Earth Space Service Space Marines Boxed Set

by James David Victor

  Andy’s brows knit slightly. “What do you mean?”

  Shakti paced slowly in front of the captain’s chair for a moment, then shrugged again and waved her hand. She smiled that infuriating smile again. “I suppose you have the right to know what you’re moving into,” she declared, then waved again, this time at the others. “And you as well, since soon everyone will know.

  “During the twenty-second century on Earth, humans were finding more and more contacts with alien species,” she went on, sounding like a professor as she sat in the captain’s chair again. “Some were concerned about this. Everything seemed friendly enough—peaceful—but who knew if it would last? They were scared, and they wanted to be prepared.

  “They turned to genetic engineering. They wanted a good defense. The end result was a genetically engineered being. They could not change those who were already grown, however; the DNA manipulation had to be conducted at the earliest levels of conception. There were countless failures, but eventually they succeeded. They created a new species. The beings were, basically, human, but they were resistant to all manners of alien abilities. This new race was able to develop a resistance to all the abilities they had encountered.

  “As things happen, though, this new race of beings was never revealed to the general public nor turned loose. They ended up taking to space themselves, out to some far reaches, but they never lost their original goals and they modified themselves for every new species they came across. They increased and improved themselves and their resistance.”

  Shakti smiled and held out her hands. “Meet the Arkana. Us. We are the future of the human race. We are ultimately still human, deep down, but better. Superior in every way.”

  Andy was genuinely shocked for several long moments. It answered a lot of questions, though.

  The Arkana woman leaned forward and the gleam in her eye sent a shiver down Andy’s spine. All of the air seemed to be sucked out of the room.

  “We’re going home, Andrea Dolan,” Shakti whispered just loud enough for the sergeant to hear her. “We are finally returning to Earth, and making humanity the dominant species it was always meant to be. We are going to achieve the goals set for us by our creators.”

  Things exploded in Andy’s mind then.

  “You’re why the Colirnoid were moving out of their territory for the first time in ages, and why the Kriori are building an army,” she said before she could stop herself. They were events that seemed disconnected before, but now they made sense. Now it all made sense, and the implications were staggering.

  “Yes,” Shakti said with a hint of pride. “They’re running scared, and they should be. They cannot defeat us. Every time they try, we just make ourselves better.”

  No other race would be safe, Andy realized. The Arkana wouldn’t care about the ESS, except for the humans within it. And would they even care about the humans? The people of the ESS worked with and aligned with all manner of fellow species.

  The Arkana weren’t built to tolerate that.

  That had to be stopped.

  “I know your father, Andy,” Shakti went on smugly. “Not the smartest of men, I’ll admit, but a good soldier. You’ll meet him soon.”

  “I guess I will,” Andy said softly.

  “Dolan,” Captain Wallace said, almost pained, like he thought she was turning on them and about to go with the Arkana. And why shouldn’t she? This woman was offering her the father that she had never known, and the only parent—the only blood family—that was still alive.

  She turned her head as far as it would go, looking at the captain and turning her face from Shakti. A tiny smile curved her lips and she winked a little, then she turned back to Shakti.

  The Arkana approached Andy, smiling with victory and welcome. “I’m so glad that you decided to join us,” she said. “Everyone does once they know of their true origins.”

  Andy stared at her for a long moment.

  The ship’s communication system chirped.

  “Knock, knock,” Atad said.

  Andy smiled.

  The doors on either side of the bridge slid open.

  25

  The Arkana with guns all turned toward the doors, but energy blasts from their own weapons and bullets from the guns were streaming across the bridge faster than they could react. Shakti looked to one side but turned fast to glare at Andy, realizing that it had been an act.

  “Thanks, but no thanks,” Andy said simply and surged forward, jamming a fist hard into Shakti’s solar plexus and folding her in half with a harsh, loud cough. Andy gripped her hands together and clubbed the woman on the back of the head, sending her to the ground. “This is my home, and you’re not going to take it from me!” she shouted, letting her anger come out.

  Shakti was not yet unconscious and rolled over just as Andy dove for her. The Arkana lashed out with her own foot, glancing Andy’s hip. The Marine hopped back and Shakti got to her feet, but the time it took to get her there let Andy drive in again. She sent a hard right hook into the pale woman’s jaw, snapping her head to the side before a left hook snapped her head the other way.

  “You are a fool!” Shakti spat blood on the deck plates as she came back with a hit of her own, splitting Andy’s cheek open. “You will go down with all the rest of them and will know what a mistake you have made! We are your family! Blood to blood.”

  “No!” Andy snapped a punch into the woman’s chest, then an uppercut broke the Arkana’s nose. “These people are my family.” Hit. “This is my home.” Hit. “And I’m not going to let any xenophobic snowflakes take it away!” She grabbed the woman by the lapels of her vest and yanked her forward, slamming her forehead into Shakti’s and letting her stagger back dazed.

  Before Andy could level any more hits, a blast of energy fire flew across the bridge and hit Shakti in the side. She gasped and fell into a heap.

  Andy gasped, feeling her adrenaline cut short. She turned her head to see Jade standing there with an Arkana rifle, smiling shakily. “Glad you’re still with us, Sergeant,” she said.

  While the others handled the bodies and the prisoners, Andy hurried over to where Captain Wallace, Major Carson, and the others were waiting anxiously to be freed. She knelt beside the captain and examined the bindings, figuring out in a few moments how to open them. One by one, she freed everyone and then stood back as they got to their feet.

  “Thanks, Dolan,” Carson said with a small smile. He looked almost embarrassed for having been overtaken while one of his squad leaders had to come rescue him, but Andy wasn’t about to make that point.

  “For a moment, I thought we were going to lose you,” Wallace admitted.

  She shook her head. “Never, sir,” she said with confidence. “You reminded me that this was my home, Captain. I’m hardly going to give that up for some idiots who think they’re going to conquer the universe, you know?” She managed a small smile, looking at her squad as they worked around the bridge. “I got my hands full already.”

  She heard the men laugh a little as she looked back to them.

  Moving to join the others, they began to contact other departments and Marine squads to learn that the bridge was the last place to be retaken. Every other boarding party had been subdued, and the ship was back in the hands of the ESS.

  “I’m not going to sickbay!” Andy declared, sitting on the couch in the rec-room while she used a small cloth to blot the blood away from her cheek. “I’m tired of that place. If the doctor wants to see me that bad, he can come here.”

  “I think he has his hands full, Sergeant,” Roxanna said. There was an edge of fond chastising in her voice, but she didn’t push the point anymore. Instead, she fetched a small first aid kit kept in the room and took over treatment of the wound. “You made the right choice,” she added as she worked. “I wouldn’t have blamed you if you were tempted, though.”

  Andy laughed softly, holding her head still while her corporal worked. Had she been tempted at any point? In her heart of hearts? S
he couldn’t be sure that she hadn’t, but at least it had never been a conscious thought. Just like she had known that the Arkana were telling the truth about her heritage, she also knew that something wasn’t right. They weren’t “okay.”

  She smiled a little. “Blood and family are two different things,” she said.

  “You got that right, Sergeant,” Dan said, coming to sit beside her.

  Jade sat on the other side. “Oorah,” she chanted with a smile. She seemed to be saying it even more than usual, like a talisman against her fears. Andy wasn’t going to stop her.

  Anallin stood behind Roxanna, as if watching to make sure that she did a good job. “You humans have a phrase,” the Hanaran began. “We are with you till the wheels come off?”

  “You got it,” Andy said, her smile growing slightly.

  There was a lot of comfort in their presence, and Andy was glad to have them. But there was no escaping the sinking feeling in her gut.

  There was a war coming, and she knew she was right smack in the middle of it.

  Arkana

  ESS Space Marines, Book 3

  1

  The alien’s head snapped back as Major Andrea ‘Andy’ Dolan swung the butt of her rifle up and caught him square on the chin. He staggered for a moment, his hold on the weapon swayed, and Andy held her rifle in both hands to bring it down on his wrists. There was a cracking sound, and the gun fell from his numb hands.

  She kicked it away and then drove into him. Her own rifle had jammed—traditional projectile weapons had proven to be most effective against the Arkana—but she had spent enough time practicing for just such an occasion that it remained a good weapon in her hands. Now its length was pressing against the Arkana’s throat, although he had regained some of his equilibrium. He was strong enough to keep her from crushing his windpipe, but not powerful enough to toss her aside.

  Reaching up, he wrapped his hands around Andy’s wrists and tried to squeeze, but her battle gear protected her from any damage, or pain.

  When the soldier realized this, he shifted tactics. Just like any schoolyard bully would, he kicked her in the shin. Her gear kept her from earning a bruised or broken bone, but the sheer force managed to push her foot back and unbalance her. It was a tiny bit of a window, but it was enough for the genetically engineered alien to take advantage. He got his hands on the rifle and pushed her back.

  He tried to tear it away from her like she had taken his, but Andy wasn’t going to let that happen. She was upset that the shin kick had dislodged her from her position of advantage, so she wasn’t about to let her body and her ego take a worse hit by letting him disarm her. She had her pride, after all. His grip wasn’t strong enough to fight her twisting, and he let go.

  Behind and to either side of her came the scattered grunts of her squad engaged in the same level of combat. Loud reports of gunfire could be heard in the distance. She couldn’t stop to check on any of them with the hulking, pasty white brute in front of her. The Arkana had rapidly improved their hand-to-hand combat skills and the Marines were forced to continue developing new tactics to maintain their edge.

  When would it all end?

  When we’re done, or when we’re dead.

  Andy let her rifle swing down to her side in its combat sling while she took one step back to put distance between the two of them, just long enough to pull a knife from one of the sheaths lining the front of her vest. She held it in a reverse grip, keeping the blade in line with her wrist, shifting from side to side on the balls of her feet for a moment before suddenly surging forward again.

  She sliced through the air toward the soldier, and he pulled his head back just in time to avoid it reaching his throat. On the backswing, she came in with a stabbing motion that he blocked and deflected—again, just in time. She didn’t give him a moment to breathe, bringing the knife up for a diagonal stabbing slash.

  Again, the block. This time, however, she pressed forward to hold the defending hand and wrist in place with the blade of her knife. She reached up and grabbed the end of the blade, effectively locking the Arkana’s wrist in place. His ice blue eyes looked at the lock and the white brows drew together, seemingly in shock and confusion. Apparently, he hadn’t been prepared for ancient Earth dagger training.

  Well, that was just too bad for him, wasn’t it?

  She stepped back and jerked her hands down, pulling him off balance and falling forward. Andy let go of the lock only because she brought her knee up, fast and hard. There was a crunch when the top of her knee connected with the bridge of his nose, and then her elbow came down on the back of his neck.

  The Arkana fell to the ground and didn’t get up again.

  Major Dolan straightened up and prepared to turn when there was something—or rather, someone—on her back. The flash of snow white skin told her that it was another Arkana, and the slender feel of the arm said it was a woman. Andy didn’t have time to wonder why she hadn’t shot her. She threw herself forward enough to pull the woman off her feet, gripping the arm at her throat with one hand while she twirled her knife to a forward grip.

  She lifted her blade hand and sliced the white flesh. There was a shriek, and then a splash of blood that was a startling shade of crimson against the pale flesh. The clinging arm loosened, and Andy was able to shift the weight and toss the woman over her shoulder.

  The Arkana soldier was hissing like a cornered cat, scrambling to her feet, although it was clear that her cut arm was now weakened. It didn’t appear that she had her weapon and Andy, for a split second, was proud of her squad’s disarming techniques.

  To her credit, the enemy soldier got her hands up in a defensive posture and was ready to come at Andy again. Andy kept her knife and brought her hands up.

  “Traitor scum,” the woman hissed, a clear tremor of righteous anger in her voice. “How could you turn on your own people?”

  “I am human,” she retorted easily, though that was only part of her heritage.

  “We are more than human,” the other woman said. She stepped forward and took a swing. Andy sidestepped and blocked, pushing the fist away with her open hand. “And we are pure! You align with these humans who are inferior in every way that matters!”

  The Arkana woman was all but screaming at this point, likely making quite the sound show for anyone able to listen.

  She sent another wild swing flying at Andy, who caught the offending wrist and held it tight. With her other hand, she used the fist around her knife grip to hammer the woman in the face once, then twice. The Arkana woman spat and twisted her hand, breaking the grip on her wrist and scrambling away.

  “I know exactly who I am,” Andy said, not giving the enemy an inch of breathing room as she stalked forward. Stab. Block. Slash. Shallow hit. “And I know exactly who I’m with.” Her voice lowered to a growl. “And I know exactly who my enemy is!” She surged forward with a great step, closing the remaining distance between them and entering the other woman’s weakened guard.

  A definitive slash ended the argument, and the woman fell to the ground.

  This time, no one else jumped up to attack her. She was able to turn and look at the corridor outside the bridge of the ESS Star Chaser. Several enemy soldiers on the ground, dead or subdued. All four members of her squad were still on their feet, but not unscathed. This hadn’t been an easy fight.

  Without a word, she nodded at the door to the bridge. She pressed the panel to open it, since automatic door slides disengaged during an active intruder alert, and then entered the bridge. It was their primary defense point during a boarding engagement. Their objective was to prevent anyone from getting onto the bridge, and she was happy to see that they had done their job successfully.

  The only people on the bridge of the Star Chaser were the ESS personnel meant to be there.

  “Report?” Andy asked.

  “Internal sensors report no new intruders,” the sensor officer reported.

  Andy smiled a little and pressed her communicatio
ns earpiece. “All squads, report.”

  One by one, she heard from the leaders of Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon and Theta Squads. All intruders had been neutralized. Two Marines had been lost. Five others had been taken to sickbay, but were expected to recover.

  With a heavy sigh, Andy acknowledged the reports. To lose one was too many, but she knew it was unavoidable.

  It was the cost of war.

  2

  It had been four months since ESS Command and the Allied Civilian Counsel had declared themselves to be at a state of interstellar war.

  The Arkana had been created by scientists centuries before on Earth, who wanted to be able to protect themselves during the early days of alien first contacts and relations. The species was genetically engineered to resist almost every natural ability of other alien races, and now these chickens were coming home to roost. After being in deep space all these years, long forgotten by everyone, they were determined to conquer every alien species between them and Earth.

  They were determined to take Earth for themselves, and for only those humans who agreed with their history.

  The ESS and its allies were not enthused by this idea.

  “There’s one more thing, Major,” Atad, the leader of Beta Squad, reported before they closed their channel.

  “What’s that, Sergeant?”

  “We have a prisoner, and he’s still alive.”

  Andy had to pause and blink. The Arkana race, since the start of the war, had never been kept alive after capture. They carried or secreted some substance that acted like a suicide pill that ESS personnel had not been able to locate. It killed quickly and prevented them from being studied—or interrogated—alive. Autopsies only went so far.

  She had assumed that all of the prisoners they had just taken were dead by now. They would never intentionally kill a prisoner of war, though. It went against moral code as well as ESS Marine regulations.