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

by James David Victor

  “Attention, Scorpio Battalion. Chitin ground forces advancing from the south. Stand by to defend your CP.”

  Jack deactivated the channel.

  “I’m sure they’d say thanks if they could,” Torent said.

  Jack nodded. He looked at the passive scanners. A flight of Hydras was moving toward the corvette at speed.

  “Incoming, Sam. Let’s take them on a ride.”

  Jack powered the drive and pushed the corvette to speed. He checked the progress of the Hydras moving to intercept. They had reached the point where Jack’s transmission had been made and were holding position.

  Jack opened the channel again.

  “This is Jack Forge, Scorpio Battalion, Fleet Marine Service.”

  The Hydras leapt to high speed and moved in on the corvette. Another flight of Hydras approached on the port side. Jack moved off with a burst of speed. He stopped and waited and watched. The Hydras formed up into a massed squadron. Jack hit the communicator controls again.

  “This is Corvette Scorpio One.”

  The Hydras moved in again, another group moving in on an intercept course. Jack moved off slowly and let the Hydras come close to his tail. He pushed the passive scanners to their limit. Hydras were moving in from all over the continent.

  “This is Jack Forge aboard Scorpio One. Scorpio Battalion.” Jack powered the drive and accelerated away. The Chitin Hydras followed. “Major Jack Forge and Commander Sam Torent of the Fleet Marine Service.”

  Jack saw the Hydras moving in on all sides. They darkened the sky with their number, all converging on the continually moving transmission. A plasma arc leapt out from one of the Hydras and then another, the plasma arcs converging and sparkling in the evening sky.

  “Come on, Chitins, is that the best you can do?” Torent said into the communicator.

  Jack took evasive action as a flight of Hydras and a Leviathan moved in on an intercept course. Jack punched the corvette higher into the atmosphere.

  “Bring that kravin Chit fire up here,” Torent said. “You Chits ain’t nothing but a bunch of scroats. I’ll beat you down with my one good arm.”

  Jack turned to Sam and gave him a puzzled and amused look.

  Torent saw Jack staring. He shrugged. “I’m running out of things to say.”

  Jack pointed at the communicator.

  Sam reactivated it. “I’m running out of things to say to you Chits. All of you Chits ain’t nothing. I’ll take you all on. Me and Jack Forge will smash your hulls with a legendary beat-down.”

  Jack saw the Chitin craft following, advancing on the transmission only to find it had moved. Jack pushed the corvette vertically and climbed out of the atmosphere. Black space filled the view screen. Jack powered on. He activated the communicator.

  “This is Major Jack Forge. Fleet Marines. Welcome to space.” Jack switched off the communicator and turned to Torent. “That’s enough. We’ve cleared the atmosphere.”

  Jack turned the ship, tipping it end over end, and pointed the nose back at Eros. The corvette still moved away from the planet, but Jack could see the blue planet and the swarm of Chitin craft. The passive scanners showed hundreds of craft, including several Leviathans, all following the signal that had now vanished.

  “What if they just return to the planet?” Torent said.

  Jack watched. The Chitin formation was beginning to drift apart, opening out into a defuse arrangement of ships.

  “They don’t know where it is,” Jack said.

  Then a number of ships accelerated toward the corvette. Jack turned the ship and moved away, maintaining his distance.

  “Do you think they have spotted us?” Torent asked.

  “I don’t know, but why don’t we give them a more attractive target. See if you can find one of Bevan’s grenades, Sam.”

  Torent clambered out of the copilot’s chair. Jack watched the pursuing Chits. Every Chitin signal was beyond the atmosphere of Eros. Every Chitin craft was in space. Amazingly, not a single craft was left on Eros. Any that had been in orbit had long drifted away, but the hundreds of Hydras and the Leviathans that had been inside the atmosphere were now pursuing Jack’s little ship.

  “I’ve got a crate of them here,” Torent said. “Six grenades. What’s the plan, Jack?”

  “Load them into the high-density shot cannon and get ready to fire. Let’s put some distance between us and Eros first. Full power to the drive. Hurry up, Sam. I don’t know how long I can keep ahead of them.”

  The lead Leviathan closed in on the corvette. Jack pushed the drive to melting point.

  “How’s that cannon coming along, Sam?” Jack called out.

  “Done. Loaded. We’ve got three shots.”

  Jack turned the ship about its midpoint and brought the cannon around.

  “I’ve got that Leviathan in my sights,” Torent said.

  “Fire.”

  Jack watched the surface of the Leviathan on the passive scanner. The small detonations of the grenades lit up like tiny specks of lights glinting against the dark hull.

  Then the Leviathan lit up as a plasma arc blasted out from an adjacent Leviathan, targeting its companion.

  “It worked,” Jack said. “Target another, Sam. Let’s put the cat amongst the pigeons.”

  “Or the Chit amongst the Chitins,” Torent’s said, firing another blast from the cannon.

  A second Leviathan lit up with tiny flecks of fire as the grenades with the inverted cloak exploded on its surface. The tiny detonations were never going to make a scratch on the powerful Chitin warship, but it would attract the plasma arcs from the surrounding Chits, and a Chitin plasma arc was an extremely powerful weapon.

  Nearby Leviathans slashed out with their plasma arcs, firing on one of the tainted Leviathans and then the other. The Hydras moved in, their smaller arcs flickering over the dark hulls of the Leviathans, spitz cannon blasts slamming in and lighting up the targets.

  Jack moved off at speed as the Chitin ships turned their firepower against the two Leviathans.

  “One more shot, Jack,” Torent said.

  “Save it. We might need it,” Jack said. “We’re heading to Zelos. We’re gonna make sure the Chitins go home.”

  The massive gas giant world of Zelos was surrounded by Chitin Leviathans. The armada that had attacked and surrounded Eros had drifted away after the chemical cloak had hit the atmosphere and effectively hid the planet. They were now hanging in orbit above their home world.

  Jack deactivated the drive, powered down the ship to minimal power, and coasted past the massive planet.

  “Looks like they returned home,” Torent said. “We did it, Jack,”

  “It’s not over yet,” Jack said, looking at the scanner. There is still quite a fight going on back on Eros. “I wonder how they are holding out on Eros?”

  As if in answer to his question, a deep space message was detected. “This is Commander Laidlaw. We have come under heavy ground attack, but we are holding out. There is no Chitin air craft anywhere on Eros. We’ve been joined by a squadron of Blades, and they report clear skies. The Blades are assisting the battalion. We will clear Eros eventually, sir. We understand if you can’t respond. Laidlaw out.”

  “Did you hear that, Sam?” Jack called back along the gundeck.

  Jack turned and looked back at Torent. He was rigging the blast cannon to fire.

  “What are you doing, Sam?” Jack asked.

  “They attacked us, Jack. We can’t let them get away with it. I can’t let them get away with it. They took my arm, Jack. They nearly took my life.”

  “Hold fire!” Jack shouted.

  “Negative, Major,” Torent said with a mischievous smile.

  Jack looked at the passive scanner and saw the small shot race away from the corvette, a small collection of grenades with the flasks of inverted chemical cloak.

  “What have you done, Sam?” Jack shouted.

  “Just a little payback.”

  The grenades raced toward the p
lanet and disappeared into the atmosphere.

  Jack watched the ships surrounding the planet, and then, as one, every Chitin ship—Leviathan and Hydra and Kraken—fired their weapons into the gas clouds of the giant planet.

  The firepower was intense and terrifying. Hundreds of ships firing at once.

  Then Chitin craft came racing in from their furthest reaches of the system and added their fire power to the attack. Jack looked on, horrified and mesmerized.

  Despite the display of firepower, Jack doubted that even the combined might of the Chitin fleet could destroy the planet. Even if it did, there were more than enough ships and soldiers in orbit to wreak havoc across the system. Jack assumed the effects of the inverted chemical cloak would wear off before too long, anyway.

  Either way, the Chitins had attacked only after humanity had attempted to mine the gas clouds of Zelos. As long as humanity stayed clear of Zelos, they should be able to live in the system free from attack.

  The communicator crackled as another message was detected. Jack checked the Chitin armada one more time. They were still attacking their own world with as much fury as they had ever deployed against the Eros Fleet and the Fleet Marines.

  Jack turned back to the console to check the incoming communication.

  Torent dropped into the copilot’s chair next to Jack. “We got a message?” he asked, casually and lightly, almost as if setting the entire Chitin armada against their home world meant nothing to him at all.

  The communication was weak, the signal too distant and too defuse to carry visuals or speech. Only a single tone signal could be detected.

  “It’s code,” Jack said. He listened to the series of beeps.

  “Code?” Torent asked. He put his feet up in the flight console.

  Jack slapped Torent’s feet off the console, then adjusted the communication receiver. “Yes, for very long-distance communication. I’ll have to put it through the decryption core.”

  Torent climbed out of the copilot’s seat and wandered into the rear of the corvette. “I think I saw some ration blocks back here,” he said. “You want one?”

  The small holostage on the flight console showed a holograph text message.

  “Listen up, Sam. It’s a message from the carrier Scepter. They are under attack from unknown forces. They request assistance from any and all Fleet vessels.”

  “Ration blocks,” Torent said. He walked back to the cockpit and dropped a silver-covered ration block in front of Jack. “Eat,” he said.

  “The Scepter?” Jack said to himself. “I think Sarah went on the Scepter when they left Eros.”

  Torent took a bite from his ration block. He chewed greedily. “So what you going to do?”

  Jack set a course. “We’ve got no crew and no ammunition.”

  Torent pulled out the Fleet Marine Pulse Pistol from his holster and dropped it onto the console.

  “We got some,” Torent said, taking another bite of the ration block.

  “They’ve got a three-day head start and are under attack from an unknown force. We don’t know if one corvette and two Marines are going to be of any help at all.”

  “Want to go and find out?” Torent said.

  “I’ve already sent us on our way,” Jack said. “Drive at full power. Heading out of the Eros System now.”

  Torent tapped the passive scanner and called up the image of Eros. The small planet was receding fast until it was just a dot. Zelos was surrounded by Chitin warships firing their weapons in a wild firefight that seemed to be raging between all the ships.

  “How long until we make it to the Scepter?” Torent asked.

  Jack shrugged. “Don’t know. It’ll be hard to find them out there. We don’t know where they were heading. Hopefully, they’ll keep transmitting so we can approach and offer assistance.”

  “Wake me when we get there,” Torent said and crossed his arm over his chest, still chewing a chunk of ration block.

  Jack looked out into the black. Somewhere out there was Sarah Reyes. If she had not discovered the chemical cloak and the inverted form of the chemical that drove Chitins to destroy themselves, then the Fleet and every human in the Eros System would be no more. She deserved a chance at being saved from this unknown enemy.

  Jack was in a position to help. He had been transformed from a mild university student and sole survivor of his family into a Marine, an officer, and a hero. It had been a long time, and no time at all, and through it all, he had been Forged by War.

  THANK YOU

  Thank you so much for reading Forged by War, the ninth book in the Jack Forge, Fleet Marine series. The battle to save the people left on Eros has taken a huge toll, but in the end humanity will survive. The real question is whether those that escaped truly escaped or just jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. If you enjoyed this story (or even if you didn’t), it would be awesome if you left a review for me. That really helps me know if people like my stories or if I need to change things.

  The next book is already in the works and follows Jack’s attempt to find and save Sarah Reyes. It’s going to be a long and perilous journey. I plan to publish it in November or December. Make sure you keep an eye out for it on Amazon.

  At the end of the book, I have included a preview of Raven Sharpe which is the first book in the Raven Sharpe Chronicles which follow a galactic bounty hunter whose best friend, and partner, is a cyber-genetically enhanced cougar. It’s right after the information about our newsletter. After you read the preview, you can download the book on Amazon.

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  Preview: Raven Sharpe

  A thick tree branch came out of nowhere, and Raven had to duck fast to avoid her nose getting broken. She ducked so fast she nearly pitched onto her face anyway, so she just threw her weight forward and rolled, coming back up on her feet and sprinting ahead again.

  You should have shot him in the head instead of the wing. Then we wouldn't have to run like this, Kyra said from the rock ledge several feet above Raven's head and ahead of her. The cougar's paws gripped hard to the rocks, not slipping once although she made several smaller stones slip in her stead and rain down in front of the human running below.

  Raven would have made a disgruntled noise if she wasn't focusing so hard on running and not getting broken by one of the many, many trees of this planet.

  You bloody well know this contract needs us to return with a live body, not a dead one. I haul a corpse back and we don't get paid, Raven replied. She was glad the conversation by neural implant didn't relay her breathlessness like speaking out loud would have.

  If we have a corpse, we can be assured of eating, the big cat replied, sounding like she'd be smiling if her feline face was capable of the expression. There was a screech from up ahead to show her appreciation for her own idea.

  Raven scowled. You forget that some of us don't eat anything and everything meat-related. I don't like eating my credit balance, either. Although she tended to not be sentimental, Raven just couldn't get behind the idea of eating something that could hold a conversation with her.

  There was another scream. Then you'd better pick up your pace, human!

  I'm on two legs
and you're on four. What's your excuse?

  At least they kept it lively.

  The surface of Iraklis—the fourth moon of the planet Omiros—was some of the thickest forest Raven Sharpe had ever seen in the four years she'd been flying through space as an interplanetary bounty hunter. At any other time, she would have enjoyed this scenery. She loved trees and being outside; these trees looked good for climbing and there were mountains and rock ledges to explore.

  Unfortunately, she and Kyra were there on business.

  Silvanus! Raven called the AI back in her ship. Can you get any sort of read on how far ahead he is?

  She didn't normally have to spend this much time on foot chasing her targets down, but this one's choice of planet had been a good one. She couldn't fly her ship through this, and she couldn't pierce the canopy from above. Everything was too thickly vegetated for her to use her gun, since she didn't want to set the entire forest on fire. Perhaps he had been counting on flying up and away from her, but before he'd taken off into the trees, she had managed to shoot his wing and at least keep him grounded.

  I'm sorry, Raven, the ship's artificial intelligence replied with the sound of true apology in her slightly mechanical-sounding voice. The foliage is too thick, and there is something growing in the forest that obscures my sensors. I can pick up on traces of your life signs but only in a very general sense. Everything else I can only glean from yours and Kyra's implants. If it helps any, I can tell that despite the exertion, you're both in optimal health and conditioning.

  Raven tried to not roll her eyes, since if she did, she might well end up smacking face-first into a tree. She knew she was doing fine with the running since she wasn't dead yet. That was her meter for pretty much everything.

  Thanks, Silvanus, she replied, trying to not be too sarcastic to her AI. If she pissed off what had turned out to be a slightly sensitive computer algorithm, then she was down fifty percent of her friends in life.