Izzy

By Nick Jenkins

PFC Rafer Pelham's platoon on Gamma station L-27 has been decimated by recent enemy attacks, leaving the depot in ruins, all of their defenses down, and minimal provisions for the remaining twelve Marines. While scrounging for food in a remote section of the depot, the men come across an old Istron robot. The device appears to be in working order, and they power it up.

The robot immediately warns of another enemy attack. The men scramble for cover, avoiding further casualties from the incoming assault. Soon after, the robot locates a downed supply freighter with enough food and supplies on board to keep the men alive for the next few weeks.

A few days later a new C.O. arrives at the station, Lieutenant Waylon Grimes. The men urge Grimes to request an evac, but Grimes stubbornly refuses, ordering the men to repair as much of the base as possible, and prepare for the next assault. The men comply, completing many of the repair jobs, but a subsequent attack quickly destroys most of their work.

The robot works tirelessly to aid the repairs, but despite its help, the men soon realize the base can't be saved. In order to get out alive, they're going to have to convince Lieutenant Grimes to let them go, which again he refuses to do. But the robot has another plan, and the men soon have to decide who their real leader is.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nick Jenkins
• Release date: Jun 4, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463409435

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Izzy

By Nick Jenkins

Distributed by Smashwords

Copyright 2015 Nick Jenkins

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Marine Supply Depot L-27, Gamma sector

THE AIR STRIKE lasted only three minutes, but sixteen good Marines from PFC Rafer Pelham’s platoon of twenty-eight were dead. The outpost had been ripped to shreds. The supply depot was in ruins. Twenty-five enemy ships had been involved in the nighttime attack, part of an increasingly effective strategy to cut off supply routes between Altair and Vega.

Pell stood in a pouring rain on a rocky bluff overlooking the darkened outpost. His face was cut and his arm was bleeding through a makeshift sling. Rain streamed down his helmet and stung his eyes. His thick canvas jacket hung over his shoulders like a soggy blanket.

He gazed down from the bluff, surveying the destruction below, as bad as anything he’d seen in two years of combat—warehouses razed, barracks shattered, seven of eight artillery emplacements hammered, and a state-of-the-art defense grid torn apart. Across the desolate landscape, steam and ash drifted up from a dozen smoking holes a hundred meters wide. The mess hall was at the bottom of one of those holes, along with most of their provisions.

Half the depot lights were out. Those, Pell knew, would have to be fixed. Nights on L-27 lasted fifty-six Earth days, and they still had forty-three to go.

Pell watched Geno Cooper trudge up a muddy slope to the top of the bluff. Coop was the youngest of the recruits. This was his first combat assignment, and he seemed