Jack Forge, Fleet Marine Boxed Set (Books 1 - 9)

by James David Victor

  “What does that mean?” Griff asked.

  “The remaining Leviathan is going to do as much damage as it can to soften us up for the next one. We can either run or fight.”

  The image of Group Captain Li appeared on the holostage.

  “Hit that Leviathan with everything you’ve got. I want to take that Chit down fast before we move to intercept the next target.”

  “But what about the survivors from the Taurus and the support ships?” Griff said.

  Li looked out from the holoimage at Major Griff. Her image flickered as a plasma arc slashed across the Monarch.

  “I’ll discuss battlefield ethics with you another time, if either of us survives. The Chits have made more than one mistake. They have split their power. If we have a chance to take down a fourth Leviathan, I will take it. Li out.”

  15

  Jack sat on the floor with the Marines. Their helmets off and their hands behind their backs. A group of prisoners pointed the stolen pulse rifles at them while the thug, Butcher, paced, strutting and pointing his stolen rifle at the Marines. He stopped in front of Torent.

  “Sammy.” Butcher stopped. “I never thought you’d end up in the military.” Butcher tapped the stripe on Torent’s arm with the muzzle of the pulse rifle. “And they made you an officer, did they?”

  “I’m not an officer, Butch,” Torent said. “I’m a squad leader.”

  “They made you a squad leader,” Butcher laughed.

  “I know, right,” Torent said. “They are so stupid, right. You know how I got this stripe?” Torent moved his hand from behind his back and tapped the stripe with his finger. “I stole it.”

  Butcher laughed. “I know you are a good little thief, Sam, but they wouldn’t let you keep it if you stole it.”

  Torent laughed. “I made them think I was proper Marine. I played a long game, you know. It’s a classic long con, Butch. I get up to squad leader and then maybe battalion quartermaster. You know what the quartermaster does, Butch?”

  Butcher shrugged.

  “They look after all the kit. Do you know how much one of those pulse rifles is worth?”

  Butcher looked at the rifle in his hand.

  “The power cell alone is worth a decade of free power. Imagine how much you can sell a pulse rifle power cell for if it’ll give you ten tears of free power?”

  Butcher nodded.

  Torent looked to his sides. The Marines sitting on either side of him were scowling. He looked up at Butcher and with a tip of his head, asked if he could stand and impart some secret.

  Butcher waved Torent to his feet. Torent moved close to Butcher so no one could hear. “We get them to fix that landing craft and we can have the whole kravin lot. Lander, pulse rifles. The lot.”

  Butcher looked sideways at Torent. “You always were a devious scroat. So how do I get this thing flying?”

  Torent pointed at Jack. “Him,” Torent said. “The University reject. I’ve seen him fix stuff.”

  Butcher walked over to Jack. “This one?” he asked, looking toward Torent.

  Torent walked behind Butcher. “That’s him.”

  “Don’t look like much,” Butcher said.

  “He ain’t nothing, Butch. Just a pair of soft hands and a bleeding heart. He ain’t nothing,” Torent took another step closer to Butcher. “But he could be our ticket out of here.”

  “On your feet,” Butcher said, pointing his rifle at Jack. “Fix it. Now.”

  Jack looked over at Torent. The squad leader avoided Jack’s eyes.

  Laidlaw spat on the floor. “You kravin scroat, Torent. I’ll watch you swing for this.”

  Torent stepped forward and delivered a punch to Laidlaw’s face.

  “Easy, easy,” Jack said. “I can fix it. Okay?”

  Torent stepped up to Jack. “You better fix it, Jacky, or I’ll fix you. About time I showed you who the real boss around here is.”

  “You won’t ever be anything again, Torent,” Laidlaw said as the blood streamed from his broken nose.

  Butcher pointed the pulse rifle at Laidlaw. Jack watched the thug’s finger feel for the trigger. Torent put a hand on top of the pulse rifle.

  “Easy, Butch. That suit’s got value too. You don’t want to cut into your take on this job just because some soldier boy is getting mouthy.” Torent leaned down and punched Laidlaw again. “Keep it buttoned or you’ll get more.”

  Jack looked down at Laidlaw. “Keep quiet, Marine,” Jack said. Then he turned to face the Marines all sitting on the floor. “That goes for all of you. Keep quiet and let me fix this boat.” Jack turned to Butcher. “I need some help.”

  Butcher rested the pulse rifle on his shoulder and looked at Jack through narrow eyes.

  “Who?”

  Jack pointed at the pilot and then at the prisoner Steph Canton.

  “The government scroat? What d’you need him for?” Butcher looked over at Canton, who was standing back with the rest of the prisoners.

  “He has worked on Fleet vessels before. Isn’t that right, sir?”

  Canton nodded. “That’s right. I held the rank of Fleet commander at Eras spacedock before I went into office. I patched up a few of these old birds in my time.”

  “Okay, okay, okay.” Butcher walked over the Canton and grabbed him by the arm. “Save us the war stories, old man.” He pushed Canton toward Jack and then pointed at the landing craft with his stolen rifle.

  “And Laidlaw,” Jack said. “I need him too.”

  “You confused about what you are doing?” Torent said, stepping behind Jack. He gave Jack a hard shove toward the landing craft. “Get fixing, Jacky. Get it fixed quick and I might let you live.”

  Jack stepped toward the landing craft. He saw Butcher give Torent a scowl. A slight shake of his head told Jack what he already knew. As soon as Jack fixed this landing craft, Butcher would start executing Marines—starting, no doubt, with Jack.

  16

  “Captain,” the weapons commander called out. “Starboard battery coolant systems are failing. We’ll lose the battery in twenty-eight seconds.”

  “Hold fire on starboard battery. Roll the ship, one-hundred-eighty degrees. Give them the port-side battery.” Pretorius tapped the holoimage of the Leviathan and magnified it. The ship was taking damage, but the rate of fire from the destroyers was failing. The two carriers maintained their heavy bombardment, the laser cannon delivering a freshly charged beam second by second.

  Pretorius stood in awe of the Leviathan. It was taking a beating and seemed to soak up the punishment. The Chitin hull boiled away under the laser beam. Even though they were tough ships, they could only take so much punishment.

  A salvo of combat drones raced toward the Leviathan. It lashed out with its plasma arc, slicing through the drones and cutting them into space junk. But it couldn’t stop them all. Three from the salvo made it into detonation range. They erupted into an expanding mass of energy that slammed into the Chitin ship.

  “Port-side battery acquiring targets, Captain,” the gunnery commander called out.

  “Load high yield explosive rounds.”

  Pretorius zoomed out his view on the holostage. He saw a plasma arc slash across the hull of the Monarch. The force of the Chitin weapon pushed the ship off its axis. The Monarch’s engines were spluttering and another node went out of action. The remaining nodes struggled to compensate, to keep the Monarch’s massive laser assembly on target.

  “Port-side cannon firing now.”

  Pretorius watched the holostage. The support craft were diving in for another sortie. The high ex rounds from the Scorpio raced in. A salvo of combat drones from the Overlord were being knocked out by the Leviathan’s plasma arc.

  The Leviathan took the hits from the support craft. One combat drone burst only meters from the Leviathan. The Chitin beast fired a burst from its plasma cannon that raced toward the carrier, Monarch.

  Pretorius watched the high ex rounds from his port-side battery close in. They slamme
d into the Leviathan. It was the final hit that sent the network of cracks spreading rapidly across the Leviathan’s surface.

  The fire in the cracks grew in intensity before streaming out from each fissure, flames erupting into space, and then the Leviathan simply broke apart.

  The command deck erupted with cheers at the sight of the destroyed Leviathan, its fractured hull tumbling uselessly in space.

  Pretorius tugged his cuffs. “I want battle prep on all systems,” Pretorius shouted. The cheering died down as quickly as it had begun. “Prep and arm all weapons. Ready ship for battle stations.”

  Group Captain Li appeared on the holostage.

  “Good work, everyone. There’s one more Leviathan out there. It is all alone and we are within striking distance. The Monarch is running at sixty percent engine capacity so that will give us one hour to intercept. Just means we have a bit more time to dust ourselves off and get ready to smash another Leviathan. I want status updates from all ships in fifteen. Li out.”

  Pretorius set his crews to work. The cooling system on the starboard battery needed immediate attention. Even if he could get just a few salvos away, it could mean the difference in a battle with a Leviathan. Even with two carrier groups, they would need every available cannon.

  Pretorius zoomed the holostage image out to show the new target, a lone Leviathan. It was speeding in and looking to engage. Pretorius knew it could do terrible damage but it could not win. It would be destroyed and the Chitins would have lost another one of their Leviathan-class ships. The Fleet had lost a destroyer, the Taurus, but it was worth the cost to have taken down three Leviathans, and there was the promise of another Leviathan kill.

  Pretorius checked the position of the new target. It was above the ecliptic and toward the outer system. The group was being redirected to attack this tempting target. The group that was supposed to be retreating to the inner system was now going the other way.

  It was difficult for Pretorius to accept this supposedly good fortune. He contacted Li.

  “What is it, Alistair?” Group Captain Li was preoccupied, her command officers bringing her files and reports. She read and signed as she listened to Pretorius.

  “It is too good to be true, sir,” he said. “Another Leviathan, an easy kill for two carrier groups.”

  “Easy?” Li said. “We just lost a destroyer. It wasn’t easy, but we’ve chalked up three Leviathans today, and we are going to chalk up another. I think Fleet HQ will think we’ve worked hard today.”

  “But we are being pulled out of position, sir. They are tempting us, luring us to the outer system. I am sure it’s a ploy, sir.”

  Li stopped looking at files and documents and looked out of the holostage at Pretorius. She fixed him with a stare. Her expression softened after a moment’s thought.

  “You might be right, they might be dangling a juicy bit of bait. But that Leviathan is too easy a target to ignore. There are no other Chits in sensor range. That new Leviathan is alone and vulnerable. It’s not the first mistake they’ve made today. We must attack and take it down.”

  “It’s not our mission, sir,” Pretorius said. “And I fear we might get pulled too far from our home space.”

  “We will support each other, Captain,” Li said, “and I consider that Leviathan as a target of opportunity. We will engage and destroy it.” Li took a file from one of her commanders and quickly signed it. “How is the Scorpio holding up, Alistair?”

  “We’ve got a few battle scars, but we still got teeth, sir.”

  “Ready to kill another Chit?”

  “Yes, sir. Thank you for taking my call, sir.” Pretorius tugged his cuffs again. He would be ready and there was no doubt that the Leviathan would be destroyed. That wasn’t his concern. He did wonder why they were presenting such a tempting target.

  “Coolant systems on starboard-side battery functioning, Captain,” a commander called from across the command deck. “But maintenance says it’ll only stand up for a few salvos.”

  “Pack them with kinetic hail and have them ready to fire. We’ll tear a few chunks off their hull as an introduction.”

  Pretorius was going into battle again and he was going to hit hard. If he went down today, no one would say the Scorpio didn’t fight as hard as it could.

  17

  Access panels from the lower hull lay on the ground. Jack had his head inside the landing craft, looking at the life support system. Laidlaw stood next to him.

  “I don’t know why you need me, sir,” Laidlaw said.

  “I need you to tell me what they are doing. I need you to watch them for me. I can’t do it while I’m fixing this.”

  “But why are you fixing it for them?” Laidlaw asked.

  “I’m not fixing it for them, Stuart. We need it. I was going to have to fix it anyway. I’m just doing what I was going to do anyway.”

  “But we are their prisoners now,” Laidlaw said quietly and nervously.

  “We are all in prison, but I know what I’m doing. That gives us the edge.”

  Laidlaw nodded uncertainly.

  “Are you watching them?” Jack asked.

  Laidlaw nodded and started to observe the gang of prisoners with the weapons. “I can’t believe Sam Torent would turn his back on us so quickly,” Laidlaw said.

  “No,” Jack agreed. He pulled free a unit and dropped it to the ground. “I don’t think he is.”

  “It sure looks like it, sir,” Laidlaw said.

  “It sure does,” Jack said and gave Laidlaw a brief smile. Then he ducked down out of the landing craft’s access panel and picked up the unit he’d dropped.

  Butcher was standing nearby watching Jack. He leveled his stolen pulse rifle at Jack.

  Jack held up the unit. “I need Canton there to take a look at this,” Jack said. “It’s burnt out. If he can strip it and—”

  Butcher stepped forward. “Why don’t you do it?”

  “I could…” Jack looked back at the landing craft. “I could strip this entire ship and clean every circuit myself, but I thought we were in a hurry.”

  Butcher waved Jack toward Canton with the rifle muzzle.

  Canton was sitting at the base of the rear landing strut, looking at a holofile of all the landing craft’s systems that were need of repair. He looked up as Jack came near.

  “Can you strip this?” Jack tossed the unit into Canton’s hands. “It’s burnt out. You can fix it, right?”

  “It’ll need a power cell,” Canton said, turning the unit over in his hands.

  “But you can do it?” Jack asked.

  “Sure. I can’t keep looking over the system error reports. They really let this thing fly down here?”

  Jack could hear the concern and disbelief in Canton’s voice. The ship was in a poor state of repair, but it was the best they had. The war was taking its toll on all the Fleet equipment.

  Jack turned to Butcher. “I need a pulse pistol.”

  Butcher laughed. “I bet you do,” he said. Then he stepped forward and pointed the rifle in Jack’s face. “And why would I let you have a weapon?”

  “The power cell from a pulse pistol will fit this unit,” Jack said.

  Butcher looked down at Canton, who nodded in agreement.

  “Can you remove the power cell?” Butcher asked Canton.

  Canton nodded. “Easily.”

  Butcher called one of his lackeys over. “Get me one of those pulse pistols.”

  The weapons not currently being brandished by Butcher and his gang were heaped in a pile on the far side of the bay. It was not the way to treat Fleet Marine equipment.

  The man picked up a pistol and carried it over. He handed it to Jack.

  Butcher quickly snatched it away and delivered a swift blow to the lackey’s head. “Not him, you scroat.” Butcher tossed the pistol to Canton sitting on the floor. “Get to work,” he said and then stepped back, rifle held at the hip. “And you,” he said to Jack. “Back to work.”

  Jack ducked back
under the landing craft and moved to the power systems. They were on the verge of burning out completely. He could remove some conduits from another non-vital system. The fire suppression system could be stripped out and reused in the environmental systems. He would just have to hope there wasn’t a fire.

  Torent was standing at the end of the long tunnel from the landing bay to the central compound. He leaned against the wall, his rifle hanging at his side. He sensed someone was coming toward him from the landing craft behind. He turned.

  “Oh, hey, Butch,” Torent said and looked back along the tunnel.

  Butcher stood next to Torent. “What you looking for, Sam?” Butch said. He fixed Torent with a suspicious and nasty gaze.

  “Those Chits we fought off. They’ll be back, Butch. They always come back.”

  “Like you did?” Bucher said, shoving Torent’s shoulder hard. “Back to the old life, just like that.”

  Torent sensed the edge in Butcher’s voice. Butcher was a dangerous man and Torent knew it.

  “You think you’ve been a prisoner,” Torent said. “I’ve been trapped in that Marine squad every bit as much as you’ve been trapped in here. This here’s my chance to get out. If we get that landing craft fixed, we can be away.”

  Butcher wrapped an arm around Torent’s neck. He pulled Torent down roughly. “Why should I believe you want to leave your little soldier gang and run with me? I ain’t stupid, Sammy.”

  Torent wrestled himself free and shoved Butcher away. “The war is lost, Butch. The Chits keep coming and we keep getting our ass kicked. I never asked to join the Marines. It was Marines or prison. I’ve been looking for my opportunity to get away. Who’d have thought I’d have to break into a prison to find my freedom.”

  Butch looked back to the landing craft and the work going on to repair it. “If your friend can get that ship fixed, you might just get away.”

  “He’s no friend of mine,” Torent said.

  Butcher slapped Torent on the back. “Keep watching out for those Chits and I’ll keep a close watch on the repairs.”