Enemy Action (Book 3 of The Imperial Marines Saga) Read online

  ENEMY ACTION

  BOOK THREE OF THE IMPERIAL MARINES SAGA

  TERRY MIXON

  CONTENTS

  Enemy Action

  Also by Terry Mixon

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Also by Terry Mixon

  About Terry

  ENEMY ACTION

  Book 3 in The Imperial Marines Saga

  by

  Terry Mixon

  Know your enemy like you know yourself.

  Andrea Tolliver and her friends are now Imperial Marines, sworn to protect the Terran Empire from all enemies. Too bad she hasn’t even had time to make friends in her new unit before civil unrest sees them deployed.

  Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence.

  Separated from their unit, they must discover who is really behind the unrest and stop them by any means necessary. When the enemy strikes from the shadows, they must stand and fight. If they fail, the Empire will never be the same.

  Three times is enemy action.

  Enemy Action

  Copyright © 2022 by Terry Mixon

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including information storage and/or retrieval systems, or dissemination of any electronic version, without the prior written consent of the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review, and except where permitted by law.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Published by Yowling Cat Press ®

  Digital edition date: 3/20/2022

  Print ISBN: 978-1947376670

  Large Print ISBN: TBD

  Cover art - image copyrights as follows:

  DepositPhotos | innovari (Luca Oleastri)

  DepositPhotos | algolonline (Caroline Rosa Nicolette Atkinson)

  DepositPhotos | vitaliy_sokol (Виталий Сокол)

  Donna Mixon

  Cover design and composition by Donna Mixon

  Print edition design and layout by Terry Mixon

  ALSO BY TERRY MIXON

  You can always find the most up to date listing of Terry’s titles on his Amazon Author Page.

  Note: the links below (ebook only, obviously) redirect you to my website where you can click a button to go to Amazon. This allows me to participate in Amazon’s associates program and earn a little more. Sorry for any inconvenience.

  The Empire of Bones Saga

  Empire of Bones

  Veil of Shadows

  Command Decisions

  Ghosts of Empire

  Paying the Price

  Recon in Force

  Behind Enemy Lines

  The Terra Gambit

  Hidden Enemies

  Race to Terra

  Ruined Terra

  Victory on Terra

  When Luck Runs Out

  Gunboat Diplomacy

  The Imperial Marines Saga

  Spoils of War

  Imperial Recruit

  Enemy Action

  The Last Hunter with J.N. Chaney

  The Last Hunter

  The Humanity Unlimited Saga

  Liberty Station

  Freedom Express

  Tree of Liberty

  Blood of Patriots

  Single Novels

  Scorched Earth

  Storm Divers

  The Vigilante Series with Glynn Stewart

  Heart of Vengeance

  Oath of Vengeance

  Bound By Law

  Bound By Honor

  Bound By Blood

  Box Sets

  The Empire of Bones Saga Volume 1

  The Empire of Bones Saga Volume 2

  The Empire of Bones Saga Volume 3

  The Empire of Bones Saga Volume 4

  Humanity Unlimited Publisher’s Pack 1

  Humanity Unlimited Publisher’s Pack 2

  Want to get updates from Terry about new books and other general nonsense going on in his life? He promises there will be cats. Go to TerryMixon.com/Mailing-List and sign up.

  DEDICATION

  This book would not be possible without the love and support of my beautiful wife. Donna, I love you more than life itself.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I want to thank the folks that support me on Patreon. You got to read this book as I was writing it and that kept me working. You have my deepest thanks.

  In particular, I want to thank those patrons that supported me at the $10 level:

  Bryan Barnes

  Robert Broadly

  Tony Craven

  Bill Colston

  Dave Dolan

  Mark I Marcum

  Christian A. Michelsen

  John Page

  Keith Ramsey

  Carl Rumbolo

  Lisa Slack

  Dale Thompson

  Raymond Wang

  Clark Williams

  Finally, I want to thank my readers for putting up with me. You guys are great.

  1

  Andrea Tolliver did her best to ignore the people staring at her face as she stepped off the cutter that had brought them down to Seward. At this point in her life, she was resigned to the fact that everyone felt the need to gawk at the bird-of-prey tattoos that dominated her forehead and cheeks, but the attention still made her feel very self-conscious.

  No matter how she felt, it wasn’t something she could change. The predatory-bird tattoos of the Andrea Line were marked indelibly upon her skin, and she could never escape them, no matter how far or fast she ran.

  What she could do was change her life into something she wanted to live, and that was why she was here. This was her first permanent duty assignment as an Imperial Marine. Not only had she finished basic training, but she’d gone through the advanced individual training required to turn her into a larval marine.

  Her ability to assist in some of the training at the advanced school had even earned her a promotion to private first class. That honestly wasn’t any better than being just a private, but it was one step further on her journey.

  And at least her journey wasn’t one that she had to take alone during this first stage. She still had her best friend, Diana, at her side. And Claudio, though he wasn’t exactly much of a bonus.

  “Man, it’s cold here,” he complained as he wrapped his arms around his torso. “Why couldn’t they put the base in a more temperate zone?”

  “Maybe they wanted to make it a little more challenging,” Diana said as she stepped up beside him, her head even with h
is chest. “Exactly how tough would marines be if they did all their training in the bars at some urban center?”

  Claudio’s eyes narrowed as he stared down at the curvy redhead. “You’re a real downer, Randall. Wouldn’t you rather have some amenities in life? Do you want to live out in the boonies doing training forever? Your life doesn’t have to revolve around being an Imperial Marine every single second of the day.”

  Diana laughed merrily. “Did that just come from the man that said I wasn’t suitable to be a marine in the first place? How did you end up being the slacker in this crew?”

  Six months ago, those words would’ve been all it took to start a brawl. Times really had changed because all Claudio did was grunt and shake his head.

  “How many times do I have to repeat myself? I was wrong. You’ve got what it takes to be an Imperial Marine, but you just don’t have to be one all the time.”

  “But I like being an Imperial Marine all the time. Even when I go out drinking, but that’s not going to be today. We need to report to battalion and get things sorted out.

  “Aren’t you excited, Claudio? This is it. We’re at our first duty station. The generalized training is over, and now we get to train for war.”

  Andrea had been listening to their banter for the entire six weeks it had taken them to get from the advanced training base to Seward. Everything they’d said had been recycled several dozen times by now, but it hadn’t gotten old.

  All three of them were excited about what was happening. Andrea had trained for this day since she was twelve years old, and now she could dive headfirst into the only career she’d ever wanted.

  And they’d never get to it if they didn’t stop standing around like tourists. Time to get this show on the road.

  “Enough chatter,” she said firmly, cutting off their back-and-forth. “We’ve got to find a ride to battalion.”

  Diana mock saluted her. “Aye aye, Private First Class, ma’am!”

  “It’s just a stupid promotion,” Andrea grumbled. “It’s not like I’m any different than I was before. We’re all still privates.”

  “Sure,” Claudio said with a grin. “Just some of us are first class. Kind of like the senior line you used to be part of.”

  Even the thought was enough to make Andrea shudder slightly. “Do me a favor and never say that again. You have no idea what a nightmare that was.”

  Miraculously, Claudio did exactly that. Maybe he was learning the basics of being a decent human being. Diana was certainly an excellent role model.

  The three of them made their way away from the landing pad, using the low-slung buildings to block as much of the wind as possible. While the temperature couldn’t be called Arctic, it was by no means warm.

  Considering this was the height of summer for this portion of the planet—she’d checked—that didn’t bode well for them once winter was in full swing. Claudio would really hate that.

  Once they got away from the pad, it was easy enough to find transport. This was where everyone arrived, so there were autonomous taxis waiting for them. Since they were reporting for duty, the taxi wouldn’t even deduct the cost of the fare from their accounts this time.

  They quickly loaded their duffel bags into the back of the taxi and stuffed themselves inside. That wasn’t very difficult for the two girls, but Claudio was not small, so they made him sit up front by himself. Otherwise they’d have been squished against the sides of the vehicle.

  The young man took the bump with surprisingly good humor. Maybe he really was growing up.

  The drive to the 745th Combat Marine Battalion only took about twenty minutes, and they spent the time checking out the base that would be their home for at least the next decade.

  Deployments for marines were stable unless they screwed up in some fashion. The people she met today would be the ones she’d be dealing with for years to come, so she needed to get this right.

  Trouble started almost as soon as they arrived at battalion headquarters. This, too, was expected. These were combat marines, and many of them recognized what the tattoos on her face meant.

  The Singularity and the Terran Empire had been at war—for certain values of the word—since before the Empire had existed as a political entity. Their covert battle had started when humanity was all part of the long-dead Terran Republic.

  No one could really hold the complete history of the two nations in their minds, since it spanned more than ten thousand years, but there was plenty of bad blood to go around.

  Thankfully this time—unlike the last two duty assignments—someone was waiting for them. A tall female gunnery sergeant, her face a deep brown and her uniform perfect, stood waiting at the base of the stairs leading into the building.

  Apparently, she was specifically waiting for Andrea because her attention was laser focused on her when she stepped out of the taxi.

  “Private First Class Andrea Tolliver?” the woman asked, her voice somewhat deeper than her frame suggested. “Privates Randall and Baker? I’m Gunnery Sergeant Ariel Singh, Delta Company’s senior noncommissioned officer. Gather your gear and come with me.”

  Andrea didn’t bother asking stupid questions. They’d tell her what she needed to know when she needed to know it. Gunnery sergeants were notorious for not taking crap, and she wasn’t going to give the woman the slightest excuse to come down on her.

  Apparently, Diana and Claudio agreed because they hustled to get their gear in record time. In less than fifteen seconds, the three stood with their bags over their shoulders, ready to go.

  Singh led them away from battalion headquarters and deeper into the maze of buildings. One positive aspect of having her along was that she acted as a ward to keep others at a distance.

  Andrea was drawing some negative attention from a number of marines who’d stopped to stare at her, but none of them dared approach. That almost certainly wouldn’t hold true once they were fully integrated into their new unit, but that was a problem for later. Right now, she needed to figure out exactly what was going on.

  Sadly, it wasn’t something she could just ask. Singh would tell Andrea everything she thought she needed to know when she was damned good and ready and not one second earlier.

  They arrived at a small building labeled Delta Company Headquarters, and Singh led them inside. Marines bustled about the interior of the building, performing their daily tasks, and many paused to look at Andrea’s face as she passed. They didn’t linger because Singh gave anyone spending too much time watching a stare that sent them packing.

  It only took a minute to reach the company commander’s office, and Singh went right in. When Andrea stepped into the room, she found herself in an orderly and meticulously clean environment. The desk behind which the company commander sat was immaculate and had nothing marring its polished surface.

  The walls had framed pictures, and some held shelving with knickknacks, but everything was precisely placed, or so it seemed to her. If the room reflected the man’s nature, he was a fastidious sort.

  Delta Company’s commanding officer was an interesting contrast of appearances. His skin was relatively dark, yet his hair was almost blindingly white. His facial structure also seemed to be fairly robust rather than slight. Despite all that, the man was handsome.

  Not that she had any business thinking about the appearance of a senior lieutenant in the Imperial Marines. Instead, she snapped to attention and waited to be recognized, just like her companions.

  Singh stepped over to the side of the desk and gave the lieutenant an unreadable look, raising an eyebrow in question.

  The officer smiled at Andrea and the rest. “At ease, people. This might take a little while, and there’s no need for you to be uncomfortable. I’m Senior Lieutenant Pedro van Buren, Delta Company’s commanding officer.

  “It’s my duty and pleasure to welcome you to Seward. This is a nonstandard intake, but you’ll forgive me if I say you’re not exactly a standard greenie, Private First Class Tolliver.”
>
  He leaned back in his seat and examined the three of them. “I know more than enough about your history to realize there will be friction, Tolliver. Sadly, that’s going to bleed over onto your friends as well. We’ll do what we can to minimize it, but I hope you’re ready to deal with it in a professional manner when it occurs.”

  “I hope so, too, sir,” Andrea said levelly. “If I might ask, what exactly do you know about my history?”

  The man smiled, showing off his pearly white teeth. “Oh, I don’t know much about when you were in the Singularity, but I know a great deal about the kind of person you probably are. You see, I served with Grace Tolliver before she went on the raid where she retrieved you.

  “I was the battalion adjutant back then, and she commanded Third Platoon of this very company. The same platoon that you’re going to be assigned to, as a matter of fact.”

  Andrea found herself blinking in surprise. Out of all the possible scenarios she’d considered, that one had never occurred to her. The people here would’ve known Grace and Fei. Would that carry some weight in tempering their responses to her?