Forged to Lead (Jack Forge, Fleet Marine Book 3) by James David Victor

Author:James David Victor [Victor, James David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fairfield Publishing
Published: 2017-12-27T18:30:00+00:00

13

The latest VR training session had a fresh feel to it. The scenario was not some generic battle situation, but had the feel of truth about it. The battlefield was a moon orbiting Penthus. Jack could see the huge gas giant filling the sky. The surface of the moon was a hard, glass-like rock, shot through with cracks and deep channels. The surface was difficult to walk across, even more difficult to crawl over.

Jack pulled off the VR helmet and clambered out of his pod. He was aching and sweaty. The scenario had been run several times this watch already. He’d once again completed an assault on a fixed position. His squad approached using stealth and natural cover concealment on one run-through, and on another, he had employed a rapid frontal assault. This last run, he’d used fire and maneuvers to advance on the position. He was outnumbered and out-gunned. He’d completed his objective and destroyed the target, a simulation of a Chit structure, but every time, he’d lost all of 6th squad. He had also been killed after the final destruction of his target.

Whatever the Marines were preparing for was going to be murder, sheer and utter murder. Jack wiped the sweat from his brow, grabbed his sweater, and left the VR suite. He was on a one-watch liberty. He wandered toward the med bay.

The corridors were the busiest Jack had ever seen them. Almost every corridor had a crewman walking one way or another. One corridor was blocked as a group of crewmen maneuvered a massive trolley holding a stack of four combat drones. The ship was clearly preparing for an operation.

He was forced to find a way around the blocked corridor. The sweat had cooled as he walked and he started to feel cold. He pulled the sweater from around his waist and pulled it on. After a few more corridors, and few encounters with crewmen and one flustered junior officer, Jack reached the med bay’s wide double-doors.

Torent was sitting on the edge of his bunk. He had one arm in his jacket and his new prosthetic arm out. He appeared to be having difficulty getting dressed.

Jack walked toward Torent’s compartment. He looked along the bay toward Reyes’s compartment. She was sitting up in bed. Jack’s heart leapt at the sight of her up and out of the coma. Standing next to Reyes, Jack noticed the black jacket of the Fleet Intelligence agent, Visser.

Reyes ignored Jack.

“Help me get this arm in here, Jacky,” Torent said as Jack stepped into his compartment. He couldn’t take his eyes off Reyes.

“Jack,” Torent said more loudly. “Don’t stare, Jack.”

Jack turned toward Torent. His friend was right. If he was going to hide the truth about Commander Finch, it was better if he showed as little interest in Reyes as possible. If he seemed interested in her, it might be because he was interested in what she knew about Finch’s disappearance. He had told Reyes not to say anything about it. As far as the fleet knew, she had not seen him on Kratos at all.

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