Nebula (ESS Space Marines Book 4)

by James David Victor

  “It looks like our pale friends are back for another friendly chat, huh?” Dan said as he fastened his uniform. “Personally, I find their opening remarks to be a bit abrasive.” The ship shook again. “See? So rude.”

  Andy managed a small smile as she fastened her armor over her uniform. Dan could find the humor in almost any moment. There had only been one period of time where he’d lost that, and it had nearly made the world stop making sense.

  “Everyone put on their best,” Andy said. “I think we’re going to have some dinner guests.”

  “I’m pretty sure you mean breakfast guests there, Major,” Dan responded instantly. “I don’t know what you were doing, but I was getting some sleeping done when they showed up at the door.”

  “Fine,” she replied. “Breakfast guests.”

  “Personally, I’ve never been too fond of uninvited guests who wake me up,” Jade chimed in.

  Andy glanced back at her, but the younger Marine almost looked surprised herself that she’d joined in. Gallows humor usually wasn’t her thing. Apparently, she was spending a lot of time around Dan.

  With the last of her armor on, Andy nodded at Jade. “I’m with her,” she said, and then hurried to the armory.

  The others were behind her within moments and everyone was given their weapons. They were armed with knives in addition to the projectile weapons. Dan also had the stolen Arkana energy rifle. He was of a size to carry both weapons on him and that usually ended up being his task.

  Alpha Squad was the first one out and immediately headed to the bridge.

  Each squad—of which there were six in the 33rd—had a designated location on the ship to protect during an alert. Alpha Squad was tasked with protecting the bridge.

  As the lift rose toward deck one, the ship shook again and the Marines inside braced themselves against the walls of the lift. Andy looked up warily, even though looking at the ceiling didn’t give her any information, but she did it anyways. She suddenly was concerned about the lift losing power and their having to climb out of it and use the access tunnels to get up top, but fortunately for them, that didn’t happen.

  The doors opened and they exited onto deck one.

  When they reached the bridge, Andy pressed the lock-panel to open the door. (The automatic doors shut off when there was an alert, to make it more difficult for possible intruders to move through the ship.)

  The five Marines entered the bridge and saw the bridge staff all clutching their stations amid the dim, almost macabre flashing red lights.

  “Roxanna, Thomas,” she ordered, pointing to a little used second entrance to the bridge where they would be stationed to cover. Dan followed the Selerid off the bridge with a simple acknowledgement of the order. Andy then gestured for Anallin and Jade to wait in the main corridor for her.

  With her Marines deployed around the bridge, Andy moved to stand beside the captain.

  Wallace had a tense expression as he watched the view screen. The Star Chaser moved as best it could and the tactical officer returned fire.

  “So far, only one Arkana ship,” Wallace said to her without looking up. “We’re holding our own. The energy shielding is mostly in place, and we don’t have any intruders just yet, but you know we will.”

  “Yes, sir,” she replied. They had yet to get into a scrap with the enemy where they weren’t boarded in the process. It was the Arkana way. Her thought was that they wanted the ships themselves.

  They had attempted to capture a small planet called Baccem, which would have allowed them to produce vessels and parts for repairs closer to the front lines and make it easier to keep their forward momentum. The 33rd and two other Marine detachments had prevented that from happening, but she was sure it was still on their mind.

  The capture of an ESS vessel could mean information, parts, and cover. And potentially unfettered access of ESS space, and they certainly couldn’t allow that to happen. So far, no ESS ship had been taken, although two had been destroyed.

  Andy stepped back to press her earpiece.

  “Dolan to all squads,” she said in a low voice, bracing herself by balance alone as another shudder ran through the ship. She heard the captain curse. “Status check.”

  “Beta Squad is in position.” One by one, each of the other squads confirmed that they were in position and ready to face the enemy.

  It was only a matter of time now.

  Chapter 7

  “I think they’re late,” Jade said as the three stood guard outside the main door to the bridge. “They have usually teleported over by this point in a firefight, don’t you think?”

  Andy thought she could hear the edge of anxiety in Jade’s voice, although it was less pronounced than it may have been just a few months earlier. The major didn’t take her eyes off the corridor around them, but she did smile slightly.

  “How rude,” she said. “You’d think they would know that we have a schedule to keep.”

  She snorted in what Andy figured was a laugh, and Anallin clicked.

  The klaxons had at least been turned off, although the red lights still flashed and they would continue to flash until the danger was over or the ship had blown up. The klaxons would only begin again if there were intruders.

  “Bridge to all Marines,” came over the communication devices of the 33rd. “The Arkana vessel is in teleportation range.”

  During the past several months of conflict, the ESS had learned that the Arkana had limits on how far they could teleport. It was a saving grace for ESS forces, because it meant that they couldn’t teleport down to a planet or even board ships if a proper distance could be maintained.

  Now that they were in range, however, it became far more likely that their “guests” would be arriving.

  Andy inhaled slowly and put her game face on. She waited.

  The Arkana didn’t make her wait long.

  Throughout the ship, the klaxons started going off again.

  “Intruder alert. Intruder alert. Intruder alert,” the computer’s automated voice began, before the voice of the sensor officer followed a few moments later. “Intruders located on deck thirteen, section c. Intruders located on deck six, section b. Intruders located on deck one, section b.”

  “They have their favorites,” Andy muttered. Deck thirteen was engineering. Five was the armory. One was the bridge. There were Arkana headed straight for Alpha Squad, which was of course no surprise at all. The Arkana were not particularly original, so it was easy to know what they’d do.

  Maybe that was no surprise. The entire race had been created from, genetically engineered off of, humanity. They themselves were not exactly “original” either.

  Soon enough, the snow white forms of the enemy came into view. They moved cautiously, hugging the walls to either side of the corridor to reduce the available target area as much as possible.

  In an instant, however, Andy took in that they looked a little different than usual.

  The Arkana usually carried full rifles, which had to be carried in both hands. This time, they were armed with a more compact weapon. It resembled a handgun, although was larger than the average pistol. Andy’s dark eyes were darting from soldier to soldier, her brain racing to figure out why the change. She didn’t let that delay her as she held up her weapon.

  “You have illegally boarded an ESS vessel,” she declared perfunctorily. “Surrender now or—”

  Their response was to open fire.

  That solved any attempts at diplomacy. The three Marines pushed themselves back against the walls and returned fire. One shot took down an Arkana soldier, but the others missed. Andy was sure that shot was Anallin’s, as the best shot in her squad.

  That was when she learned why they had changed guns.

  Each one swung up their off-hand in a blink and with a strange jerking motion, a device was activated that built...what looked like a shield of a dull white color. The Marines were already firing off their next round, but the bullets hit the shields and bounced right
off. They made a faint clinking sound as they hit the deckplates.

  “Damn,” Andy hissed. Apparently, the Arkana had been working on their research and development as well.

  The ship shook again, and the dampeners weakened. For a moment, they all felt the sway of the ship as it performed its evasive maneuvers. Everyone widened their stance, holding themselves upright against the movement until it settled again.

  Bringing up their shields, the Arkana lowered their heads so they were just looking over the top edge while keeping most of their head and torso behind their new line of protection.

  They held their weapons out around the side edge, so they could still fire while keeping the shield before them. With these layers of defense in place, the group of five began to move forward.

  Andy did a quick survey. The shields didn’t cover full body and she saw feet and lower legs exposed. She adjusted her rifle and took two shots. One hit a foot and the other missed. Trying to hit a slender leg like that was harder than center of mass, but the resulting cry of pain was something. That soldier stumbled back and dropped the shield slightly, revealing more of their top. Andy scored a head shot.

  Anallin managed a head shot as well, without the lowering of the shield. The strip of skull was narrow, but it was a crack shot.

  Jade followed suit and her next bullet shattered a shin bone.

  A shot from one of the remaining enemy seared the arm of Andy’s uniform and she grunted, feeling the burn through the fabric. It wasn’t disabling, however, and she returned fire. It was low enough that she was fairly certain a toe had been blown off, if the Arkana had toes. She assumed they did, though hadn’t checked with Anath.

  An energy beam shot wild, scorching into the corridor wall just over Jade’s head. The younger woman ducked but came back up, firing off another shot that pinged off the shield. Her second shot flew lower, taking out a remaining leg and then the head as it came into view.

  Four Arkana were dead, and two were on the ground. One of them had the focus to lift his weapon, but Andy took care of that one. The last one just lie on the ground, bleeding and groaning faintly. Andy nodded for Anallin to move forward and secure the prisoner, but the groaning stopped before the Hanaran even got there.

  Anallin nodded by the body and checked it, then looked back at her and shook its head.

  “When all this is done, make sure the science people get one of those shields,” Andy said, blowing out a frustrated breath. Shields, huh? That was scaling back a few years, but somewhat effective. They were going to have to work around that.

  Chapter 8

  There wasn’t a lot of time, because more Arkana could appear at any time. Andy, Anallin, and Jade just moved the bodies to the sides of the corridor to get them out of the way as much as possible and then returned to their watch. Andy’s arm burned where the shot had glanced it, but she chose to ignored it instead of leave her post to have it tended to.

  When it was clear that they weren’t about to get another group coming at them that instant, Andy took a moment to check in with the other squads. Most replied with all clear or intruders subdued, although Delta didn’t reply. She assumed they were still in combat, rather than the opposite, and would check in again shortly.

  “Keep the watch,” she told the other two as the ship shuddered, and then did so again in quick succession.

  She backed up into the door to the bridge and then pressed the panel. The door slid open and she stepped inside, finding the scene twice as tense as it had been before. She saw Captain Wallace’s hands curved around the ends of his armrests, his knuckles almost white from the death-grip even as his face remained stoic.

  Crossing around the back of the bridge, she chose a face to face check with the others of Alpha Squad.

  Andy found two Arkana on the ground and Dan and Roxanna standing there. They nodded to her.

  “Check out the shield,” Dan said, pointing.

  One looked just as pristine as the others, but the second had a burn mark in it, almost a whole. She lifted her dark brows and turned back to him.

  “The Arkana rifle had a little effect with a sustained energy stream,” he explained. “It took too long to be truly effective, but it’s good to know.” He turned back to the bodies on the ground and sniffed, rolling his shoulders. “I hope we’re able to figure out some new weapons, if they’re going to be using stuff like this against the guns.”

  “We’ll see what we can do,” she said, satisfied Dan and Roxanna had their post secured.

  Andy walked back onto the bridge and looked at the viewscreen where the white metal Arkana ship was firing another energy beam that shook the Star Chaser. The Arkana could really stick to a color scheme, Andy would grant them that.

  “All squads have given the all clear except Delta, Captain,” Andy reported in tightly.

  “Where is Delta stationed?” Wallace asked without looking at her.

  “Engineering, sir.”

  He grunted. He didn’t like the idea that one of the most sensitive, most important places on the ship didn’t have the “all clear” yet, but there wasn’t much that could done about that, yet. They both just had to trust that her Marines knew what they were doing.

  “Forward starboard armor is weakening, Captain,” the sensor officer announced. “We are running the risk of a hull breach in that section if we can’t get them to stop firing there.”

  “Helm?” Wallace asked.

  “I’m trying, sir,” the navigation officer replied tensely.

  There were several equally tense seconds as the ship flew around and the Arkana flew counter-measures as each vied for dominance of space. Andy had never had the desire to fly the ships herself, but there was some fascination in watching the process. The ESS Marines had fighter pilots, but manhandling one of these big boats was another matter all together.

  A short sound came from sensors. It was something between a bark and a growl and it made Andy turn back to look.

  “Another hostile incoming!” she called out. “And more intruders!”

  The klaxons started up again and the computer went through it’s programmed announcement, before the sensor officer announced the locations.

  Deck one again.

  Andy hurried back out to the corridor without saying anything else to the bridge crew. There wasn’t anything else that needed saying.

  “There’s a second Arkana ship,” Andy told Anallin and Jade as she rejoined them. “I don’t know how long the Star Chaser can hold out. We’re taking a beating as it is.”

  It wasn’t that she was pessimistic or wanted to scare her fellow Marines, but she did want them to understand the situation. The Star Chaser was a military vessel, but it wasn’t impenetrable. There would be a limit of both what it could take and what it could dish back out. Andy resisted a feeling of anxiety regarding just when they would reach that point, and if they’d be able to get out of the situation when they reached it.

  “Intruders on deck ten, section d. Intruders on deck five, section c. Intruders on deck two, section a. Intruders on deck one, section b...”

  Andy’s mind did a quick run-through, wondering what they could be going after on ten and two. There weren’t as many critical systems on those decks. Perhaps this time, it wasn’t strategy so much as getting on board and overwhelming as many points as possible. On decks where there weren’t Marines already stationed, they could do some damage to minor systems or potentially gain access to other, more critical areas.

  The ship’s tactical department had some roaming teams on security support for the Marines, but they weren’t as well-trained for combat as the 33rd. Andy hoped that none of those groups had to deal with the Arkana.

  This deck’s new group had teleported into section b. That meant they were as close as the last ones had been, and Andy did a quick mental calculation about how quickly they would arrive in range of the Marines.

  And then what the major had been wondering just a few moments before came about as the ship’s
internal communications came alive again. This time, it wasn’t with news about more intruders or where they could be located. And unfortunately, it wasn’t with good news that the ships had been beaten back and were in retreat.

  Instead, it was the “what if” Andy had been afraid of.

  “A third hostile is incoming. All crew, brace yourselves. We are about to make a high-speed retreat.”

  Chapter 9

  A group of five Arkana came around the corner just as the ship began to shudder.

  The Marines raised their rifles and the Arkana deployed their shields. She was sure they saw the bodies of their comrades, but whether it made them fearful or angry, or both, Andy couldn’t tell. She just barely saw the flashing blue of their eyes over the tops of the white metal as they stalked forward.

  Anallin fired the first shot. Just as the bullet left his gun, headed for the lead soldier’s head, a new sort of tremor ran through the deckplates.

  As Andy took aim for a shin, and the ship swayed. Anallin’s shot had been true so one soldier was on the ground, but the remaining four Arkana and three Marines were thrown toward one side of the corridor. Andy was the closest to that particular wall and her shoulder jammed into it, sending her aim askew just as she pulled the trigger.

  The bullet bounced off the shield and clinked to the ground. She struggled to regain her balance and take aim again. The Arkana directly opposite her managed to do so first and fired at her. Fortunately, his aim wasn’t any better and the space just above her head sizzled.

  Everyone managed to right themselves after that shot and shifted to be against the walls on purpose, protecting their backs as they fired another round of shots.

  One bullet hit a foot and one hit the deck plate next to a foot. A weak energy bolt hit Jade’s chest armor, but was light enough that it just knocked her back a step and left a burnt mark on it. It may not be able to take a second hit, however.