“Forge is right again, Squad Leader,” Crippin said. “We will set up a firing line here and hold them off until the Scorpio’s battalion arrives.”
“Where are they?” Torent asked.
Jack looked down his sights and scanned the horizon.
“Delta Training Base is twenty-five kilometers in that direction.” Crippin pointed to the horizon beyond the training ground, toward the fire that lit up the sky. “If they come for us, we will see them from up here.”
The last of the recruits came to the top of the hill. Sergeant Hacker dropped next to Crippin and scanned the skyline through his rifle sights. He nudged Crippin and pointed to the far horizon.
Jack looked and saw a sudden flash. A faint line arched into the sky and came slowly toward the hill. Jack looked through his sights and saw a Chitin flying through the air, a jetpack flaring and creating the faint streak.
“Reconnaissance soldier,” Crippin said. “Forge. Shoot that scum out of my sky.”
Jack aimed at the small flash of the jetpack. He breathed easy and fired a single shot. The arching soldier tumbled in midair, tentacles flailing. The jetpack flared again and brought the Chitin soldier even closer.
“Kill it, now,” Crippin shouted.
Jack got up on one knee and took aim again. Torent copied the stance. The two began firing. Jack saw the Chitin coming closer, and that round after round were slamming home, tearing chunks out of it. A tentacle fell away, ripped off by multiple hits, and then the jetpack exploded.
The explosion lit up the sky and the ground in a brilliant white light. The ground in the distance seemed to seethe and writhe. The ground looked alive.
Jack spotted the look in Crippin’s eye as she looked at Hacker. Jack knew it was not good. Crippin and Hacker both took all their extra ammunition packs from their pockets and placed them on the ground before them.
“A line,” Crippin shouted and pointed along the summit of the hill. “Pick your targets. Hold your fire.”
The sounds of fear rippled through the squad. Then the first recruit ran.
It was a young woman, short hair and long eyelashes. She ran back in the direction of the bunkhouse. Hacker was on his feet.
“Leave her,” Crippin said. “I am going to need you here, Sergeant, more than I’ll need her.” Crippin crawled to the front of the line. “Listen up, squad. If you run, you will die. If we run, we will get picked off one by one. If we stay together, we have a chance. Pick your targets. Hold your fire. Wait for my command. We are going to kill a whole bunch of Chitin scum. They are coming fast. They will be here soon. They don’t know what we’ve got waiting for them. We are going to shred them all. You get me?”
Another recruit began to scurry away. It was Torent’s ugly ally. Torent was on him in a flash. He grabbed him and dragged him down in between him and Jack. The smell of urine was apparent. Jack watched the Chitin advance and made a promise not to piss himself.
“Get ready, Marines,” Crippin shouted. “Here they come. Open fire.”
The crackle of rifle fire rippled across the summit of the hill. Jack saw through his sights that the rounds were hitting the Chitins as they rushed forward. They came on in a tightly packed bunch and it was impossible not to record hits. But the damage inflicted was low. Jack picked his target and aimed for the round mouthpiece of the Chitin soldiers. He saw the teeth splinter and get shot out of the mouths of all his targets, but still, they came on. Jack targeted the smooth head and fired several rounds into another Chitin soldier. The bullets smashed into the head, throwing up spurts of thin orange liquid.
“Keep firing,” Crippin shouted.
Jack saw the front of the advancing mass of soldiers pause. A strange hum began and then Jack saw the pulsing plasma growing on the tips of the weapons the Chitin soldiers held. The hum grew to a high-pitched whine, then the plasma spears shot forward.
Jack was mesmerized by the lights that flickered toward him. The orange and white threads of plasma arced upwards before flicking forward. The plasma spears lashed at the summit of the hill. The rock in front of Jack exploded in a burst of red-hot dust. The recruit next to Jack was lacerated and split in two from his left shoulder to hip. The blood that spilled out boiled. The smell of charred flesh filled Jack’s nostrils.
A recruit along the line shrieked in terror. He dropped his rifle as he stood and turned to run. He was caught by the tip of a plasma spear. The tip lost its focus and frayed into a number of finer, dimmer plasma threads. The frayed ends scraped across the screaming recruit. The threads ripped away clothes and skin. Then the recruit fell forward toward the plasma spear and was sliced in two.
“Keep firing,” Crippin shouted.
Jack fired a number of shots into the head of his target. The Chitin thrashed about and fell and then scurried away under the tentacles of another who came forward to take its place. Jack fired another short burst, smashing into the smooth head and toothed mouth of this new front-line Chitin.
Then the plasma spears leaped forward again.
The light on the opposite horizon grabbed Jack’s attention. He saw fire leaping into the sky.
“Alpha Training Base,” Crippin said. “We’re surrounded.”
“We need to get mobile, sir,” Jack said to Crippin. “If we get surrounded, we are done for.”
“But we’ve got the high ground,” Torent said.
“All that means is we’ll all die on a hill,” Jack said.
“Jack’s right. We need to move. We have to avoid getting surrounded, hill or no hill. But we have no way of knowing where they are.”
“Air reconnaissance,” Jack said. “We can spot them from the air.”
“We don’t have air power, Forge. Scorpio is still too far out.”
“Not the Scorpio, sir.” Jack pointed toward the workshop down the hill. “If I can get that drone airborne...”
“Nice idea, Forge, but there are no power cells,”
Jack held his rifle side on. “Here, I can use the power cell in this rifle.”
Sergeant Hacker looked at Jack and then at Crippin. They both shrugged.
“What harm can it do to try? Go, Forge, and take Torent with you.” Crippin fired off a quick burst. “And if you can drop any ordinance on that Chitin scum, that would be a plus. Go. Now.”
Jack scurried back from the summit as another spread of plasma spears scorched the summit.
Jack ran and dismantled his rifle as he went.
“What are you doing with that rifle, Forge?” Torent called as they ran.
“The Fleet Marine Pulse Rifle is powered by a micro fusion reactor. It should have enough power to get that old reconnaissance drone off the ground.” Jack threw the parts of the rifle away and found the power cell.
Jack and Torent ran into the workshop. Torent moved around the building, rifle raised, as he searched the area.
“Clear,” he shouted.
Jack rushed to the front of the old drone and searched out the access panel for the power cell.
“It doesn’t fit.”
“Wedge it in, Jack. We got to get them off that hill.”
“I can’t just wedge it in. I need to fix it in somehow.” Jack picked his way through the debris of the workshop. He found an old solder iron. “This could work. But I need some soft metal to fuse the cell to the craft.”
“So find some,” Torent said. He walked quickly to the door and looked through it down his gun sights. “Get it working, Jack.”
“I’ve already been through every piece of junk in this place. There’s nothing I can use.”
Torent walked up to Jack and grabbed him by the shoulder. “You’re supposed to be the smart one, right? Don’t suppose Chitins care whose brains they melt but I’d rather they didn’t melt mine, so use your brains and fix the damn power cell in there and I’ll keep watch.”
“Watch,” Jack said, his voice failing.
“Yes, I’ll keep watch.” Torent scanned the view outside the workshop.