And lying on the floor were the eight Devex warriors that had been attempting to get the civilian transport off the surface. One was crawling toward a control console, but Jack took aim and stopped that.
"Check those Devex and make sure they're down." Jack moved quickly toward the command chair and climbed up. "Secure all stations."
Jack tapped on the command chair’s armrest console and accessed the drive system. The main drive was off-line, and there was an energy overload building in the main power conduits. The Devex had sabotaged the drive system, but their botched attempt looked set to destroy the entire ship. Jack accessed the main reactor systems and began to power down, but the buildup needed to be discharged somewhere. Only the main drive could channel so much energy. Jack relayed the power surge through secondary conduits and diverted it to the main drive assembly.
With all subsystems deactivated and only the drive receiving power, any sudden activation of the main drive would throw passengers about violently. But it was too late. There was nothing more Jack could do.
"Brace. Brace. Brace. The drive assembly is going to discharge in three, two, one."
The sudden acceleration hit and pinned Jack back into the command chair. The Marines on the command deck slid back to the aft side and were pinned to the wall. The civilian transport rumbled as it plowed through the swamp it was partially submerged in. After several terrifying seconds, the ship stopped. Jack felt the pressure of acceleration drop away.
He opened a channel Scherer on the tac boat.
"Commander, this is Forge. Patch your active sensors through to my location." Jack tapped the armrest panel and brought the deck's emergency power online. "Let me see exactly where we are."
Data from all four tac boats streamed through to the command chair, and Jack rerouted the signal to the main holostage, which flickered into life. The image of the civilian transport on the surface of the planet dominated the center, and behind it, a trench a kilometer long was gouged through the muddy water and swamp foliage. Four tiny points of light with the tac boats’ ident codes were shown holding position a hundred meters above the upper hull of the transport.
And further above, on the edge of the lower cloud plane, were the four Devex raiders that had brought Jack to this planet.
Communication from the Devex came over Jack's tactical suit communicator. Jack displayed it on the command chair’s armrest holostage.
"Well done, Jack Forge. You have taken the transport. The crew holding the ship sent a message to their people. They will not give up their captives so easily. More Devex are on the way and will be here soon."
Jack wondered how soon he could expect support from the fleet, and if he could expect more attacking Devex sooner. He looked at his force, which were picking themselves up off the command deck floor—a dozen Marines armed with personal weapons. Jack had four functioning, fully-armed tac boats. It was enough to take down a handful of Devex, but if they were throwing a larger force at him, he would not only need every available gun, he would need a watertight defense plan.
The channel from the Devex crackled to life again. "I have Devex warriors determined not to let your people be taken by the Skalidion. We are here to help you succeed, Jack Forge. We will fight with you now."
Jack could not easily accept the offer of help from those he could not trust, but they had brought him here, and they had alerted him to the number of defenders on the command deck. And now they were alerting him to the arrival of a large force of Devex warriors. As impossible as it seemed, maybe this group was here to help for whatever reason they had. And Jack could certainly use a group of well-equipped Devex warriors.
"Allied Devex warriors, I accept your support. Follow my orders, and we will save these people from the Skalidion."
Sam Torent staggered toward the command deck, the first of the Marines to get back to his feet. He looked quizzically at Jack.
"Do you really believe they are here to help, Jack?" Sam said
"Do you really think we can fight off the incoming Devex without their help?"
Sam shrugged. He walked over to the main holostage, tapped the control panel, and showed the planetary system at the center of the display. On the outer edge of the system, past the outer asteroid belt, came a group of signals. Twelve small ships moving at high speed.
Climbing down from his command chair and crossing to the holostage, Jack opened a channel to all Marines and the Devex warriors in his alliance.
"Incoming enemy Devex. Stand by for my orders. Check your weapons. Get ready. They are going to want this transport back. Whatever we do, we can't let them win."
5
The Skalidion swarm gathered at the edge of the system, the latest target in Phisrid's expansion. The observer drones showed her the enemy defenses. The Devex fleet was concentrated around a small terrestrial planet of the inner system. Three small moons each had large defensive weapon platforms, while a fleet of warships orbited the planet, protected by the moon-based defense platforms.
Hundreds of Devex raiders swept around the warships, searching for first signs of contact with the enemy. Vapor trails through the atmosphere of the terrestrial planet showed Phisrid that the Devex were evacuating the civilian population. Huge starships were moving out of the system at speed.
Phisrid realized the Devex were aware of her presence. She did not need the element of surprise, because she had the numbers. Phisrid initiated the attack.
The pheromone signal spread from the nest asteroid and out to her attack swarm that was poised and ready. She watched through the large dark eyes of the observer drones as the attack swarm jumped to high speed.
A hundred thousand Skalidion fighter craft led the charge. Behind them came hundreds of builder drones, all eager to devour the Devex matter and transport it back to Phisrid's nest asteroid.
The Devex forces were stronger here than they had been in the last handful of systems. They were concentrating into larger numbers as Phisrid pushed deeper into their territory, but with the civilian population fleeing before her, Phisrid knew this was not the final battle. She would push the Devex deeper and deeper into their territory until eventually they could run no further. They would put up a final defense. That would be a battle that would seal her ultimate victory over the Devex and establish her nation as the greatest in the entire Skalidion Empire.
The Skalidion fighters raced across the dark void toward the Devex forces. The flickering of lights on the Devex planet and its orbiting moons announced the first salvo from the defensive platforms. Dark rounds in dark space moved toward the swarm, eventually reaching their targets and detonating in vast billowing white plasma eruptions, destroying handfuls of Skalidion fighters at a time. The Skalidion green fire generators erupted, adding boiling plasma to the white energy of the Devex weapons.
Phisrid sent the attack pheromone signal again, strengthening its potency and driving her attack swarm into the deadly onslaught from the Devex defense. More fighters were destroyed, second by second. In the charge to battle, Phisrid counted her fallen fighters in the thousands. Still they advanced. And still they fell. Smashed and vaporized by the powerful planet-side and moon-based defenses.
The Skalidion fighters were nearing weapons range, and Phisrid knew her remaining fighters would soon return fire. The green fire of the Skalidion fighters concentrated into a single blast would annihilate one of the three moons in an instant. As her swarm made ready to fire, they moved into range of the Devex fleet.
The fire from the planet and its orbiting moons was now joined by thousands of rapid-fire blaster cannons on the warships. The white energy bullets streaked across space, every one capable of tearing a Skalidion fighter part. And they did so. The front of the Skalidion fighter swarm lit up with a thousand flashes as more fighters were destroyed.
And then came the raiders.
The Devex raiders were fast and heavily armed. They closed in on the Skalidion swarm on the flanks of the main defensive salvo from the fixed guns
and the warships. As the Skalidions raced on into the heavy fire on the leading front, they took fire on the flanks from the raiders.
Another thousand fighters destroyed. But Phisrid had the numbers, and another world lay at her mercy. Phisrid sent the attack pheromone again, driving her swarm into a frenzy. In an instant, the green fire generators on the tips of the Skalidion fighters activated and launched a concentrated salvo. The deadly green fire raced toward the moon exposed on the flank of the Devex defense. It scorched the moon’s surface, and the defense systems erupted in huge explosions.
And then the swarm scattered.
Phisrid moved her nest asteroid deeper into the Devex system as her fighters engaged the raiders. The Skalidion fighters outmaneuvered the raiders easily, flipping end over end, darting left and then right, decoy fighters racing head on, flanking fighters delivering their deadly green fire into the vulnerable drive systems of the Devex. Her surviving fighters were more than a match for the massed Devex attack, and within seconds, the builders moved in to devour the broken remains of the raiders, their hulls still glowing with the energy of the green fire attacks.
The swarm scattered into a loose formation, evading the heavy weapons from the planet and the two remaining moons. In a seemingly uncoordinated mass, the fighters scattered green fire across the warship flotilla. The fighters moved between the warships. The planet-based defensive platforms were now useless as the Skalidions used the Devex ships for cover. But once within the flotilla, all fighters turned their weapons on a single warship. Green fire slammed into the heavy outer hull from all directions and burned through, melting its way to the interior and destroying the warship’s capability in seconds.
And then a second Devex warship succumbed to the same punishment, and then a third.
Phisrid watched with satisfaction as the remaining warships began to fall back. They fell down the gravity well toward the system’s star and kicked their drives up to perform slingshot maneuvers out of the system and deep into interstellar space.
The Skalidion builders moved in to devour the burning wrecks left behind while the fighters turned their attention to the surviving moons. The fighters formed up into the tightly-packed attack formation, delivering the massed green fire blast. It raced over the surface of the moon, scorching the rock and vaporizing the defensive platform as it fired in one last defiant act against the Skalidions.
Hunter drones returning from the edge of the battle to the nest asteroid brought with them trophies for Phisrid. Devex warriors captured from the broken ships, plucked from the void of space, were delivered to the central nest where Phisrid controlled her swarm.
The hunters deposited the bodies at her feet. Phisrid scooped one up with her massive hand. She cracked open the exo-armor and thrust the soft interior to her rasping mouth.
The warrior was dead and tasted sharp. It was not the soft, sweet taste that came from the humans, as she had learned. It was not enough. She dropped the half-devoured Devex and instructed the builders to collect this pathetic offering.
As frustration emanated from her throughout the nest, the nurse drones collecting her latest spawn grew nervous. Phisrid snatched a nurse and devoured it greedily, blood and soft tissue splattering across Phisrid's limbs and upper body, gore floating in congealed lumps around the nest interior.
Phisrid had only enjoyed the taste of human remotely through her builder drones. She needed the taste for herself. And a group of Devex on one planet had promised her just that. A single observer Skalidion still remained in that system, one Phisrid had conquered not long ago. The humans they had promised had still not been delivered. Phisrid would give them more time. She could contain her thirst for fresh humans a little longer
With the current battle reaching a swift conclusion, Phisrid watched as her swarm swept down to the planet. Millions of Devex still remained, left behind, abandoned. Phisrid would not abandon them. Her builder drones would devour them. Her fighters swept across the surface of the planet raining green fire onto every structure that remained, and then the builders came, methodically rasping their way through all matter before delivering their loads back to the nest asteroid.
It would take days for her builder swarm to scrape the surface of the planet clean, all matter delivered to Phisrid and her expanding empire, but Phisrid and her swarm would move on to the next Devex system, and the next battle.
Counting her losses, Phisrid was satisfied that she had gained more than she had lost. By the time she reached the next Devex system, she would have spawned new fighters that would more than replace her losses.
Phisrid's empire was growing, her forces growing stronger, but bigger battles lay ahead. Devex warships escaped from every battle, which meant more to defeat in each subsequent battle. Eventually, they would combine the last of their forces. She would need the greatest fighter swarm ever spawned to finally defeat the Devex. That time was nearing. Her time was now.
6
Standing on the command deck of the civilian transport, Jack watched the incoming Devex ships on the main holostage. A dozen raiders had entered the system on a direct route for the swamp planet, but the thick green clouds that shrouded the planet gave cover from the Devex sensors. Jack knew he did not have the numbers to hold off a determined Devex attack, but if he used the cover wisely, he might be able to hide from the Devex the fact that he had limited numbers available to him.
To defend a city-sized civilian transport with over fifty thousand sleeping civilian passengers, Jack’s entire force consisted of a dozen Marines, four tac boats, and the unlikely assistance of a small group of Devex warriors. The raiders that were approaching knew for sure that Jack had already taken control of the command deck. The new group were here to seize back their prize, a prize they would soon be delivering to the Skalidion.
Opening a channel to Commander Scherer, Jack knew he only had one option: fight hard, hide whenever possible, and not reveal his numbers to the Devex. Jack was fighting a defensive operation with limited resources. He had to hold out until the fleet arrived to take the civilians off this damp, hot planet.
"Commander Scherer here," Scherer said from the flight deck of the tac boat. "What's your plan, Major?"
"You have command of the tac boat squadron, Commander."
Jack tapped the controls of the holostage and focused on the civilian transport. Docked on the upper hull were the four remaining tac boats of Jack's original eight-boat squadron.
"Move them away from the civilian transport," Jack said. "The Devex will probably attempt a frontal assault. I want the tac boats ready to attack their flanks before they can put down. Don't give away your position until you have to. Use the cover of the swamp to evade the Devex. Hit them hard when you can and stay hidden. Do you copy?"
"Copy that, Major," Commander Scherer replied.
Jack watched the holoimage of the tac boats lifting off the transport’s hull. They stayed low until they were clear, and then dropped toward the surface of the swamp planet and skirted over the dark waters, dodging the thick clumps of dark green foliage, before setting down several kilometers from the transport. The boats settled into the dark water and the foliage and were obscured even from the civilian ship’s surveillance equipment.
Jack zoomed out the holostage view, shrinking the massive civilian transport down to the size of a ration block. Then he zoomed out even further, the civilian transport shrinking so it was lost on the planetary surface, and the planet shrank down to the center of the holostage, showing the position of the incoming Devex raiders relative to the planet. They were closing in quickly, getting closer by the second.
Communication on Jack's tactical suit communicator distracted him from the holostage image for a moment. He climbed up onto the command chair and sent the communication to the armrest holostage. His unlikely ally appeared.
"We stand ready to aid your defense, Jack Forge," the Devex said.
Jack could still not quite believe that these Devex were truly here to help
him, but since his first encounter with these supposed allies, they had done nothing to suggest they were anything other than genuine. And Jack needed all the help he could get.
"Ally Devex," Jack said. He saw out of the corner of his eye the Marines across the command deck turn and look, wondering what Jack would say to these one-time enemies now uncertain ally. "Move your raiders away from the civilian transport and take cover, stay hidden, be ready to defend the transport. If you have any intelligence on how the attacking Devex will proceed, let me know immediately. Do you copy, Ally Leader?"
"The attacking Devex are arriving ahead of the main force.” The Devex stared out of the holoimage and remained completely motionless. “We will not be able to hold against a warship when it arrives."
“We must hold until support arrives," Jack said, climbing down from the command chair.
Walking to the main holostage, Jack zoomed back in on the civilian transport. The Devex raiders, tiny points of light next to the huge civilian transport, raced away to conceal themselves in the dense swamp foliage.
The sound of footsteps across the command behind Jack had a familiar sound. He could recognize the approach of his old friend Sam Torent blindfold.
"Can we trust them?" Sam said.
Jack watched the allied raiders conceal themselves in the swamp and vanish from sensor view. He zoomed out the holoimage and checked the location of the attacking Devex. They would be entering the atmosphere in moments.
"I hope so, Sam." Jack turned from the holostage to face his old friend. He laid a hand on Sam's shoulder. "But I know I can rely on you. Take half the Marines and position yourselves outside the command deck. Let the Devex approach. I'll hold them here while you move up on their rear and hit them in the tail. Sound like a plan?"
Betrayal (Jack Forge, Lost Marine Book 6) Page 4