A Show of Force (4 page)

The bombardment ended only a minute after it had begun. When the dust cloud finally began to disperse, there was nothing recognizable left. Even the surrounding collection of shops and residences that had survived by supporting the base were destroyed. Several thousand Jung soldiers, and mostly likely several hundred Coporan civilians, both within the base and living around the perimeter, were either dead or trapped beneath the rubble.

“We should have done that from the start,” the lieutenant’s master sergeant said, as he stared at the pile of rubble in the distance.

“Agreed,” the lieutenant said. “These Terrans are too careful, too worried about how their actions are perceived by those who survive.” He turned and looked at the master sergeant. “It is not the way of the Ghatazhak.”

“As the commander said, ‘changing times require changing tactics.’”

“Perhaps,” the lieutenant replied, “but the Ghatazhak win because we are willing to do what must be done. Two hundred of our fellow Ghatazhak just died because the son of a Terran president, and a Takaran noble, could not commit to the level of force required to guarantee overwhelming success.”

“Dumar is hardly a noble,” the master sergeant reminded his lieutenant. “He comes from a commoner’s lineage, just as the Ghatazhak do.”

“He serves a nobleman, does he not? He lives as one, does he not?”

“We are programmed to obey his orders,” the master sergeant cautioned.

“And obey them we shall,” the lieutenant agreed. “To like them? That is not a requirement.”

“Firing sequence complete,” Jessica reported from the Aurora’s tactical station.

Nathan turned back around toward the main view screen. “Put the targeting camera on the main view screen.”

A separate window appeared in the middle of the main view screen showing an aerial view of the target on the surface of Copora. In the middle of the screen was a massive pile of rubble where the base had once stood. It was obscured by a cloud of smoke and dust that was already being blown aside by the constant breezes that swept across the excessively flat, large, Earth-like moon. The damage spread well beyond the base itself, out into the shops and residences surrounding it. Nathan cringed inside at the devastation, knowing full well that he would have to deal with the accusations that would undoubtedly be thrown at him by the leaders of Copora. Despite the obvious disdain for their Jung conquerors—as evidenced by their media, as well as in communications the Alliance had intercepted over the past few weeks—the people of this world had not asked to be liberated. It was unfortunate that the Alliance had little choice but to make the decision for them. The 61 Cygni system was too close to Sol, a mere eleven point four light years away. Enough time had already passed for word of the existence of the Terran jump drive to reach the Jung ships in this system, had a message been dispatched when the Aurora had first returned from the Pentaurus cluster.

“Estimated collateral damage?” Nathan wondered.

“Based on the blast radius, the diameter of the ejecta, and the original estimated population density of the area… maybe a few thousand civilian casualties,” Mister Navashee answered solemnly.

“The Ghatazhak did try to take the base without the strike,” Jessica reminded the captain. “Dragon was not our first choice.”

“I have a feeling that isn’t going to help, much,” Nathan said. “Hell of a way to start new relations with one of the core worlds.”

“A core world that was host to a sizable Jung strike force, within a few months travel of Sol,” Jessica also reminded.

“Perhaps,” Nathan relented. He sighed, then turned toward Naralena at the comm station. “Comms, message to Ground Command. Dragon complete.”

“Aye, sir,” Naralena responded.

“Green deck,” Nathan ordered. “Let’s get some more support down there and start cleaning things up.”

“
All Falcons, Flight
,” the flight controller’s voice called over the comms. “
Pursue and eliminate remaining Jung fighters so we can send in reinforcements and aid. Sending target data.
”

Loki watched his comm screen as the coordinates for their targets were transmitted from the Aurora’s flight operations center directly to their navigation and targeting systems.

“Coordinates coming in,” Loki reported. “Forwarding intercept data to your console.”

“I’ve got it,” Josh answered. He glanced to his right, at Falcons Three, Five, and Seven, flying in formation alongside, in low orbit over Copora, after having jumped away just before the Aurora began her bombardment of the Jung base on the surface. “See you guys back at Porto Santo,” Josh told them.

“
Good hunting,
” one of the other pilots responded.

“Flight, Falcon One; en route to intercept.”

Josh fired his braking thrusters for several seconds, then pushed the Falcon’s nose down and rolled to port, starting a turning dive.

“Jump point in five,” Loki announced.

“I’ll be on it,” Josh assured him.

Four seconds later, he was, and the Falcon was again washed in blue-white light as they jumped down toward their targets.

Josh’s visor became clear again as their jump flash faded away. The interceptor shook violently for a moment, as it suddenly found itself in atmospheric flight again. The heavy vibrations smoothed out, and Josh felt the sluggishness in his flight control stick fade as air flow was once again established over their atmospheric flight control surfaces.

Josh loved flying in space, but more and more, he was finding that he loved aerodynamic flight equally as well. The Falcon was an amazing ship, capable of just about anything. A flick of his wrist and a change in thrust, and the Falcon would respond with eagerness and precision. Even better, the jump drive and the lift thrusters could get Loki and him in and out of trouble in a heartbeat. No pilot could ask for a better ship.

He could see it in the eyes of the other pilots in the Falcon wing as well. They had all been Talon pilots for the Corinari, and had been equally enamored with their aircraft. In fact, most of them had balked at the idea of flying the fifty year-old deep-space interceptor, laughing at their ancient avionics and power plants. The jump drives had been the first thing to change their minds in favor of the 402s, or ‘Falcons’ as they had become known in their latest jump-capable incarnation. That, and the upgraded avionics, sensors, and weapons that the Takarans had provided. In addition, the removal of two of the 402’s propellant tanks had allowed its weapons bays to be enlarged, doubling its armaments.

Today, however, they had mostly carried the ‘buster’ missiles used to destroy armored and other hardened targets. They had already used all four of their intercept missiles in earlier engagements over the skies of Gastien. Doing so had even scored them three confirmed air-to-air kills. This time, they would be using guns… both their nose turret and the mini-plasma cannons in their wings.

Josh slowly pulled back on the flight control stick, bring the Falcon out of its dive, shaving off energy and airspeed in the process.

“Two contacts,” Loki reported. “Five degrees to starboard and fifty meters up. Fifty kilometers out. Turning toward us.”

“Coming five right and angling up,” Josh answered as he adjusted their course to intercept the two approaching Jung fighters. “You gotta wonder why they’re even bothering. I mean, they’ve got no support base, no ships left in the system, and they’ve gotta be getting low on fuel by now.”

“They’re firing,” Loki warned. “Four missiles inbound. Impact in thirty seconds.”

“Are they stupid?” Josh wondered. “Firing from this far out?”

“Twenty-five seconds.”

“Micro-jump us forward,” Josh instructed. “Put us five hundred meters in front of them.”

“I can’t,” Loki warned. “We’re moving too fast.”

“Calculate the jump for half our current speed… I’ve got an idea.”

“What idea…”

“In five!”

“Fuck, not again,” Loki mumbled as he activated one of their standard, pre-programmed micro-jumps. “Jumping in three…”

Josh pressed the manual override on the lift thrusters, then swiped his gloved finger across the thruster vector control pad, swinging all four lift thrusters as far forward as possible. He pulled his flight control stick back slightly to pitch their nose up forty-five degrees as he quickly brought the thrust levers to full power.

“What the hell are you doing?” Loki cried out.

“Slowing us down!”

“Jesus!” Loki replied, hanging onto either side of his console to brace himself against the sudden deceleration.

“Be ready on the nose turret!”

“Jumping,” Loki announced as his visor went opaque, and the jump flash washed over them.

Josh’s visor cleared a moment later, revealing the two Jung fighters only twenty meters below, seconds from passing under them. Without reducing power, he killed the two lift thrusters under the Falcon’s starboard side, causing the interceptor—which was still sliding along a level flight path in a forty-five degree, nose-up attitude—to spin around and backwards, its belly facing the two Jung fighters that had just passed under them. He opened up the starboard lift thrusters again, swinging all four of them downward to help maintain their altitude as well as to avoid increasing the lateral speed as they continued to slide along backwards, their nose still pitched up forty-five degrees.

The interceptor shook violently throughout the maneuver as the airflow over its lifting body was forced to move in directions its designers had never intended. Loki twisted the control stick for their nose turret, causing it to roll over one hundred and eighty degrees in order to angle its double barrels downward toward the fleeing Jung fighters. He watched as the targeting reticle locked onto the fighter to the left and turned red. He pressed the firing button on top of the control stick, and the enemy fighter burst apart. The second fighter rolled and pitched down and away, making a run for lower altitudes. “The other one’s getting away!” Loki exclaimed. “He’s in a diving turn to starboard! He’s going for the deck! He’s getting away!”

“The fuck he is!” Josh insisted, pulling out both power levers and letting go of the flight controls.

Without input to the Falcon’s flight-control surfaces, they automatically returned to a neutral state, allowing the airflow over the ship’s lifting body shape to return to normal. The lack of thrust from the lifting thrusters allowed the airflow to push their nose back, but they were now flying backwards, and still being bounced about. Josh straightened his right leg, jamming his right rudder pedal as far in as possible. The Falcon’s tail slid to port, and a slight forward pressure on his flight control stick brought their nose down just enough for the aerodynamic forces acting upon their craft to swing it around into a normal, forward-facing, diving attitude along their path of flight. Josh pushed the nose down harder and rolled to port, this time jamming his left foot in to force their tail to slide hard to starboard. He again fired all four of his lift thrusters to keep them in an abnormally tight turn, one that the Falcon was never designed to perform.

“That’s it!” Loki cried. “You’ve got him! Punch it!”

Josh slammed the throttle for the main engines all the way forward, causing them to accelerate rapidly. He pulled out all power to the lift thrusters again, now that they were in a stable, aerodynamic flight.

“We’re gaining on him!” Loki declared. “He’s going evasive!”

“I can track with him…”

“Just hold your course, Josh!” Loki insisted.

Josh did as he was told, trusting his friend to take out the fleeing fighter.

Loki moved the targeting reticle back and forth, trying to lock on the jinking Jung fighter as it danced about his targeting screen. “Fuck it!” he declared and opened fire, holding the button down as he swept to and fro, up and down, desperately trying to catch the bouncing fighter as they both dove toward the surface of Copora.

“Hurry up and kill that fucker!” Josh exclaimed. “We’re running out of altitude!”

Loki smiled, took his finger off the fire button, and pulled the gun control stick back slightly, leading the target in the direction that he would have to turn to avoid smashing into the ground below. The Jung fighter twisted slightly right and pitched up to stop its dive, sliding into Loki’s targeting reticle. The reticle flashed red, and Loki fired once more, destroying the fighter.

“Fuck yes!” Josh cried out as he too began to pitch up to end their dive. “Nice shootin’, Tex!”

“Damn!” Loki exclaimed as he activated their comms. “Flight, Falcon One, splash two!”

Josh pulled their ship level, skimming the treetops for a few moments before starting to climb again.

“Who’s Tex?” Loki wondered, still grinning from ear to ear.

“I think he’s a friend of Lieutenant Commander Nash. She’s always sayin’ that.”

Commander Telles gazed out the window of the combat jumper as it circled around the outskirts of the small village that surrounded the now-destroyed Jung base. Fires burned, both in the main pile of rubble in the middle of the village where the base had once stood, as well as in several of the damaged civilian structures that surrounded it. Coporan fire crews fought to contain the conflagrations in an effort to keep them from spreading to neighboring structures. Rescue teams pulled at the loose rubble, attempting to free people trapped underneath. The injured lay in the streets, friends and neighbors doing what they could to provide care.

With the skies of Copora now free of Jung fighters, reinforcements had already arrived and had begun to provide some level of security, both in the streets of Gastien, as well as the streets of the village surrounding the former Jung base. As they circled, the second medical shuttle was already landing, and in moments would be unloading Corinairan doctors, nurses, and medical technicians, as well as thousands of initial therapeutic doses of nanites.

Unfortunately, it would likely not be enough. Although the devastation in the village surrounding the Jung base was considerable, there was similar collateral damage at several other locations on Copora. The fires at the capitol building had jumped to nearby structures as well, all of which were still burning when the commander had left the command post in the center of the capital. The Jung air base was also devastated, although there was little loss in the way of civilian life there.

In fact, the Ghatazhak had simultaneously attacked six Jung strongholds on this night, and there were still more than a dozen smaller bases left to deal with. However, none of them had significant forces, most of them being comm stations or supply depots. Before the morning sun rose again over this part of the moon, all of those bases would be under Alliance control, thanks to the Ghatazhak, and the Falcons.

The combat jumper finished its perimeter flight and turned inward toward the landing site that had been set up a few hundred meters from the center of the village. As they descended, the crew chief activated the side doors, causing them to slide aft out of the way, opening either side of the main bay of the jumper to the night air. Dust swirled as the jumper set down, its lift turbines screaming. Commander Telles and Master Sergeant Jahal stepped out of the jumper and moved away at a brisk pace as the jumper immediately climbed back into the sky to begin circling the village once more.