Forged by War (Jack Forge, Fleet Marine Book 9)

by James David Victor

  “We have a chance to make a difference here, Marines. I need you to send word to Adder and Boa Companies.” Jack handed the flasks of inverted cloak over to one pair of Marines. They stored them about their persons, tucking them into the grenade pockets on their tactical vests.

  Jack delivered his instructions. They were clear and simple, yet set to have a huge impact. The Marines ran out of the facility.

  “Guess we just wait now,” Torent said.

  “Guess so,” Jack said. Then he turned to the bulk synthesizer and started tapping in a now familiar set of instructions. “Might as well start cloaking the company, Sam,” Jack said. “Get them in here by squads and get them cloaked.”

  Jack set the synthesizer to work again. They had time on their hands now and he wasn’t going to let this equipment stand idle.

  14

  Bevan stood at the base of the corvette’s boarding ramp. An orange warning light flashed on the hull, throwing its lights across the ramp and the debris-strewn landing pad. Her forward observation post had reported two Marines running toward the spaceport, heading directly through the mass of Chits that had halted their advance and were surrounding the port.

  The runners came toward her, weaving between the debris. Waiting with her arms folded across her chest, she wondered how they had made it through the Chitin soldiers massing on the western flank of the port. The runners stopped in front of Bevan, flanked by two Marines from Adder Company. One runner spoke as he heaved huge gulps of air.

  “Message from Major Forge,” the runner gasped. “If you have a ship, be ready to send it.”

  Bevan held an arm out to indicate the corvette. “I have a ship, Marine,” she said. “How, might I ask, did you make it past all those Chits out there?”

  The second Marine was bent over and held his hands on his knees, sweat dripping from his forehead. A Marine from Adder Company held out a water canteen for the breathless runner to drink.

  “Permission to sit, sir,” the first Marine said.

  Bevan nodded. “Yes. Sit.”

  Both Marines collapsed to the floor. They lay helpless and breathless. One drank from the canteen in greedy spluttering gulps before offering it to his fellow runner.

  Bevan took a knee next to the Marines. She put a hand on his shoulder. “In your own time, Marine. Tell me how you got through the Chits.”

  “Major Forge has taken the chemical plant. He’s synthesized a chemical cloak. He sent us. I thought we were dead, but the Chits ignored us.”

  The second Marine, having caught his breath, sat up with his arms around his knees. “It was mighty strange being so close to the kravin Chits and not have them try and smash us to bits.”

  Bevan nodded. She never expected to survive the first night on Eros with Chitins covering the ground and filling the air. She had survived one night, and she had found a functional Fleet craft. She entertained the thought that she might make it off the planet and away to safety.

  “When do we make our move?” Bevan said. “What are the major’s orders?”

  Both Marines were getting back to their feet. The first one spoke, and his message was a little cryptic.

  “Major Forge says you’ll know when it’s time. Look to the north and wait for Boa Company to make their move.”

  Bevan nodded. She knew what to do, but the moment she tried to take off, she knew she would come under fire from the Chitins on the ground. She hated the idea of abandoning her company, but she had orders. She called over one of her runners from Adder Company.

  “Go and find Squad Leader Jarret. I want him here on the double. Go.”

  As the runner dashed off, Bevan looked back to the corvette. It was a lucky find and a fine ship. She had doubts that she would be able to take off without coming under fire from the Hydras that patrolled the skies. She was in even greater doubt that she would make it to Major Forge’s position, but she had survived this long, maybe she would make it through one more day.

  15

  Laidlaw picked his way through the rubble of the city moving from one smashed building to another, buildings that had once been the gleaming city streets of the Eros capital.

  Moving carefully, he approached the area surrounding the capital stadium. The Leviathan was still resting atop the stadium, the collapsed building that they had dropped onto the massive ship only a few hours ago lying in ruins around the Leviathan. Laidlaw was nervous returning to the site of a previous attack, but maybe this time, his attack would be even more devastating.

  The Leviathan was only a few blocks away now. The Chitin soldiers moved about the area lazily, and Hydras passed overhead in squadrons of twelve or more, passing from one direction or another every few minutes.

  Laidlaw halted Boa Company in a burned-out building within sight of the Leviathan. He rubbed his chin and studied the problem. The flasks of chemical sent by Major Forge would, he was told, set the Chits against each other in a frenzied attack. It was a necessary diversion to create some space for Bevan to move.

  The best place to deposit the chemical was on the upper hull of the Leviathan. The only way to get it there was to send the flask on a drone.

  Laidlaw pulled out his only drone and set it on the ground in front of him. The moment he sent it into the air, he was sure a Hydra would attack and destroy the drone, the flask, the chemical, and any hope of creating a diversion.

  “Get those runners from Cobra up here,” Laidlaw said to a Marine next to him before turning to another. “I want every drone the company has up here now.” A second runner moved off, taking the request for drones.

  The two runners had moved ahead of the company, the chemical cloak keeping them safe from any Chits that might have been in the way.

  The first arrived at Laidlaw’s location, on the fifteenth floor of the burned shell of a building.

  “Cut that sleeve off your jacket, Marine,” Laidlaw said.

  The Marine looked a little confused as he took off his jacket. He fired up his electron blade and sliced the sleeve off.

  Laidlaw wrapped the sleeve around the drone. Then Laidlaw sent the drone out of a hole blasted in the wall of the building and out into the morning air.

  A flight of Hydras raced overhead the moment the drone moved out from the building. Laidlaw felt his heart leap into his mouth, but the Hydras passed overhead and raced away toward the Leviathan and the many Hydras circulating around it.

  Laidlaw watched the drone move higher into the sky. Another flight of Hydras came racing along the street. Laidlaw was satisfied that the Hydras were ignoring the drone.

  A Marine came quietly alongside Laidlaw with three small drones collected from the Marines of Adder Company. Laidlaw set them out in front of him, then turned to the two runners from Cobra.

  “I need to cover these drones,” he said. “That cloak is in the material of your Jackets. We can hide these drones and get these flasks over to that Leviathan. No need to go naked, the sleeves should be enough.”

  The two runners pulled off their shirts and cut away the sleeves. Laidlaw set the Marines to work covering the drones with the material while he pulled up his pulse rifle and looked through his scope to the distant Leviathan.

  The distance was on the edge of range for the pulse rifle, but it would be a makeable shot to hit the drone and the flask from this distance. It would be a difficult shot, though, and he would have only one chance before the Chits moved in on his location. Fortunately, Laidlaw had a hundred shots if every Marine fired. It would certainly give away his position in the burned-out building, but the shot would be made and the inverted chemical would be delivered to the target. Those were his orders, and that was what he was going to do.

  “Ready, sir,” a Marine said.

  Laidlaw looked. Arranged on the edge of the building in the smashed opening sat the drones, all covered in material from the Cobra runners’ sleeves.

  Laidlaw set down the flasks containing the inverted cloak.

  “Fix those on the drones and get th
em ready to fly,” Laidlaw said. He looked again at the distant Leviathan. The air was swarming with Hydras and hundreds upon hundreds of Chitin soldiers moved around on the ground of the stadium.

  Laidlaw would have one chance and then that mass of Chitin soldiers would be swarming toward his location. He laid his pulse rifle down in front of him. He only needed one chance.

  “Pass the word to the company,” Laidlaw said to a runner. “We will fire at the drones on my command. Get in position to fire and hold.”

  The runner moved off. Laidlaw activated the drones and sent them drifting off silently toward the Leviathan. He watched their progress through the scope on his rifle. The drones drifted further and further away, becoming tiny dots in the distance. Finally, he judged them to be in position above the upper hull of the massive Chitin warship hovering only a few hundred meters above the surface of Eros.

  Laidlaw took careful aim.

  “Get ready to fire,” he said to the Marines next to him on the fifteenth floor. He heard the word pass along from one Marine to another. It took some minutes for the word to spread and for the word to come back. The company was all in position and ready to fire.

  Laidlaw steadied his Fleet Marine Pulse Rifle against a broken piece of wall composite and breathed calmly. Then, with one of the drones in his sights, he squeezed the trigger.

  The building was suddenly alive with pulse rifle fire as the entire company took their command from Laidlaw’s first shot. The pulse rounds flashed in the morning air. Laidlaw looked through his scope at the distant scene. The Chitins on the ground were already rushing toward his position. A squadron of Hydras was turning in formation, setting up to move in on Laidlaw’s position.

  The pulse rifle fire was pouring toward the distant drones, and then one exploded in a flash.

  He watched the drone explode and a saw light mist take its place. Then another drone exploded silently in the distance. Again, Laidlaw saw a cloud appear. The chemical rain drifted down toward the Leviathan underneath.

  The drones were all hit, and Laidlaw called out for the company to cease fire. He watched the mist drift down onto the Leviathan.

  The flight of Hydras turning in the sky above the Leviathan struck out with their plasma arcs, the barbed fiery loops slashing out at the Leviathan. Then the spitz cannons poured the huge white beads of fire into the upper hull of the large craft.

  Laidlaw watched in awe as the Hydras held their position and fired every weapon into the top of the massive Chitin warship. Then he spotted the Chitin soldiers on the ground stop their advance and turn to face the Leviathan. Their plasma spears launched in a constant flickering attack on the underside of the Leviathan.

  “Send word,” Laidlaw said to the Marine next to him, “withdraw to the fallback position.”

  Laidlaw heard the word get passed along the Marines, from one Marine to another, from one squad to another until the entire company was moving back from the distant firefight where Chitin relentlessly engaged Chitin.

  Laidlaw watched as a fresh squadron of Hydras came racing in from the east, their spitz cannons flickering and slamming into the side of the Leviathan before, once in range, their plasma arcs lit up.

  The sight was mesmerizing—the bright plasma arcs flickering out from the Hydras, slashing across the top of the Leviathan. More Hydras joined the attack and more plasma spears lit up the morning sky. The cannons flashed, and the Chitin ground troops fired up at their own massive ship.

  “Sir,” a Marine said, tugging at Laidlaw. “We are falling back, sir.”

  A huge explosion erupted from the top of the Leviathan, throwing shattered Chitin hull high into the sky. The Hydras continued their attack.

  “Why doesn’t the Leviathan fight back?” the Marine said quietly, watching the distant firefight.

  “Let’s hope it doesn’t,” Laidlaw said. “It would take out those Hydras in a second.”

  Laidlaw watched as a mass of Chitin soldiers clambered up the walls of the stadium and made their way up onto the Leviathan where they began pounding the upper hull with their plasma spears at point blank range.

  “Sir,” the Marine said again. “The company is falling back. Sir?”

  Laidlaw got to his feet and backed away from the smashed wall and the awesome sight beyond.

  “Copy that, Marine,” Laidlaw said. “Fall back.” With that, Laidlaw turned and moved away with the distant sounds of battle rumbling over the chill morning air.

  16

  “The moment this ship takes off, it is going to take fire from those Chits,” Bevan said to Jarret.

  Jarret nodded.

  “I need you to take command of Adder and give us a chance to get away.”

  Jarret nodded again.

  “I’ll pilot the corvette myself with a skeleton crew, just enough to service the weapons.”

  Jarret nodded a third time.

  “And I’ll take these Cobra Marines with me too and get them back to their company,” Bevan said.

  “With respect, Commander,” one if the runners from Cobra said, “we can assist Adder. We are invisible to the Chits. We’ll be more use here on the ground than in that ship with you.”

  Bevan nodded. She turned to Jarret. “You’ll be acting commander. Take the fight to the Chits, Dave. I know you will do a great job.”

  Jarret saluted Bevan. “Thank you, sir. I’ll make sure to get your company back to you in good condition,” he said.

  Bevan placed a hand on his shoulder. “Just give me a chance to get this ship past those ground troops. Move out.”

  Jarret nodded again and turned to a runner. “Bring the company into formation. Prepare to advance.” Then he turned to the two Marines from Cobra with the chemical cloak protecting them. “And you Cobra boys can go ahead and put those electron bayonets to work.”

  Then a Marine came running over to Bevan.

  “Explosions in the north, sir. Looks like Hydras attacking a ground target.”

  Bevan turned and walked toward the boarding ramp. “That’s our signal,” Bevan said. “Adder is yours now, Dave,” she called over her shoulder. “Give me cover from those Chits out there.”

  Bevan heard Jarret shout orders to Adder Company, orders to advance and engage. Bevan knew Jarret had wanted to attack the Chits and now was his chance. She knew Jarret would give the Chits a hard time with Adder Company on the attack.

  Bevan closed the ramp behind her and walked to the cockpit. She dropped into the pilot’s seat and finalized the takeoff procedure. A grim thought flashed across her mind that this might be a short trip because the Hydras were attacking everything in the sky. She shook the negative thought from her head. She shouted back along the corvette to the weapons stations.

  “Watch out for ground fire. Give it back to them with interest. Here we go. Taking off now.”

  Bevan watched the scenes on the ground through the forward view screen. Adder Company was pouring forward, their pulse rifles firing a punishing hail that tore into the massed ranks of Chitin soldiers in the rubble beyond the spaceport.

  The lower blast laser of the corvette let out a lancing beam that smashed into the ground before it, moving across the ground, throwing up dust and debris and smashed Chitin soldiers. The port and starboard cannon blasted out a salvo of high-density shot, tearing into the Chitins on the ground.

  A mass of plasma spears came flashing toward the corvette, fired up from the Chitin soldiers on the ground. They slammed into the heavy composite of the corvette’s hull. One hit the forward view screen, and it exploded in a shower of plasma beads. The screen flickered, and when it returned to full view, the corvette was over the mass of Chitin soldiers and racing over the wreckage of a city that only a few days before had been a pristine example of humanity’s endeavor on the planet of Eros.

  Bevan set her heading for the chemical plant in the west and set her altitude to extremely low level. The ground raced away underneath. As the ship passed over business and residential districts, she was su
re she saw small groups of civilians wandering amongst the ruins.

  Many had not gotten away in the evacuation. The Eros Fleet was down to one ship as far she knew, this single corvette. It wasn’t even enough to evacuate the Scorpio Battalion, not even a whole company.

  Bevan calculated the time to arrival at the chemical plant. Only a few minutes.

  “Coming up to the chemical plant now. Stand by your weapons. Let’s be ready for the Chits, and let’s not hit the chemical plant. Major Forge is in there with Cobra Company. Stand by. Coming in now.”

  17

  Jack stood on an upper gantry of the chemical plant looking to the east through his field scanners. Sam Torent was at his side, scanning the horizon down the sights of his Fleet Marine Pulse Rifle. The sight of a glittering corvette filled Jack with amazement and delight.

  “Oh! She only found a kravin corvette!” Torent laughed brightly.

  “Any ship would have worked, but a corvette…” Jack shook his head in amazement. “Lucky for us.” Jack tucked his field scanner away. “Send out your Marines, Sam,” Jack said.

  “We won’t be able to get the entire battalion on board that little ship,” Torent said with a hint of concern.

  “One thing at a time, Sam,” Jack said.

  “Copy that, sir,” Torent replied. Turning to a runner, he sent word for three squads to move out of the chemical plant and bring the corvette to land.

  Jack pushed himself off the handrail of the gantry and made his way back down into the lower levels of the chemical plant where the huge canisters of chemical cloak were waiting.

  The Marines standing around came to attention when Jack came into view.

  “As you were, Marines,” Jack said, striding forward. “Start moving these canisters up to ground level. We’ve got our ride.”