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    Space Infantry Outpost 13
    Space Infantry Outpost 13
    Space Infantry Outpost 13
    Ebook134 pages1 hour

    Space Infantry Outpost 13

    By Brad Smith, Othello Lofton and David Heath

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    About this ebook

    The Space Infantry are here! Conducting covert missions throughout the galaxy’s frontiers, these elite units are humanity’s greatest hope for its future survival. It is the 27th century, and humanity has reached out to the stars only to find itself surrounded by hostile alien races who work tirelessly to destroy what we have built. T

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLock 'n Load Publishing, LLC.
    Release dateNov 6, 2019
    ISBN9781733104180
    Space Infantry Outpost 13
    Author

    Brad Smith

    Brad Smith was born and raised in southern Ontario. He has worked as a farmer, signalman, insulator, truck driver, bartender, schoolteacher, maintenance mechanic, roofer, and carpenter. He lives in an eighty-year-old farmhouse near the north shore of Lake Erie. Red Means Run, the first novel in his Virgil Cain series, was named among the Year’s Best Crime Novels by Booklist.

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      Book preview

      Space Infantry Outpost 13 - Brad Smith

      First Printing Lock ‘n Load Publishing Paperback Edition 2019

      Copyright © 2019 Lock ‘n Load Publishing, LLC.

      All Rights Reserved.

      Printed in the United States of America in the State of Colorado

      Lock ‘n Load Publishing LLC

      1027 North Market Plaza, Suite 107 - 146

      Pueblo West, Colorado, 81007

      Rev 7

      ISBN: 9-781733-1041-8-0

      This novel is a work of fiction. All of the characters and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously.

      DEDICATION

      To Maya and Hiro

      INTRODUCTION

      It’s nice to be back here again. After writing about World War III in my other books, Lock ‘n Load head honcho David Heath made me an offer I couldn’t refuse and asked me to switch my focus to science fiction.

      I didn’t say yes too quickly. I had tried my hand at writing science fiction years ago and the results were mixed. After gathering years of experience as a writer and learning the ropes, I finally figured out what had gone wrong. My first clumsy stab at the genre was thwarted due to my own ignorance - I wasn’t aware of SF’s very specific story structure and the unique reader demands that made those stories work.

      The prior existence of Space Infantry solved those problems - it came with a universe that had already been sketched out with broad but defining strokes. David had a specific vision of what kind of story he wanted to tell and the flavor it should offer. To top it off, he presented me with a manuscript that was a bit rough but needed just a little extra panache in places. To be honest, he was harder than he should have been on himself. David is a very good storyteller.

      I used the existing storyline and David’s advice as my handholds back into the science fiction genre. The result is what you have in front of you right now. If all went as well as we hoped, you’ll encounter a group of characters similar to what you would find in the Space Infantry: Resurgence game from Lock ‘n Load Publishing. Hopefully, this won’t be the last time you’ve read about these people. There are plenty of fun stories to tell in this fertile setting.

      Hard science fiction fans be warned: My aim with this book was to entertain. There is little here that might please hardcore aficionados.

      This book is about action and it is meant to give readers a zoomed-in look at the men and women who populate the ranks of the Space Infantry team, much like those found in the game. Like Starship Troopers (the book and the movie - I love them both for very different reasons), my story is about how a group of people grow together in the face of battle. The wider political and military context is alluded to rather than spelled out, but I’d be happy to expand on this in future books if the demand is there for it.

      Thanks always for purchasing and reading my books. If you’re so inclined, drop me a line at the Lock ‘n Load Publishing forums and let me know what you think. I’m notoriously bad at replying to messages, but I do read what’s out there, and I take the constructive comments to heart.

      Sincerely,

      Brad Smith

      April 2019

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      As usual, I owe a big thanks to the folks at Lock ‘n Load Publishing who had faith enough in my writing to choose me for this great project. David Heath ‘s suggestions and guidance were very helpful. Illustrations by Marc von Martial were on point, as always, and added much to the story. Thanks to Blackwell Hird and Gottardo Zancani for designing an excellent game.

      VERTIGO

      Will Hudson pushed through the wall of flames that engulfed half of Deck 34A. The immense heat radiated through his exoskeleton suit and seared his flesh.

      Cradled in his arms was a limp figure, the last of the engineering team that had fought and nearly died trying to save the ship from going down. All Hudson had to do was get this guy on an escape pod then get ready to die.

      Simple.

      Three alarm blasts blared along the hallways - a final warning that few evacuation pods remained. Hudson’s mask fogged up with each warm humid exhalation as he trudged forward. The entire ship shuddered right before another explosion ripped through its upper decks.

      A sideways glance through the nearby window revealed a mass of debris flung off into space. Among the jagged pieces were telltale markings of the ship’s control tower and forecastle along with its cargo of Athenium and other rare minerals.

      The Kyushu groaned and creaked in the throes of death. It was clear now she couldn’t be saved - not even with the herculean efforts of a thousand-man crew to douse the raging inferno that ran wild through it like a ravenous animal.

      As one of the grunts aboard, Hudson’s duty had been to help protect her.

      When the minor refueling accident triggered a conflagration, he did his best to assist the engineering team. Hudson didn’t know squat about all the fancy equipment – but he knew how to turn a wrench. Like the other ‘geers, he had worked his butt off to save her until it was clear they had lost the battle.

      Hudson planted his right foot and watched the suit’s hydraulics respond in kind. The metallic boot bore down on the pod’s hatch. A steel aperture swished open, and he set the wounded man inside the pod like a mother putting a sleeping child to bed.

      As the pod doors rotated shut, the engineer’s eyelids fluttered open. Hudson stood up and hammered on the release mechanism.

      A placid feminine voice counted down from three to zero. The pod shot out of the hull. Its path toward the surface of the nearby planet was marked by a pencil-thin trail of light.

      A deep rumbling welled up from within the bowels of the stricken ship. The approaching fires retreated as if they had been suddenly tamed by some higher power. Hudson understood the significance of this reprieve - the end had come and not a moment too soon.

      The faces of his dead brothers and sisters flashed through his brain. A soothing thought calmed him, and he repeated it again and again like a mantra.

      Soon.

      A beam crashed down from the ceiling and sent Hudson tumbling along the long corridor. As the ship wrenched itself apart, his suit’s alarms beeped and whined uselessly. He clung to a bulkhead and prayed that his death would be painless and quick. In the next life, he would meet them all again. Hudson could see the reunion now – a blissful celebration that would make him whole again.

      The hull ripped open from stem to stern. Hudson was propelled out among the scattered debris of steel wreckage that was once the pride of the Colonial Government.

      As he drifted toward the pearl-hued planet far below, Hudson closed his eyes and waited for the end.

      It never came.

      ***

      Nick Smith bolted upright in bed. The sheets were soaked in sweat and an icy barren sensation swept over him. It had been years since he had dreamed about the incident. Why had it returned now?

      Although a few of the details were blurred by the passage of time, the nocturnal visions had recaptured the raw sensation of terror amid the flames and certainty of impending death.

      The only thing missing was the aftermath - joining the Space Infantry, losing his old identity, and being assigned a brand-new name and face. Although it lacked death’s finality, the SI program had offered a new life – and perhaps a way out of his rut of despair. In haste, he had signed the enlistment papers and resolved to never look back at what he had lost.

      But now his old life was creeping back in. At first it had been little things – time spent gazing at old photographs or listening to old songs. Ever so slowly, it had ramped up into dreams and nightmares. Despite the second chance at life and the new people who surrounded him, a sense of solitude clung to his insides and refused to depart.

      Afraid that doing so might open the floodgates even further, he had talked to no one about it. Instead, he had spent his nights chiding himself for thinking about his former life. How long had it been again since the accident transformed his life?

      Three long years.

      Will Hudson was dead. Long live Nicholas Smith.

      The soft white glowing digits of the antique clock read 0429. A choking panic welled up. In less than a minute, the alarm would go off and something horrible would happen. Smith had no idea what it was. He just knew he had to prevent it.

      His fingers fumbled over the machine’s sleek upper surface. He pressed and flicked and turned at buttons and knobs and switches. But just like the echoes of the past, the ALARM ON light refused to disappear.

      Soon, that bleating would fill his head and something worse than

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