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

Author:James David Victor [Victor, James David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fairfield Publishing
Published: 2018-09-30T04:00:00+00:00

12

Bevan looked at the corvette. The collapsed wall had been cut away. The upper hull of the corvette was crumpled and scarred. A long scorch mark across the upper hull suggested the ship had been in a firefight with the Chits before it had landed. The scorch marks and charred composite of the wall panels that had been cut away from the corvette showed signs of a Chitin aerial attack, presumably plasma arcs or spitz cannon fire from one of the many Hydras that stalked the skies of Eros.

The corvette was now exposed to the sky. Adder Company was in cover, hiding from the patrolling Hydras underneath the smashed civilian ships and the collapsed roof of the spaceport. The night sky above was dark and deep, the corvette a dark shape against the deeper dark of night.

“It’ll never fly,” Jarret said, looking up at the ship.

Bevan had had enough of Jarret’s complaining. The squad leader had complained about every move the company had made. Bevan rounded on him, taking him by surprise.

“If you think you are going to lose, you will find a way to make it happen. I aim to win, Squad Leader Jarret,” she spat his name. “If you can’t correct your attitude right now, I will find a Marine in this company who can lead and inspire a squad to succeed.”

Jarret scowled at Bevan. “If you put us in that ship, you will kill us all.”

“If I order you in that ship, you will go. We are at war, Marine, and you will follow my orders. Is that clear?”

Jarret nodded curtly.

“Answer the question, Marine,” Bevan said.

“Yes, sir,” Jarret said, his voice quiet but clear, and without contempt.

Bevan looked up at the corvette. “Only one way to know if it’ll fly.” Bevan took a step toward the ship. “Set a perimeter defense,” she said to Jarret. “I’m going to power it up.”

Bevan walked across to the corvette. A distant sound of approaching Hydras resonated in her guts. She took cover under a piece of debris from the collapsed roof.

The Hydra raced over head, the sound receding. Then the noise of the Hydra’s engines, spluttering in the atmosphere, stopped receding and returned. The engine sound grew loud. Bevan pressed herself into deeper cover, her pulse rifle ready.

The Hydra hovered over the smashed roof of the spaceport. Light burst onto the ground. Bevan could see through a narrow crack in the heavy roof composite that the Hydra was hovering and moving a search light around the vast hanger. The light fell on the corvette, a wide beam of harsh white light expelling the dark.

Bevan saw a huddle of Marines underneath a civilian ship. The civilian craft had been smashed by Chitin attacks, the cockpit was blasted open, conduits and cables hanging from the undercarriage like the guts of a machine. That craft would never fly again, but it was good cover for a squad of Marines.

One Marine pulled his feet in as the beam of light came closer, sweeping across the debris-strewn ground.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.