Defiant (The Armada Book 1)

by Jack Hunt

  He glanced at his forearm and swiped with two fingers across the nanotech screen to check his messages. All military personnel had them surgically installed. To the naked eye, without touching the forearm, nothing could be seen. A person could shower, rub their hand across it and feel nothing. The screen worked hand in hand with two chips inserted beneath the index and middle finger. Reid wasn’t entirely familiar with exactly how it operated other than the fact that every recruit was set up with one within the first week of training. Essentially, it gave them access to the internal network, and was used as a means of communication. Phones were a thing of the past. A quick swipe, then tap on the forearm and he could connect with any member of his team, the screen would then allow him to see who he was speaking with. In addition to this, it interfaced with their military gear so that all was required was verbal commands and the screen would then appear in the HUD.

  “Alex Reid.”

  That voice. He squeezed his eyes shut and turned to find Captain Logan Kane standing by the doorway holding a cup of coffee. Kane was a tall, athletic man of average build with a military buzz-cut and a strong, jutting chin. He had sky blue eyes and wore a dark red, tight-fitting uniform.

  “Captain,” Reid said.

  “Does it still feel strange?”

  “What?”

  “Calling me captain.”

  Reid avoided getting into a conversation about the past. He moved on to the mission at hand.

  “Where are the recruits?”

  Kane smiled and motioned with his head. “You are going to love this.”

  Something about the way he said it put Reid on edge.

  “So how long has it been since you trained a team?”

  “Five years.”

  Kane tossed the remainder of his coffee. As the liquid hit the ground, tiny holes that were undetectable to the human eye sucked the liquid away leaving no trace. The entire command center was designed to be self-cleaning and it did it with the utmost proficiency.

  “You might have your work cut out for you here. Come on, I will take you to meet them.”

  “I was told that they already have training as a marine. I’m simply bringing them up to speed on the species and operation.”

  Kane chuckled. “Yeah, about that. The admiral may have forgot to mention a few things.”

  A unit jogged past them while a commander was shouting, “Left, left, left, right, left.” They then broke into a military cadence that Reid wasn’t familiar with. So much had changed since he had been a recruit.

  “Hard to imagine it’s been eighteen years since we were running together like that.”

  “Hard to imagine a lot of things,” Reid replied.

  “So I hear you put in for an early retirement. I thought you were keen to rise through the ranks.”

  “I’ve lost my taste for promotion.”

  Kane stopped walking. “Listen, Alex, I know things between us aren’t exactly ideal but for the sake of this op we need to put them aside.”

  “What things?” Reid replied, being coy. Kane shook his head before walking on.

  “Alex, there’s something you should know. Now, I don’t want you to panic, but Sophie was with the team that went in.”

  He stopped and spun around. His brow furrowed. “What?”

  “She was part of the team that took the ambassador in. Why do you think I asked to be involved?”

  “And at what point was I going to be told about this?”

  “I’m telling you now. The best outcome is that team four which is located near the territory can extract them.”

  “If there is another team going to handle this, then why am I am being called in to train a team?”

  “Because you are familiar with the Echobi, and after what happened four years ago in Lawanda, we need to make sure we have a plan B ready.”

  “And I’m plan B?”

  “You and the team. Yeah. Again, there is a strong possibility that team four will extract them. So no need to rush, things are being handled right now. And remember, Sophie isn’t wet behind the ears anymore. She’s not eighteen.”

  Reid stood for a moment letting his words sink in.

  “This situation couldn’t get any worse.”

  “Oh believe me, it can,” Kane said passing him by. What did he mean by that?

  It didn’t take them long to reach Sector 5, where the recruits were already lined up outside. Reid immediately noticed they weren’t standing straight. A few of them were slouching, one of them had a cigarette in his mouth and one didn’t even have on the right attire.

  “Attention,” one of the men yelled, and the others glanced their way as if they were expecting a banana boat to come and pick them up and take them on a lazy ride up the river.

  “Here’s what you need to know.” He handed Reid a TX2, which was a handheld device that contained files, and details about each of the recruits. He then walked on without even giving the group a passing glance.

  “Captain, you aren’t staying?”

  “I have a few preparations to make for our departure. I’m sure you are more than capable of bringing them up to speed. Remember, you have seventy-two hours.”

  Reid looked on in bewilderment before turning his attention to the sorry excuse for a squad. He walked back and forth in front of them holding a look of disdain in his eyes before looking at the TX2. He swiped across the circular piece of technology and it brought up the list of names.

  His eyes flitted up towards them and back down again before his brow furrowed. “Stay right here.” Without saying another word, he left them standing there and charged away. He could hear them mumbling and asking what the hell was going on.

  It didn’t take long to make it back to Kane’s office. When he burst through the door, he found him lip-locked with Katherine. He was about to unleash hell on him and rake him over the coals about the troop he’d been given when Katherine shot him a glance.

  “Reid?”

  His brow furrowed. “Katherine.”

  She dabbed at the corners of her mouth and took one step back from Kane who was perched on the edge of his desk with a smug grin on his face.

  “I should go,” she said. She moved past him and he caught the aroma of her perfume. It was the same brand he’d given her for Christmas one year.

  “Reid, nice to see you again.”

  He didn’t reply to her. He was too pissed off by what he had just seen. Once she was gone and had closed the door behind her, he unleashed his anger on Kane.

  “Is this what you call preparations?”

  “She dropped in on me. Now what can I do for you, Reid?”

  “You can start by telling me what the hell is going on. I am not working with that troop.”

  “Then you are going in alone because that’s all the military is giving you.”

  “Court-martialed soldiers? You want to explain that?”

  “You want to address me with an ounce of dignity? I’m your captain, after all.”

  Reid was in no mood for his military bullshit.

  Kane walked around to the other side of his desk and took a seat. “We are on the edge of an abyss, Reid. We have pissed off enough people in the solar system that we are close to an interplanetary war. Now, steps have been taken to deal with it but right now this mission is critical and the military is not going to waste their best on a situation that may never arise.”

  “Right, because you said team four is going in.”

  “Exactly.”

  There was something about it that didn’t add up.

  He pointed to the TX2. “Have these men even had full training?”

  “Of course they have. Read it for yourself.”

  “Don’t dick me around, Kane.”

  “They all graduated, just for one reason or another they have broken the rules. Instead of kicking them out, which is exactly what was going to happen to them, we thought we would give them one more chance to prove themselves.” He breathed in deeply. “Look, it’s a
win-win situation. If they go with you on this op and bring back the ambassador, their records will be cleared.”

  “And if they don’t?”

  “Then they are going to be doing time in the brig and for a few, they will be sitting on death row.”

  Reid ran a hand across his short stubble.

  “Trust me, Reid, they have enough reason to toe the line, besides, there is a good chance they won’t even be coming back.”

  Reid closed his eyes as he tried to process what Kane had just said. Had he heard him correctly? He understood that every operation had risk. There was always the chance that one or two of them might not make it back. But it was the way he spoke, as if he already could foresee the outcome. As it stood, he couldn’t give two shits about those assholes standing back at the barracks. They were nothing to him except numbers but he sure as hell wasn’t going to go into the heat of battle and get his head shot off because he had a squad that didn’t even know how to put their pants on the right way around.

  “What do you know that you aren’t telling me?”

  “Just do your job, Reid, and seven days from now, you can kick back with a cold one and laugh about it.”

  “Yeah, if I make it home. I think you forgot that part.”

  “I have every bit of confidence in you.”

  “And them?”

  “Well that’s up to you.”

  “Ah, things don’t change with you do they, Kane?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You still enjoy riding the coattails of everyone else’s effort to get where you want to go.”

  He huffed. “Don’t act as though you didn’t know I was going to get the promotion.” He twiddled a pen in his hand. “So they didn’t pick you. What did you expect me to do? Recommend a drunk to them? A man who spends more time brawling in bars than doing what he should have.”

  Reid shifted from one foot to the next. “And what’s that?”

  “Being a husband to Katherine.”

  That was it. Reid lost it. He moved around that desk in an instant, grabbed a hold of Kane and threw him up against the wall. “You were my friend. Friends don’t do that shit.”

  “Release your hands from me, Lieutenant,” Kane said in a voice rising with anger. Reid stood there for a second studying his face before he let go and Kane dropped down.

  “Now I would advise you to get back out there and get those men ready before I have you arrested.”

  Reid stared at him for a moment with death in his eyes. He backed up slowly and then turned and left his office. Several craft flew overhead into a bay station. The whoosh of E5’s and noise of troops marching was grinding his nerves. As he was making his way back, Katherine called out to him.

  “Reid, wait up.”

  He cast a glance over his shoulder and continued on. She caught up with him and grabbed a hold of his arm to make him stop. Katherine had long hair, partly brunette with streaks of blond. She had deep green eyes and a smile that could make a man turn his head.

  “Have you heard from Sophie?”

  “Ask your boyfriend,” he said moving on. She tried to keep up with him.

  “Reid.”

  “You don’t need to explain, Katherine. I’m fully aware of how these things work.”

  “God dammit, Reid. I didn’t want it to end this way.”

  “No? How did you envision it? Having a pleasant conversation and then me giving you my blessing?”

  “Fuck you, Reid. You weren’t the one waiting at home every night alone or dealing with a daughter who just wanted to know where her father was.”

  “You knew what you were getting into when you signed on with me.”

  She scoffed and looked off into the distance. “Signed on. Everything with you has some military connotation. You just couldn’t pull away from it.”

  “That’s right, I couldn’t. My men relied on me to be there.”

  “And we didn’t? Did we mean that little to you?”

  Her eyes swept his face as if trying to pick apart a facade and decode who he was. The truth was it was never easy. Some wives were able to deal with it, others couldn’t. It wasn’t like the regular military on Earth; hell, it couldn’t even be compared, though he was certain that some would try. They operated differently because they faced enemies that were capable of striking at any moment. Enemies that didn’t sleep. Enemies that had greater technology. Thousands had been killed defending Earth, even more defending new colonies as humanity pushed out into the furthest parts of the solar system. The job wasn’t for the faint-hearted. You didn’t clock in at nine and clock out at five. He was constantly on the alert, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

  “We’ve talked about this. I tried to get the promotion. If they had given it, I would have been home more often.” He put his finger and thumb up to illustrate. “I was this close and that asshole breezes past me and swoops it up. But I guess that doesn’t matter now. You got your captain. You got what you wanted. Didn’t you, Katherine?”

  “This is not Kane’s fault. How many times did I have to pay for your bail because you were sitting in some cell blitzed out of your mind? How many times did I expect you home only to get a call from one of your teammates telling me you weren’t going to make it because you had another op?” She stared at him intently. “I couldn’t keep doing it. I tried, Reid. I really tried.”

  He breathed in deeply. “I know you did.” He looked off towards the barracks. The weight of what lay ahead came crashing in on his mind. “But why him? Why not someone else?”

  “Because he was actually there when you should have been.”

  He stifled a laugh. Kane had always had eyes for Katherine, from the very first time they had met back when they were just kids roaming the streets, getting into trouble and dreaming of joining the UEDF. It almost seemed ironic now.

  “Reid.”

  “I’ll get her back. You have my word.”

  With that said, Reid turned and walked away. He could feel her eyes boring into his back but he didn’t look around again. He couldn’t go there. His focus needed to be on the operation.

  Chapter Five

  When he made it back to the barracks the troop was no longer standing out front. He gritted his teeth and without losing his cool entered and waited at the door for one of them to notice. The barracks were divided into two sides. Bunks either side, and posts that supported the dome-shaped roof over their heads. Two were playing cards. Another strummed away on a guitar. The woman was cleaning her weapon, while another was reading a Bible. Some shitty pop song was playing in the background. An African American came in from out back with a towel wrapped around his waist, he had a toothbrush in his mouth and he was swaying in time with the music. The moment he caught sight of Reid, he shouted to the others.

  “Attention.”

  The others glanced at him and dragged their sorry asses out to the ends of their beds. He’d seen a sloth move faster than them.

  “Listen up. My name is Lieutenant Alex Reid. I am not your father, your mother or your friend. If I had my way, you would all be sitting in some cell waiting to be sentenced. Instead, fortunately for you, and unfortunately for me, you are here.”

  Reid walked the full length of the barracks.

  “You have all been through the enlistment process, so I am not here to hold your hand or tear a strip off you, however, if you think you are going to play the clown of the group, you can step forward now and I will gladly give the rest of the troops something to laugh about. Do I make myself clear?”

  There was a mumble, a halfhearted response that he might have expected to hear in a retirement home for the sick and elderly.

  “What did you say?”

  “Aye, sir,” the African American said. The others continued to mumble and stare at him with a glazed look in their eyes. You’ve got to be shitting me. He knew he wasn’t dealing with brand-new recruits. The military weren’t that stupid. They wouldn’t give him troops that hadn�
�t been through training, graduated and seen some time in the field, but were they foolish enough to think they could toss him a pack of insubordinate losers? He brought up their individual profiles on the TX2. He went to the far end and stood in front of a guy that was six foot two and looked as if he had spent every waking moment sucking down supplements and pumping iron.

  “What is your name, marine?”

  “Should be right in front of you. Look it up,” he replied in a British accent. He heard the others chuckle a little.

  Reid snorted and nodded his head. He looked at the tattoo of a bulldog on his chest before meeting his gaze. “Damien ‘Bulldog’ Smith,” he said very slowly. Before looking down the line at the others, he added, “So you strangled another soldier to death with your bare hands after a card game. Why?”

  “He pissed me off.”

  “Did he cheat?”

  “No.”

  Bulldog moved a toothpick from the corner of his mouth to the right side.

  “Interesting. So how did he piss you off?”

  “He said something about my momma.” The others burst out laughing.

  “You love your momma, do you, Smith?”

  “Better believe it. She gave me life.”

  He shook his head. “She gave you shit for brains, is what she did.”

  He scowled as Reid removed the pick from the corner of his mouth and tossed it away. Smith moved forward in an attempt to intimidate Reid. He didn’t make it a second step before Reid grabbed a hold of his testicles and began to twist them.

  “First rule of engagement, asshole. Size means nothing. But don’t worry, from my assessment, that shouldn’t be a problem for you.”

  Bulldog’s face twisted in agony as Reid applied pressure and brought him down.

  “Now, go and give me twenty laps around the barracks.”

  Reid released his vise-like grip and moved on to the next sack of shit. Bulldog grunted and staggered away.

  “And who might you be, soldier?”

  Reid stood before a short fella with blond stubble and a cross hanging around his neck.