. It's just like when we were growing up: You always went behind our parents' backs to defy them. When does it stop?"

  Porter slapped the frame of the open ramp on the shuttle. "This isn't about defiance. It's about seeing the woman I love before we all die, okay?"

  Teve stepped closer to Porter. He looked like he was about to unload some anger but his shoulders suddenly sank. "Go. I can't say I wouldn't try the same thing given the opportunity. Please do me a favor and don't get caught. I'll see you in a few hours."

 
Porter placed a hand on Teve's shoulder. "Why don't you come with me? You can fight from the Andromeda. They'll have their own SF soldiers ready to go."

  "No, I can't. My friends are here. I should fight beside them."

  Porter eased up. "I get it. And trust me, I'm not abandoning the mission or you. I'll be there when the shit hits the fan, okay?"

  "You better be," Teve said.

  Another figure came around the corner. Teve spun around in time to see one of the MAF crew chiefs checking out the small craft.

  "Why is this shuttle loaded up, sir? There's nothing on my schedule here."

  Porter immediately tried to think of a lie. Briggs said the ship would show up on the manifest, but something must have gone wrong. He went to speak, but the man persisted.

  "Captain? What is the meaning of this? No one checks out one of my birds without permission, do you understand?" the crew chief crossed his arms waiting for an explanation. He never saw Teve come up behind him and put him in a choke hold. Within the space of a few seconds, the man was out cold and carefully placed down out of sight from the next deck crew member.

  "What the hell?" Porter let out. He stared at Teve and realized his brother seemed as shocked as he was.

  "Sorry, I don't know why I did that. Something in my head told me to stop him. I—"

  Porter cut him off. "Doesn't matter. We can work that out later. You need to come with me."

  "Are you serious?" Teve asked.

  "Yes. You just rendered the crew chief of this deck unconscious. We need to get him on the shuttle and both head over to the Andromeda right now."

  Teve went to counter the proposal, but nothing came out of his mouth. A few seconds later, he was carrying the crew chief into the cargo bay of the shuttle. He placed him in a fixed seat toward the front.