“Sarah, can you hear me?”
Sarah watched Jack mouth the words. She shouted, “Yes,” and then realized neither could hear the other. She worked carefully to draw her tentacle across the sand. She wrote, Sarah.
Jack looked at the sand and the word written there. The name of the girl from maintenance who had so captivated him. Sarah. The name was like magic and when he said it, he thought only of her. He was lost in dreams of her.
“How did you get down here?” Jack said to the large smooth head. He realized she probably couldn’t hear him.
He looked across to the fallen body of Finch. The blood was evaporating out of the slice in the suit. The pink sands were already crawling up over him and he was almost totally covered. Jack accessed the vital signs readout for Finch. The data displayed over Jack’s view showed that Finch was dead. No life signs. No pulse. No brain activity. He was already listed on Jack display as Killed in Action.
A tentacle reached out. Jack recoiled. This massive ugly beast was Sarah? He saw the wound in the Chit body and mixed with the purple gloop that oozed out was the unmistakable trace of blood red.
“You been hit?” Jack mouthed carefully.
The Chit reached out with a tentacle again. Jack reached out too, took hold and pulled the Chit. “This way,” he said.
Jack came to the landing craft crash site cautiously and a few meters ahead of the Chit Reyes. He answered the challenge from the sentry.
“Forge, coming in.” he said.
Terry stepped forward, his rifle leveled at Jack. “Where the Krav have you been all this time?”
“Where’s Torent?” Jack asked. If he was going to bring Sarah up to the lander, he was going to make sure she didn’t suddenly get cut down by fire from a dozen frightened Marines.
Sam Torent came down the ramp from the landing craft and marched over. “Jacky. Bad news. Scorpio bugged out and we’re on our own for now. Where’s the commander?”
“Sam,” Jack said slowly, stepping forward as if approaching a wild animal. “I found someone from the Scorpio. They escaped somehow. You mustn’t be alarmed.”
Torent brought his rifle up. Terry copied the squad leader. “Why would I be alarmed?”
“It’s Sarah Reyes from maintenance. She managed to get down out of orbit.”
“How?”
“She’s been working on a Chitin for some time and she’s found out how to...”
“How to what?”
“She’s inside the Chitin, Sam.”
“Inside?” Torent tipped his head as if trying to understand.
“Just don’t fire, Sam. Promise me you won’t fire.”
“What’s going on, Jack?”
“Promise me.” Jack turned and waved to Reyes.
The Chitin appeared from behind a far off sand tree. The flailing tentacles collapsed one of the sand trees and it fell over the Chit like an avalanche of pink snow. Terry raised his weapon and called out. “Contact. Contact. Twelve o’clock.”
“No!” Jack ran in front of Terry and pressed his rifle aside. “Sam, order them, Sam. Hold your fire.”
6th squad came running at the sound of the commotion, their weapons ready.
Jack waved his hands wildly at the squad. “Hold your fire. Don’t fire.”
The Marines slowed and approached cautiously, all looking in awe and surprise at the Chit that lumbered and lurched forward.
“Don’t fire,” Jack said again to Torent. “It’s Sarah Reyes. She inside. She needs help. Look.” Jack pointed at the wound and the trickle of red through the purple gunk that was becoming caked in the fine pink sand.
“She needs a suit. She can’t survive without a suit. We must have a spare?”
“Maybe. Let’s look. Terry, keep your pulse rifle trained on that thing.”
Terry nudged Jack aside with a shoulder and stepped behind the Chit Reyes.
Jack grabbed a tentacle and pulled Reyes toward the ramp. The Marines lined up to watch the strange procession.
Once inside the hold, Torent set three Marines to seek out a spare suit in the landing craft. Osho found one in a weapons locker.
“It’s unpowered,” Torent said, turning the suit over in his hands.
“No problem,” Jack said. “We can hook it up to the lander’s power and charge it.”
Torent nodded and handed the suit to Jack. “What now?”
“Seal the landing ramp and pressurize the hold. Reyes can get out of the Chit and into the meat suit.”
Torent nodded. Jack closed the ramp and pressurized the hold. Torent ordered the Marines in the hold to train their weapons on the Chit. “One false move,” he said.
The Chit shell opened a crack with a rush of air. Purple ooze dribbled slowly out of the crack and then came Sarah Reyes. She fell to the deck hard, and the vacated Chit shell fell loudly after her.
The gasps and cheers from the Marines drew a weak smile from Reyes. She looked up and around until she saw Jack.
Jack rushed over and scooped Sarah up in his arms. He scraped away the slime. He spotted the wound on her leg. “Aid kit,” he called out. A Marine brought one forward and dropped it in front of Jack before stepping back and bringing his rifle up.
Jack wiped the slime from Reyes’s hair and tucked the hair behind her ears. “You okay?”
Reyes nodded, tears in her eyes. “They took Doyle. And George. Chitin scum. I’m going to kill them. I’m going to kill them all.”
With Reyes’s wound dressed, she climbed unsteadily into her meat suit. Jack left her sitting in an alcove and reopened the landing craft ramp.
Walking off the ramp and down on to the fine sand, he turned to Torent. “We have to attack the Chitins.”
“Jack,” Torent said, “where’s the commander?”
Jack hesitated. He couldn’t lie but he couldn’t tell the truth. “He didn’t make it,” Jack stammered.
“What do you mean by that, Jack?”
“He fell, Sam. He got taken out.”
“Taken out how?”
“He’s back there,” Jack said.
“That is not what I asked you. How did he fall, Jack?”
Jack looked Torent in the eye. “Can we deal with those Chits first, Sam?”
Jack felt Torent’s eye drill into him. “You better get your story straight before we get off this rock.”
“If we get off this rock,” Jack said.
Sam fixed Jack with a stare. “No jokes, please.”
Jack nodded and looked to the floor. The pink grains had crept up over his boot. He was sinking in this moon and sinking in the feelings of guilt. Finch was dead. Whatever he was, he didn’t deserve to die like that.
Jack drew a rough map of the Chitin construction site in the sand. The grains kept moving in to fill the space and they climbed up to form miniature versions of the forest all around. Jack worked and spoke fast.
“Whatever they are doing, Sam, we need to stop them. We have to take them out.”
“I suggest we close in on two fronts and create a crossfire. We get between the sentries and attack, deal with the sentries when they come on. Most important is to take out that Chit construction first. Agree?” Torent looked at Jack.
Jack thought it was the best plan. Yes, they would come under attack from the sentries, but with no way to take them out silently, they would have to launch an attack on the main site first. There would be casualties.
“I agree,” Jack said. And then the sand grains around the site began to lift ever so slightly, just a few millimeters off the ground. Jack felt the hairs stand up all over his body and his data display began to flicker. Jack looked up. A dark spot appeared high in orbit. A massive craft with tentacle-like structures spread out.
“It’s a Chitin Leviathan,” Jack said.
Suddenly, a massive beam of light appeared, leaping up from the surface of Kratos and running up to the base of the Leviathan.
“They are attacking,” Terry shouted and aimed his rifle.
; “Stand down!” Torent ordered. “Keep your head. Try and be a Marine.”
“They are not attacking,” Jack said. “That beam is coming from the Chit site.”
“It’s a fueling station,” Reyes said. “That’s what they are doing here. They are using the moon as a fueling station.”
“What fuel?” Torent asked.
Jack ran his hand through the sand that was floating just above the surface. “It’s some kind of electromagnetic energy. Kratos is so highly charged by the gas planet. They are harvesting off the moon.”
“Why don’t they take it from the gas giant itself?” Torent asked. “There must be more there than on this little moon.”
Jack stood up. “Like oil back on Earth. You couldn’t put oil in a gas tank, it needed to be refined first. Maybe this moon is like a refinery for the gas giant’s huge electromagnetic charge.”
Torent stood up. “Who cares about the science? Let’s destroy the krav out of it.”
“Wait.” Sarah staggered over. “If we kill the Chits, that Leviathan will send more. There could be thousands of the bastards up there. But if that is a fuel line to the Chits...” Reyes hesitated for a moment. “What if we destroy that, we might damage the Leviathan too.”
“The fleet has never destroyed a Chit Leviathan.” Terry stood up and swung his rifle up. “It’s pointless to try. Let’s attack, now. And so what if they send more Chitin scum? I can kill a thousand.”
“But maybe we can take that Leviathan out,” Jack said, calming the excitable Terry. “Do you think you can do it?” he asked Reyes.
“I think I can do it,” Sarah said, nodding, “I’ve been experimenting with their tech for months. It’s not so much tech, it’s more like biology. I’ve been inside their suits, and inside one of their Krakens. I’ve got inside their minds. I know how they work, and I think I know how to break them.”
Jack and Torent looked at each other and smiled.
“She’s good,” Torent said.
“I think so.” Jack turned back to Reyes. She was looking down at the Chit suit on the floor, her thick hair tumbling forward.
“I might have to use the Chit shell as a link to their device, but I think I can do this. If you get me to that device I will reverse the energy polarity and drain the charge from the Leviathan back to Kratos. I kind of did it with this Chit suit when I was working it out. I think I can do it with their ship.”
“That Leviathan is massive, it’s not like this shell.” Torent nudged the Chit with his toe.
“But it is. It is exactly the same.” Reyes nodded at Jack to gain his support. “And I’m the closest thing to an expert we have.”
“I’ve seen her working this thing, Sam. I think we should give it a shot.” Jack smiled and nodded at Reyes, giving his approval for the plan.
Reyes clapped her hands excitedly, “They’ll be out of fuel and dead in the void. The moon’s gravity might even bring them down. Without their power transfer device, they’ll be stranded.”
“Until another Chit comes looking to top off his fuel,” Torent said.
Jack shrugged. “It’s the only chance we have of getting off this moon right now.”
Torent nodded. “It’s worth a shot. But if we’re going to give Reyes a shot, we’re going to have to kill the Chits at the site.” Torent looked at Jack. “Any suggestions?”
Jack folded his arms and set his jaw with a steely edge. “We go in hard and fast. Get Reyes to the device and hold off any counter-attack while she does her stuff.”
“Sounds pretty much a do or die approach, Jacky.”
“We are short on time and short on ideas. This is all we’ve got. If it works, we might have a chance to get of this moon. If not…” Jack paused and looked at his squad-mates. “We’re all dead otherwise in any case.”
The squad seemed lost in thought for a moment until Torent shouted, “Let’s get this done. Jack, assist Reyes. Rest of you, grab your gear. Weapons and ammo only. Got any ordnance, bring it along. Let’s go Sixth Squad. Time to be Marines.”
Torent nodded at Jack and Reyes. “Good luck,” he said.
“To us all,” Jack replied.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” he asked.
“I think it’s a good shot. Worth the risk.”
“Okay,” Jack said. “Let’s get you what you need.”
Reyes grabbed the remote console and activated the Chit shell. It stood up, towering over the Marines. She looked into Jack’s eyes. “I’ve got everything right here.”
Jack felt nervousness come over him. He was worried about the battle to come. He feared for his life and the lives of his squad. But mostly he feared that if he didn’t return from the mission, he wouldn’t get to spend more time with Sarah Reyes.
“Ready when you are, Squad Leader,” Jack called out.
Chapter 17
Jack ran through the sand forest toward the Chit position. At any moment, they knew the Leviathan hovering in orbit above could dispatch hundreds of Chit soldiers to the surface, or even scour the surface with the massive plasma arcs and turn the pink sand to glass for a hundred square kilometers, incinerating every one of 6th squad in the process. Speed was the key.
The two forward scouts, Osho and Terry, opened fire and Jack knew they had reached the Chit sentries. The game was on and there could be no hiding from the battle now. He moved forward quickly, running toward battle and uncertainty. The only certainty now was that he was a Marine. If it lasted beyond the battle was another question, but for now, he was Marine.
Moving fast, he came to the point where the forward scouts were engaging the sentries.
“No time. Move forward,” Jack said as Torent came up, his rifle firing on the Chit sentry to his left.
“We’ve given ourselves away. They know we are here. We must press on.” Jack ducked under a disintegrating sand tree as a Chit plasma spear sliced through it, scattering a pink dust cloud everywhere.
“Use the dust as cover,” Torent shouted. He grabbed the nearest Marine and pushed them toward the left sentry.
The tag on Jack’s data display showed name of the Marine. Jack knew him as Bubble, the crybaby.
Bubble moved, low and fast, toward the Chit. Torent grabbed another Marine. It was Bailey, the smallest of 6th squad who usually wore the biggest grin.
“Bailey, go right and smash that Chit.” Torent stood his ground as a plasma spear crashed into the ground centimeters from his feet. “Osho, stay with Bailey. The rest of you follow me.”
Jack grabbed Reyes as she came running up, panting heavily.
“Catch your breath.” Jack pulled Reyes down as a plasma spear streaked overhead. “We move into the center of the depression and straight for the device. I will cover you. You ready?”
Reyes nodded and staggered to her feet. A plasma spear slashed through another sand tree, blasting sand over her. Reyes flinched and let out a pitiful wail of fear. Jack grabbed her arm and pulled her with him.
“It’ll be okY. Stay with me.”
Jack reached the rim of the depression in a few strides. Away to the left, he saw Osho and Terry advancing on the far sentry. the first sentry lay twitching in the sand. Across the other side of the depression, Bubble was charging forward, an electron bayonet lighting up the end of his pulse rifle. His partner Bayle was crouching and firing on the far right Chit sentry. Every round from Bayle’s pulse rifle tore chunks out of the far sentry, forcing the Chit backwards. It raised its weapon and let out a poorly aimed plasma spear at Bubble. The electron bayonet was thrust into the ring of teeth on the end of the long, skinny black head. Bubble lifted and ripped through the head. The Chit fell, thrashing and throwing up pink sand.
Torent was down on one knee and firing controlled bursts at the Chits gathered around the base of the device. Lee stood next to Torent. The rest of 6th squad had split into two small fire teams and moved out to the flanks, firing on the remaining Chits.
Jack saw the Chits falling back and being cu
t to pieces by the sudden, unexpected, and ferocious attack. He grabbed Reyes and ran to the device. They fell to the sand at the base of the tower sending a column of energy into space to the Chitin Leviathan.
“Think you can do it?” Jack stood over Reyes and scanned the area for any Chit threat.
Reyes brought the Chit shell over to her and dropped it in front of the device. “I think so.” She cracked open the shell and began pulling out sinews and muscle strands. She lay them onto some of the glowing channels that flicked over the base of the device.
Torent came running over. “That’s all of them. Not very well defended. There must be more.”
Jack saw a Marine standing on the ridge looking upward and felt a sudden sinking feeling. He looked up and saw dozens of points of light high in the thin Kratos atmosphere. Every point of light left a small tail behind it. They grew in size rapidly. Jack knew all too well what they were. Torent realized too and he started barking orders to 6th squad.
“Sixth Squad, on me. Make a defensive perimeter around the device. Give Reyes cover. We’ve got Chitin soldiers incoming. Hundreds of them. Light up your bayonets. Let’s go. Move. Move.”
The squad came in to the depression and formed up around Reyes. Torent walked along in front of them all. “Looking good. Everyone a battle-hardened, full-on pro. Pick your targets. Drop as many as you can before they land. Let’s give our plan every chance. Don’t give the Chits any. Here they come.”
Jack knelt next to Reyes and fired up at a Chit soldier five hundred meters above, moving across the sky. Reyes tugged Jack’s arm.
“I need your help.” She held up a thick purple strand that she’d pulled out of the Chit shell. “This needs to be attached to one of these channels on the far side of the device. Get it as far up the pillar as you can, about three meters should do it.”
Jack looked at the pattern of sinews and muscle strands that were connected to the base and the tower, all seemingly absorbed in to the purple channels that cris-crossed the device.
“Okay,” Jack said.
Forged in Space Page 9