Forged in Darkness (Jack Forge, Fleet Marine Book 4) by James David Victor

Author:James David Victor [Victor, James David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fairfield Publishing
Published: 2018-02-28T22:00:00+00:00

13

“I can’t believe they were in there the whole time,” Torent said as he climbed out of his suit.

“They were there, but they weren’t,” Reyes said.

“That’s a bit too cryptic for me,” Torent said. He looked at Jack, “Can you translate?”

“Not really,” Jack said. He took the sample cartridge from his meat suit that contained the dense fluid that filled the Chitin facility. “Care to elaborate?” he said to Reyes.

“I think they were asleep, but a long sleep, more like hibernation. They are probably dormant until they need to perform some task.”

“Like what?” Jack asked. He tossed his meat suit on the equipment drone to be taken away for post-operation testing and refit.

“Well,” Reyes said uncertainly, “if it’s a monitoring facility, I guess they have to relay communications or coordinate surveillance operations. I don’t know for sure, but I am sure that our presence didn’t alert them or they would have woken up.”

“What if they were just waiting for us to leave?” Osho said, pulling a jacket over her cold skin.

“I’ll go and report to Commander Griff and make sure that captain knows to keep a close eye on that facility. Maybe we just got lucky this time.”

“Oh, well,” Torent said. “There goes all our luck. We never get lucky twice. Don’t take me on the next mission, sir.” He walked past Jack and gave him cheeky smile.

“Good work out there, team,” Jack said. “I think you all deserve to accompany me again next time.”

“Remind me not to do so well next time,” Torent said.

“You couldn’t do badly if you tried,” Jack called after him. “Take the next watch off, guys,” Jack said. “You earned the rest.”

But Jack didn’t have time for a rest. He had to brief his commanding officer. He had to brief the captain. He had to deliver the sample to the lab and check if it would interfere with their weapons. He had a report to write. Jack would spend the rest of the watch in meetings and briefings. It would be some time before he got to rest.

Jack was starting to wonder if there were any benefits to rank. So far, it seemed like work, work, and more work. And when the work was done, there was the same threat and danger and risk as every other fleet Marine had to endure. It clearly took a special kind of Marine to make it in command. Jack wondered what people had seen in him that made them think he had the necessary ability for all this responsibility.

Reyes came over and stood next to him. She was wearing a loose Marine utility jacket.

“You want to walk me back to maintenance? Grab a coffee?” She reached out and touched Jack’s hand.

Jack felt a flush of heat as he blushed. He looked at Reyes’s big, dark eyes. “Later,” he said. “I’ve got work to do. You did great over there.” Jack moved away. “I’ve got to tell the captain to keep a close watch on that facility. Don’t want all our stealthy creeping about to come to nothing.

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