Marine (Terran Scout Fleet Book 1) by Joshua Dalzelle

Author:Joshua Dalzelle [Dalzelle, Joshua]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-12-26T22:00:00+00:00

"This thing isn't in quite the pristine condition I had originally thought," Murph admitted.

"What gave it away? The patchwork hull or the puddle of something collecting under the port engine nacelle?" Jacob asked.

"Look, we need something quick and available. This is as good as it gets right now."

"Let's just get this done so we can get the hell out of here," Jacob said. "MG, Mettler! You're up."

The two Marines dropped their packs where the team was hiding near a small intra-atmospheric runabout and began walking casually towards the Eshquarian gunboat. They'd decided that the direct approach would be best since petty crime and assaults were mostly overlooked on Niceen-3, even at the main starport. MG and Mettler would recon the ship up close and give the team a go, no-go signal for the actual assault. Once they confirmed the ship was either lightly guarded—or, preferably, unguarded—they'd rush up the open loading ramp and subdue the crew.

They'd taken the time to familiarize themselves with the internal layout of the small ship, and Taylor was confident he could circumvent any automated security they might have, as well as bypass all the lockouts so they could actually fly it out of there. Jacob had no choice but to take the cocky young Marine at his word that he was actually that good at working on the alien technology.

"This ship will blend in better than the Corsair because the Eshquarians sell so damn much military hardware in the quadrant, including to private firms, that it'll completely forgettable. The only issue I see is that this is a well-known class of combat ship whereas the Corsair was subtler, designed to look like a high-speed courier," Taylor said.

"Is this something we really needed to know right now?" Murph asked.

"Well I thought it was interesting," Taylor grumbled.

"The ship is wide open," MG's voice came over the team channel. "We saw two Impans standing around in the cargo hold, both armed with only sidearms and not paying attention to anything going on outside the ship." Murph looked at Jacob expectantly. For his own part, Jacob realized he was about to authorize the killing of beings that were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. They had nothing to do with Earth, his mission to retrieve Weef Zadra, or posed any threat other than being a mild inconvenience. This is what Webb must have meant by needing Scout Fleet crews to have a certain moral flexibility.

"Execute," he said. "Make it quick, and make it quiet. We need that ship."

At his words, he saw MG and Mettler wheel and sprint up the loading ramp. He could just make out the surprised yelps from the Impans before they were silenced by his Marines, the cough of their weapons on low-power mode barely audible over the ambient racket of the starport's active ramp.

"We're up," Jacob said. "Let's move."

He and Murph grabbed the two spare packs MG and Mettler left and ran towards the ship. Taylor and Sully were both mission

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