The channel crackled for a few moments. Jack waited for Finch to chew him out some more.
“Fix the landing craft, Marine. Do you get me? And send a message to the Scorpio using the lander’s comm. The comm systems on these suits are not cutting through the field on this moon. Give them the coordinates of that nest and request they flame those Chits.”
“Sir, yes, sir.” Jack hoped the Scorpio could target the Chits accurately. He didn’t want the lander to get hit. He didn’t want to become a permanent resident.
“And watch out for my approach,” Finch added. “I’m bringing the squad up to the lander.”
“Understood,” Jack replied. Finch must be getting nervous, Jack thought. The commander didn’t like to be too far from his ride home.
Jack climbed into the landing craft and made his way back to the cockpit. The lander’s power systems were still operational. Jack opened a channel to the Scorpio. He sent an opening shout and waited for the Scorpio to respond. Knowing he would have a few moments, Jack activated the scanners. He could scan the area for Harts. Perhaps he was sightseeing, although there was nothing to see once you had marveled at the strange sand tree structures. The lander’s scanners were more powerful than his meat suit’s scanners, but only when the craft was airborne. Sitting on the ground, it was only a little better. Jack set the scanners on their widest beam. It gave the furthest reach, the two and a half kilometers to Kratos’s horizon. If Harts was within that area, he would appear as a fuzzy dark blob.
The only reading to come back was the activity from the sentry Chitin moving around the small construction site in that small depression. Maybe Harts was in a similar depression and out of sight of the scanners. He guessed if he could launch a drone or a probe vertically, he could get a better view and maybe find Harts.
Jack searched the inventory for anything that could fly above the lander and be used to extend sensor range. There was nothing. Not even a supply of nanodrones. Jack slumped back in his chair and considered his options. He would have to fix the lander if he was going to search for Harts. The devious little scroat didn’t deserve to be found. Jack should leave him behind. But Harts was still a Marine, and Jack knew he couldn’t abandon him.
The opening shout was still blinking on the console. It was still unanswered. If the Scorpio was on the far side of Kratos then the signal would not reach them. But surely the Scorpio would be holding a geostationary orbit above the ground team. Jack checked the comm and resent the opening shout, then started to work on the ship.
The lander diagnostic reports on the console showed Jack that the damage to the craft was serious but not devastating. He could see a few ways he could work around the problem. Some systems would have to be bypassed, some would have to be boosted, one lift compression filter would have to be removed. That was going to create a bumpy ride and the emergency alarms would complain loudly and constantly all the way back to the Scorpio, but at least they could make it back to the Scorpio, maybe.
Jack checked the opening shout again. Still no channel. He climbed out of the pilot’s seat and went to make a start on jury-rigging the boat.
Chapter 12
Captain Pretorius ran onto the command deck, his open jacket flapping as he moved. “Mister Chou, report.”
“We’ve detected three small Chitin craft speeding in. Kraken class ships, sir. They are on a course for Kratos orbit insertion. They may have already detected us, but none are moving to intercept.”
The holostage showed three distant points and their predicted course. “Action stations, Mister Chou. Deploy combat drones. Move the Scorpio behind the horizon. If we are going to take these Chits down, we are going to have to take them before they know we are here.”
A command deck communication officer called out that he’d received an opening shout from the landing craft on the surface.
Pretorius looked at the holostage and the incoming Chit Krakens. He looked at Commander Chou.
“The Chitins will hear us if we respond, Captain.”
Pretorius looked back to the holostage. “Move the ship, Mister Chou. Put us behind Kratos and out of sight of those Chitins.”
“Aye, Captain. Drones deployed. Armed and holding. Ship moving now.”
“Captain,” the communications officer called out again. “We have a repeat of the opening shout from the landing craft.”
“Send no response. All communication channels on silent now.” Pretorius calmed the young communication officer. “The ground team will have to look after themselves for a short while. There are some good Marines down there. They can hold out for now.”
Pretorius watched the holostage and the small points of the Chitin craft. They had moved in fast, but now were slowing for orbital insertion just as the Scorpio was slipping behind the moon, almost hidden.
An alarm sounded across the command deck. Pretorius buttoned up his jacket.
“Sir, three more craft speeding in toward Kratos from the opposite side to the first three. Kraken class, sir. They are the Chits that like to clamp on to the hull, sir.” Commander Chou rushed to the next side of the holostage to check the status of the combat drones. “Permission to launch another flight of combat drones, Captain.”
“Negative.” Pretorius tugged his cuffs. “Put us in high polar orbit. Present the starboard battery to the first three Krakens. Target the second flight with port battery. Ventral battery, target lead craft. Make ready to give fire.” Pretorius’s voice grew in volume and intensity. Officers were thrown into rapid and intense activity. “Full speed now, Mister Chou. Power to every gun. Activate the combat drones and send them on a flanking maneuver against those Chits.”
Major Cruz entered the command deck with a security detail. He posted them at points across the command deck and then joined Pretorius and Chou at the holostage.
“Good of you to join us, Major.” Pretorius pointed to the holostage. “Chitin craft approaching Kratos. We are moving the Scorpio behind the moon and deploying combat drones.”
“Captain,” Commander Chou’s voice quivered. “The Chits have moved to intercept. The second flight too. They are closing in from both sides.”
Pretorius moved across the holostage and accessed fire control. “Wait for them to come into range, Mister Chou. Inform the gun teams to use their ammunition well. I want red dots on this holostage. Give me Chit kills.”
Slim sat on the work bench behind Sarah Reyes. He sipped hooch from a small silver hip flask. He pulled off the flask with a growling gasp, his lips pulled back over his teeth. He shuddered and then took another nip.
Sarah Reyes leaned against her bench with the Chitin behind her looking up at her colleague. “You got work, Slim?”
Slim nodded and held up the flask. He sipped again, gasped and winced, then offered the flask to Reyes.
Reyes wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “I’ve still got a few bits and pieces to work out about this Chit. I think I could almost pilot the thing.”
Slim put his flask away and jumped off the bench. He stuck his head toward the Chit. “Pilot it? Is it a spaceship?”
“It’s a suit,” Reyes said, turning to the Chit. “But it works like a small one-man, or one-Chit, craft. Not unlike the meat suits our Marines use.”
“So, are you going to go running around the ship, scaring the junior officers with this? That’s some Halloween outfit, Reyes.”
Reyes grabbed a tentacle and flicked it toward Slim. The tall man recoiled as the tentacle came toward him.
“Hey, knock it off, Rey,” Slim said.
“Knock it off and get back to work, Slim.” Master Doyle came marching into the maintenance hangar, George on his heels. “That life support system in green eight corridor isn’t going to fix itself. I’ve got crewmen complaining about bad air.”
Slim turned toward Doyle and nodded. “Just taking a breather. Me and my new friend.”
Reyes draped a Chit tentacle over Slim’s shoulder and he stroked it like a pet.
“Stop fooling around and get that air fixed.” Doyle stepped up to the bench.
“On my way, Master Doyle, sir.” Slim gave a smart salute and walked off, ruffling George’s hair as he left.
“And you need to leave your little friend alone, Rey.” Doyle poked the Chitin. “I have a limited staff, kid, and I can’t spare you any longer.”
“I’ve nearly got it all worked out, sir. Just a few more hours and...”
“You will have to use your off hours. You can keep it on the bench but...”
The alarm echoed across the wide maintenance hangar. The hangar door shut with a screech and a bang. George shuffled up alongside Doyle.
Reyes ran over to the hangar’s communication display. “We have moved to action stations. All non-combat personnel to hold station and wait for orders.”
“Okay.” Doyle looked at the Chit. “Show me what you can do with this thing.”
“You are using up all my ordnance, Mister Chou, but we are not recording any kills.” Pretorius watched the holostage intently.
“These Kraken class craft are too fast, sir. They are evading the guns on the main battery. They are coming into range of our kinetic hail cannons now, Captain. We’ll have them in a moment.”
“Deploy another flight of combat drones and target the second group of Chitins.” Pretorius spoke in a calm tone that hid his inner turmoil.
“Drones away, Captain,” Chou replied, his voice mostly calm but with a slight quiver of tension.
The new group of signals appeared on the holostage, a flight of six combat drones, all streaking away from the Scorpio toward the second group of Chitin craft. The fire from the hail cannons showed up on the holostage as a red mist spreading out from the destroyer. The combat drones’ flight kept them under the hail of kinetic rounds.
A cheer went up from the officers around the command deck as the first Chit kills were recorded. The first flight of Chitin craft collided with the kinetic hail and blinked from the display, each leaving a fading red dot.
“Good work, Mister Chou,” Pretorius shouted enthusiastically. “Make good and sure that second group are lit up red too.”
The signal from the six combat drones came in as they were detonated short of their targets. Their detonation wiped a clearing through the red mist of kinetic hail.
“Misfire, Mister Chou? Did you cut the fuses short on those drones?”
“No, Captain.” Chou moved across the holostage and accessed the report from the drone. “Looks like they were sent a detonation code.”
“Who sent that?” Pretorius accessed communication data, searching for the signal.
“I have it, Captain. Time delay on the signal shows it must have originated from the Chit craft, sir.”
Pretorius watched as the Krakens maneuvered into the gap created in the kinetic hail by the drones’ premature detonation.
“All guns on that group of Chits. You’ve got a few seconds to make an impact on them, Mister Chou.” Pretorius tugged at his cuffs. “Major Cruz, deploy your battalion throughout the ship. Stand by to repel boarders.”
Chapter 13
The panels were stripped out and Jack had already bypassed the necessary systems to achieve lift off before Finch and 6th squad arrived at the crash site.
“Report, Marine.” Finch strode up the ramp into the hold.
“I’ve almost completed repairs, sir.” Jack stood up and stepped back to check his work. “Still need to replace a few panels and we’ll be ready to take off. It would be good if we had an electron scalpel handy.”
“I asked for a report, not complaints,” Finch said, looking at Jack’s work. “Did you notify the Scorpio of our situation?”
“No response from the Scorpio, sir.” Jack realized this was perhaps the most important piece of information he should have given. He braced himself for a tirade from Finch.
“Any sign of our missing Marine?”
Jack hesitated. Did Finch not realize what he’d been told about the Scorpio being silent? “No word from Harts either, sir.”
Finch looked at the repairs and made clicking noises with this tongue in his check. He called for Torent.
“Set up a perimeter and get someone on the horn to the Scorpio. Keep sending until they respond.”
Torent gave Jack an inquiring look. Jack was reluctant to give Torent all the details in front of Finch. The commander should have brought at least the squad leader up to speed on events, and Jack didn’t want to annoy Finch by telling Torent in from of the commander.
“Forge, I want you to take me to this Chitin nest.” Finch’s voice wobbled noticeably as he spoke. He covered his nervousness by marching off down the ramp, shouting for Jack to hurry and follow.
Walking slowly, but loudly enough for Finch to hear him coming, Jack turned to Torent. “Harts is missing. Scorpio not answering. Probably comm silence because of those Chits out there. The boat is ready to fly but it’ll be a rough trip. Don’t fire her up unless you have to.”
“On me, Forge,” Finch shouted again.
Jack led Commander Finch through the sand trees toward the Chitin site. The footprints that he had left only a short while ago were gone. The sand had flowed back into the markings and was growing up into small versions of the massive towering structures that covered the surface.
“I’m not picking them up on my scanners,” Finch said.
Jack dropped to his knee and pointed with his pulse rifle. “There, sir. A sentry.”
The Chitin was scurrying across the pink sand, its dark tentacles free from sand and dust. It left no markings in the surface.
“How many do you count?” Finch wiped the sand off his leg as it crept up from his knee.
“Eight, sir. Four around the perimeter and four constructing the device in the center of that depression.”
Finch looked down the sights of his pulse rifle. “I can’t see any construction.” He stood up and stepped forward.
Jack quickly came alongside Finch and held him back. “The sentry, sir,” he said, careful not to annoy Finch. “It’ll spot us.” Jack took a knee and pulled Finch down next to him. “The construction is hidden in the depression. They picked the spot well.”
“We need to destroy them.”
“Yes, sir, I agree,” Jack replied. It was the first sensible suggestion he’d heard from Finch.
“I don’t much care if you agree or not, Marine. Fall back to the lander. I’ll get a commendation for this one.”
“Two Krakens left, sir. We can’t stop them.” Commander Chou paused, and then his head tipped forward. “They are on the dorsal hull.” Chou stepped away from the holostage and went to the command deck arms locker. He pulled the doors open. The locker held a sidearm for every command deck officer, but as the command deck was currently undermanned, there were several pistols spare. Lieutenant Chou tucked one in the waistband at small of his back band and one in front. He took another and carried it to Pretorius at the holostage, handing it over, handle first.
“I’ll command the battalion from here, Captain.” Cruz unclipped the holsters of his own sidearms, one on each hip and one under his left arm.
Pretorius dropped his pistol on the holostage in front of him. “Give me an internal display,” he said. The holostage flickered from the external image to one of the Scorpio, all its corridors mapped out in by a web of green holographic light. All the ship’s personnel were represented by small blinking specks. The two points where the Chitins were cutting through the hull appeared as dark spots.
Pretorius recognized the spots where the Chitins were entering. They were the thinnest sections of hull covering non-essential areas. One was the main mess, the other a hangar recently given over to the maintenance department. “Send Marines to those locations, Major. And send a detachment to protect my drive room.”
Chapter 14
The hull glowed white above Reyes. The composite blistered and fell away in molten droplets.
“They’re cutting through,” Doyle said
. “Arm yourselves.”
“With what?” Reyes looked around desperately.
“Anything you can find.” Doyle ran to the pile of scrap. “A knife. A club. Anything.”
Reyes picked up a small electron scalpel from a nearby tool bench. She tuned the sizzling blade to its longest. The electron blade was sharp and should cut through the Chit shell to kill the creature inside. Sweat dripped from her face.
George was cowering against Doyle as the master was digging in the junk. He produced a long blade taken from a long-range reconnaissance drone. It had one rounded end where it met the turbine assembly and tapered out into a long, viciously sharp blade. He gave it an experimental swing. It would do damage from its weight if not its cutting edge.
The glowing section of hull finally gave way and small hole appeared. Immediately, a tentacle pushed its way through.
“The door,” Reyes said as she heard a banging on the hangar door. “They are coming to help.”
Doyle ran to the door and tried the access panel. “It’s no good,” he said. “It won’t open.”
Reyes looked up to the widening hole above. More tentacles were coming through. The pressure in the hangar was dropping because of the breach above. “The emergency seals are holding it shut,” she said and backed away from the growing breach above.
George wailed pitifully as he watched.
“We should form up,” Reyes said, walking over toward Doyle and George. “We can defend ourselves better if we stay in a group.”
Then the hull on the hangar roof fell inwards. A full-sized Chit soldier dropped to the maintenance hangar deck in between George and Doyle, and Reyes.
Doyle yelled a wild battle cry and charged at the Chit, his blade raised high above his head. He brought the blade down hard on the Chitin. Tentacles wrapped around the blade and plucked it from Doyle’s hand.
The pressure drop started to make Reyes feel lightheaded as the hull cracked open even more and another Chit dangled in through the breech, tentacles holding above and hanging down below. Reyes cried out in anger as the Chit picked Doyle up and passed him back to the hanging Chit, who swiftly climbed back up through the breach and took the struggling Doyle with it.
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