Forging a Trap

by James David Victor

  “All right, you Marines. Get some chow and get some sack time and be ready to move when the major calls. Copy?”

  The Marines responded eagerly. A chance at some unexpected shore leave was a real treat. Jack was sure that although Torent was a hard Marine and would expect his Marines to fight hard, he would reward them with comfort when he could.

  The doorway off the landing pad led into an elevator shaft. Two elevator doors were closed. One opened as Jack stepped toward it.

  “Ground floor,” Jack said. The doors slid shut and Jack was away, heading toward the workshop of Sarah Reyes.

  The elevator opened onto a wide-open concourse. Huge windows on one side let the sunlight stream in. The large space contained several native tree species growing in containers. Small drone gardeners buzzed around and between the branches.

  Seating areas along the walls and under the trees were taken up by Fleet and Marine officers, chatting and looking at handheld holostages showing various files or schematics. There seemed to be a calm that was at odds with the very real and imminent threat of the Chitin armada holding position at the edge of the system.

  The polished white walls of the concourse were decorated with paintings of Fleet spacecraft and views of the Eros System. Jack saw one that showed Eros rising over the horizon of Brecon, the planetary defense cannon rising out of the pale surface of the moon. The painting was beautiful, but the last time Jack had seen Eros rising over the horizon of Brecon was during the Battle of Brecon Moon. It had been a deadly and horrifying place. Looking at the painting made the battle seem so distant and so long ago, and yet so recent.

  A guide drone drifted out of its housing in the smooth walls and hovered in front of Jack. Jack instructed the drone to lead him to Agent Visser. She would be near the Chitin soldiers he had captured, and Sarah Reyes would not be far from them.

  The drone moved off toward a corridor and led Jack away. The drone asked if Jack required a transport platform.

  “I’ll walk,” Jack said. He had been sitting in the cockpit of the Frigate M4 for too long. He needed to stretch his legs and feel the solid ground beneath him.

  The drone led Jack to another elevator that carried him down into the basement levels of the Fleet Command and Control Headquarters.

  The ceiling lights lit the long basement corridors with a bright light that felt stark and artificial after the bright sunlight Jack had just enjoyed. The drone drifted off and Jack walked behind. There were no other personnel in the corridors on this level until Jack came to the entrance of the workshop where he had recently met Reyes. A uniformed Fleet Intelligence agent sat behind the desk. It was not the same agent who had previously been sitting here, and the extra row of silver on his shoulder showed Jack that this agent was a rank above the previous one. Two Fleet Intelligence enforcers flanked the door to the workshop viewing gallery. With their meat suit helmets on, Jack could not tell if they were the same pair or replacements.

  The agent behind the desk spoke up.

  “Major Forge. You are expected.”

  The agent stood up and went to the security panel. With a key card, the agent cleared the security panel. The door clicked as it opened. The two enforcers flanking the door each pulled a handle, opening the door for Jack to enter.

  He walked along the short open-ended corridor and came out into the viewing gallery. Agent Visser was standing, her hands behind her back, looking down into the workshop. A line of enforcers, fully suited and heavily armed, stood in a line at the back wall of the viewing gallery.

  Several transport drones were lowering the crates containing the captured Chitin soldiers into a heavy cage. Reyes stood at one side with a number of fully-suited enforcers.

  With the crates in the cage, the drones began to dismantle them.

  The crates were taken out of the heavy cage piece by piece, leaving the Chitin soldiers lying on the ground, still tightly bundled in their capture nets. Then the drones moved in again.

  “This is probably the most dangerous part of the operation,” Visser said without looking at Jack.

  The drones cut the nets holding the Chitin soldiers. With only a single cut, the nets fell apart. Immediately, the three Chitin soldiers burst to life and slammed into the heavy cage. One struck out with a tentacle and smashed a drone, knocking it out of the air and crushing it.

  The Chits snarled and hissed, their tentacles flapping, grabbing the bars of the heavy cage and pulling. The antennae on their smooth heads twitched rapidly, the rasping teeth and inner beak on that hideous round mouth chattering and grinding.

  Reyes staggered back in surprise. Jack noted that the enforcers also fell back a step as the Chits thrashed in their cages.

  The Chitins stabbed out through the cage. Their limb-like tentacles stiffening and jabbing out through the bars.

  “Yes,” Agent Visser said testily. “I am convinced they are alive. Proceed with the extraction.”

  Wondering how anyone would be able to get close enough to the Chits, Jack saw Reyes step forward with a small package in her hands. She threw it upwards. The package hovered in mid-air and then dropped slowly through the top of the heavy cage. The package unraveled and spread out into a wide net. The net came down on top of one of the Chitin soldiers and began to settle over its bulbous head. As the Chitin thrashed, the net drifted slowly down and covered all the tentacles. Then in an instant, the net pulled tight and trapped the Chitin in a tight ball.

  Jack stepped forward. He looked in amazement at the Chitin soldier held firmly in the fine net. Reyes tossed up two more packages that settled over each of the remaining Chits. Then she looked up to the gallery. Her voice came over a small communication speaker in the viewing gallery.

  “The Chitin soldiers are now immobilized. I will proceed to the next stage”

  Jack looked down at Reyes. She looked excited. She clearly knew what she was doing and was enjoying this challenge. She looked up and spotted Jack. She gave him a small wink before tapping a small console strapped to her left palm.

  The cage was lifted a meter off the floor and left hanging in the air. The Chitins were left on the ground contained within their nets.

  Reyes tapped a control on her palm console and the Chitin began to move over to a workbench that lay cleared and ready for the job. Reyes walked along with the floating Chit and settled it onto the bench.

  “I will now proceed to extract the Chitin secretion fluids.” Reyes picked up a device about the size of a pulse rifle. The device tapered down to a fine point. She drove the point into one of the tightly-bundled tentacles.

  Jack watched as the antennae on the smooth head that were protruding through the fine mesh of the containment net twitched and danced in agitation.

  “Nearly there,” Reyes said in a soothing voice. Jack wasn’t sure if she was talking to him and Agent Visser in the viewing gallery or the Chitin soldier itself.

  Reyes pulled the device away and set it down on an adjacent workbench.

  “Now I will attempt to increase the volume of the secretion fluids with a synthetic chemical analogue. Then we can proceed to testing.”

  Jack watched Reyes deliver the contents of the large probe to a small device on yet another workbench. She placed the probe down carefully and then looked up at Jack.

  “This shouldn’t take long.”

  Jack looked again at the Chitins. Two were still bundled on the floor of the workshop underneath the cage hanging above them. The only movement was their twitching antennae sticking through the fine mesh of the net that held them. Jack had never seen a Chitin contained. It didn’t give him any peace to see them so close to Reyes. He wanted to put those Chits far from her and keep her safe from the danger they posed.

  Reyes walked back to the bundled Chits and lowered the cage over them, then the drones moved in and snipped the nets that held them. Immediately, the Chits began to thrash. Jack spotted the red line on the floor around the cage. He could see it was the range of a stabbing Chitin tentacle. Reyes
stood on the edge of the red line. A tentacle thrust out toward her. She staggered back in surprise.

  A small beeping noise came from the synthesizer. Reyes walked over to it.

  “That’s it,” Reyes said. “It is ready.” She took a liter-sized container out of the chemical synthesizer and held it up for those in the gallery to see.

  Reyes looked at the bottle and then up to the gallery. “This secretion will render anyone or anything invisible to the Chitins.” She walked over to the two bundled Chitins. “I will test it now.”

  “No,” Jack shouted out.

  “No,” Visser shouted. “Enforcers, stop that technician and hold her back.”

  Jack turned to Visser. “Thank you,” he said.

  “Don’t mention it,” Visser said. “She’s too important to risk on this test.”

  Jack nodded.

  “We need someone with experience of the Chitins to climb in one of those cages and test their reaction.”

  Jack nodded.

  “Major. You seem the perfect candidate.”

  The enforcers at the back wall stepped forward as Jack turned his fierce gaze on Agent Visser. Now Jack knew why Visser had asked him to attend the procedure. She had never liked Jack, and it was just like the Fleet Intelligence agent to throw the Fleet Marines into danger to test their theories.

  Jack nodded at Visser, then looked down at Reyes. She had been dragged back by the enforcers and had been sat in a chair, an enforcer standing over her in a threatening manner.

  “Yes,” Jack said, looking down at Reyes. “No need to order me, Agent Visser. I volunteer.”

  Jack saw Agent Visser out of the corner of his eye. She nodded at the enforcers, and they took Jack by the arms and led him to the entrance to the workshop.

  Jack shrugged off the enforcers and looked at their black helmet faceplates. He knew the view they would be getting through their meat suit helmet. Jack’s heart rate would be registering. Visser had infuriated him and his heart rate was elevated, but he took a moment and calmed himself so they would not think he was afraid.

  Jack climbed down into the workshop and stepped up to Reyes. The enforcers stepped aside and let the two come together.

  “I’m sure we could test it on some wild animal first, maybe a flesh drone. We can’t test it on you. I’ll refuse to work if they insist,” Reyes said. She stepped close to Jack.

  “There’s no time, Sarah,” Jack said. “We have to know if this will work right now.”

  “It’ll work, Jack,” Reyes said. She looked Jack in the eyes. Her dark eyes had small tears in them.

  Jack put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry. I know how good you are. If you say it’ll work, then I know it will, but Agent Visser up there needs to know. I’m not sure if she’d be happier if it works or fails.” Jack smiled at Reyes. “So, how do we do this?”

  Reyes took the sample bottle and carried it to a medical workbench. She loaded some of the synthesized Chitin slime into an aspirator.

  “This is probably going to sting your skin a bit,” Reyes said, “but we need it to come into contact with your sweat glands.”

  Jack nodded. He opened his Jacket and exposed his chest and neck, rolling up his sleeves. He held his arms out wide and fixed Reyes with a questioning look.

  “Okay?” He asked.

  Reyes nodded. “Close your eyes, Jack.”

  Jack closed his eyes. He heard the aspirator hiss and then felt the fire on his skin. It burned hot like plasma fire and stung like the fire nettle that grew next to the creeks on the prairies back home.

  Jack felt the burning grow and grow. He hoped it would settle like the sting from a fire nettle, but it just grew more intense by the second.

  “That’s it, Jack,” Reyes said, her voice like a soothing balm. “You are ready.”

  Jack opened his eyes and looked at the caged Chitins, then he heard Visser’s voice on the communicator.

  “Take him to the Chitins,” she said.

  The enforcers prodded Jack and pushed him toward the Chitins that were still thrashing around in their cages. Jack shrugged off another shove from the enforcers and walked up to the red line on the workshop floor. He took a confident step over the line and marched toward the cage. He knew he was within range of the stabbing tentacles and braced himself for pain. He didn’t want to yell out in pain or fear. He would show Agent Visser and the enforcers around the workshop that the Fleet Marines were made of stronger stuff.

  “Closer,” Visser said.

  Jack took another step. He felt a rush of fear. He stepped forward in defiance and overcame the fear. He marched right up to the cage and stood with his chest almost touching the bars.

  Jack looked up at the Chitin soldier. The Chitin was grabbing the bars with its coiled-up tentacles and pulling and pushing. It slammed its tentacle at the bars as it tried to free itself from captivity. Jack looked up at the smooth head that was slamming into the bars. The antennae were twitching with extreme agitation.

  Jack had faced Chitin soldiers many times, but he had never stood before one for so long. Usually his encounters were brief and violent and ended with the Chitin soldier lying dead at his feet, but now he could stand there and study his old enemy.

  The Chitin was a massive and powerful being. Even alone, the huge Chitin soldiers were deadly, but here Jack stood, and the Chitin ignored him.

  Jack reached inside the cage. The Chitin tentacle moved over his bare arm. A thrilling mixture of fear and excitement raced through his body. The Chitin skin was hard like shell but flexible. It was cold and smooth. Jack touched a tentacle with his hand and it slid through his grasp. He reached up to the head and its mouth of rasping teeth and the inner snapping beak. Jack ran his fingers around the mouth.

  “That’s enough, Major.”

  Jack heard Visser’s voice over the communicator. Jack turned and looked up at Visser in the viewing gallery.

  “It works,” he said with his hand on the Chitin.

  “Step back now, Major,” Visser said.

  Jack could see the enforcers waiting just beyond the range of the Chitin soldiers’ tentacles.

  Jack dropped his hand and removed it from the cage. He stepped back, away from the Chitin. Jack still felt a deep distrust of the creature and although he was seemingly invisible to the creature, he still could not turn his back on it. He stepped away until he was alongside the enforcers.

  “I will now attempt the next test.” Reyes carried the bottle of synthesized Chitin secretion to a second device. She poured the thick liquid into the device and activated it.

  Jack came alongside her. She gave him a wet towel and he began to wipe his skin. It still burned, but it had become bearable. The damp towel wiped away the Chitin secretions and left his skin feeling fresh and alive. Jack felt excited to be standing next to Reyes, as excited as he had been standing next to the Chitin. Both were exciting. Both were dangerous.

  Reyes gave Jack a sideways look and a smile. She reached out to the device on the workbench and let her hand slide over his. Jack felt a shiver of excitement to be so close to Reyes.

  The device beeped, and Reyes deactivated it. She pulled out another liter bottle and connected it to a large aspirator pump.

  “The chemical inversion is complete. This fluid should now work to neutralize the effects of the Chitin chemical cloak.”

  Reyes walked over to the Chitins in the cage, aiming the aspirator pump at the nearest and spraying.

  The spray covered the Chitin’s head and it thrashed about in the cage. Almost immediately, the adjacent Chitin began to stab at its neighbor. The stabbing tentacle burst through the bulbous Chitin head and smashed the Chitin to pieces. Jack saw Reyes turn away, a look of deep sadness on her face.

  As the Chitin succumbed to the attack of the other captured Chitin, Reyes walked over to Jack. She stood next to him, eyes downcast while Jack watched the Chitin soldier attack and destroy its companion.

  “Good work, Reyes,” Visser’s voice cam
e over the communicator. “Prepare a sample of the chemical cloak for the final test. Major, you will leave Reyes to her work and join me?”

  The enforcers stepped between Jack and Reyes. Jack took a step back. Reyes looked at him.

  “I need to get this done,” she said. “One more test and we’ll be safe. I’ll see you soon.”

  Jack was pushed toward the exit, where he climbed back up to the viewing gallery.

  “Excellent work, Major,” Visser said. “This has been a long process. You are lucky to be here to see the final stages. We have a fighter on a landing pad ready to be treated with the chemical cloak. You should watch the final test with me, Major.”

  Jack looked back into the workshop. Reyes was hurrying about her work. The enforcers approached the Chitin still bundled up in the net and the surviving caged Chitin. They swung up their pulse rifles and fired at the trapped Chitins. Jack felt a sense of revulsion to see these caged Chitins butchered in this way. He had killed his share of Chits, more than his share no doubt, but that had always been in the heat of battle. To murder them in cages seemed wrong somehow.

  Jack felt a wave of sympathy for the helpless creatures as they fell under the enforcers’ fire. He felt sure the Chitins would have no such sympathy for him or his Marines, but that was supposed to be the difference between the species, wasn’t it? Humans valued life. Being so close to so much death made life so much more precious. People knew how suddenly it could end.

  The caged Chitin soldiers dropped and squirmed, eventually falling still, but still the enforcers fired, blasting chunks out of the Chitin shells. Jack had a feeling the enforcers were enjoying the slaughter. For all the killing Jack had done, for all the deadly meetings with his relentless enemy, Jack had never remembered enjoying the kill. He enjoyed the moments after, when the bloody work was done, but never the kill itself. He wasn’t sure he could name any Marine that he respected who actively enjoyed the killing. All they wanted was to be free from the war. Maybe that time was coming soon.

  “I need to eat and wash up,” Jack said to Agent Visser, then marched off.

  “I’ll call you when we are ready for the final test,” Visser called as Jack left the viewing gallery.