Forsaken Skies (72 page)

“Christo, this guy is unbelievable,” Kaminski said, shaking his head.

“Hey, watch your tongue,
mano
,” Martinez said to Kaminski. He motioned to a crude white cross, painted onto the chest-plate of his combat-suit. “Don't use His name in vain.”

None of us really knew what religion Martinez followed, but he did it with admirable vigour. It seemed to permit gambling, women and drinking, whereas blaspheming on a mission was always unacceptable.

“Not this shit again,” Kaminski said. “It's all I ever hear from you. We get back to the
Point
without you, I'll comm God personally. You Venusians are all the same.”

“I'm an American,” Martinez started. Venusians were very conscious of their roots; this was an argument I'd arbitrated far too many times between the two soldiers.

“Shut the fuck up,” Jenkins said. “He wants to believe, leave him to it.” The others respected her word almost as much as mine, and immediately fell silent. “It's nice to have faith in something. Orders, Cap?”

“Fireteam Alpha–Jenkins, Martinez–get down to the hypersleep chamber and report on the status of these colonists. Fireteam Bravo, form up on me.”

Nods of approval from the squad. This was standard operating procedure: get onboard the target ship, hit the key locations and get back out as soon as possible.

“And the quantum-drive?” Jenkins asked. She had powered up her flamethrower, and the glow from the pilot-light danced over her face. Her expression looked positively malicious.

“We'll converge on the location in fifteen minutes. Let's get some recon on the place before we check out.”

“Solid copy, Captain.”

The troopers began a steady jog into the gloomy aft of the starship, their heavy armour and weapons clanking noisily as they went.

It wasn't fear that I felt in my gut. Not trepidation, either; this was something worse. It was excitement–polluting my thought process, strong enough that it was almost intoxicating. This was what I was made for. I steadied my pulse and concentrated on the mission at hand.

Something
stirred in the ship–I felt it.

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2016 by David Wellington

Excerpt from
Forgotten Worlds
copyright © 2016 by David Wellington

Excerpt from
The Lazarus War: Artefact
copyright © 2015 by Jamie Sawyer

Cover design by Lauren Panepinto

Cover illustration by Victor Mosquera

Cover copyright © 2016 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Clark, D. Nolan.

Title: Forsaken skies / D. Nolan Clark.

Description: First edition. | New York : Orbit, 2016.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016022305| ISBN 9780316355698 (trade pbk.) | ISBN 9780316355704 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Outer space—Fiction. | GSAFD: War stories | Science fiction

Classification: LCC PS3603.L3568 F68 2016 | DDC 813/.6—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016022305.

ISBNs: 978-0-316-35569-8 (trade paperback), 978-0-316-35570-4 (ebook)

E3-20160802-JV-PC