A Show of Force

by Ryk Brown

  The Coporans staring down upon the battle from the upper floors of the surrounding buildings watched in amazement. The invaders were easily outnumbered ten to one, with even more Jung reinforcements undoubtedly being dispatched from their base not fifty kilometers distant. Yet already less than a minute into the confrontation, the amount of Jung energy weapons fire had decreased by half, and the black-clad invaders continued to confidently fan out in all four directions, dispatching the Jung defenders… One shot, one kill.

  Commander Telles walked confidently down the ramp from one of the four cargo pods, stepping to one side and scanning the immediate perimeter as the last few troops from his pod charged toward the enemy fire.

  “Watchdog reports six high-speed targets coming in from the north,” Master Sergeant Jahal reported as he too came down the ramp. “Low and fast. ETA, three mikes. Shall we intercept?”

  “Negative,” Commander Telles ordered. “Warn the men to seek cover just before the targets arrive, and direct all of our laser turrets at the fast movers as they pass. We need those Falcons to clear out all surface-based air defenses before we move on their base. The next wave of jump ships will not have the same advantage of surprise.”

  “Understood,” the master sergeant nodded.

  The commander continued to scan the area as the last of his men fanned out to secure the perimeter. The placement of the four pods had been perfect, with each of them at the corner of the great square near the center of Gastien. To his right was the Coporan capitol building. Once a proud symbol of the Coporan people, and more recently the seat of power of their Jung conquerors, the building was now ablaze, the result of a strike by the second wave of Falcons that had jumped away only moments before his arrival. He knew they had only minutes before Jung forces from all over the Earth-like moon would descend upon them. It was a bold strategy, attempting to establish a strongpoint in the middle of the Coporan capital, but it was possible… with jump drives.

  Four more flashes appeared overhead as additional boxcars jumped into hovering positions only twenty meters above the center of the square. They did not descend. Instead, massive doors along the underside of their cargo pods swung open, allowing four Kalibri gunships to drop out of each pod. As they fell toward the surface, the three, oversized, ducted fans on each gunship came to life, providing much-needed lift. The nimble gunships abruptly halted their fall toward the surface and veered away on predetermined departure paths, as the boxcars that had delivered them began to climb away, disappearing in their own blue-white flashes only seconds later.

  The sixteen Kalibri gunships raced away in pairs, flying over the streets of Gastien, darting between buildings as they opened fire on Jung troops below scrambling for cover.

  Commander Telles almost smiled. He had just inserted four hundred Ghatazhak soldiers, four armored and heavily armed bunkers, and sixteen close air support gunships, right into the face of the Jung seat of power in the 61 Cygni system. In a few minutes, another strike force of similar size would instantly surround the Jung military base outside of the city. Once these two Jung strongholds were destroyed, the remaining Jung forces scattered across Copora would be easily eliminated.

  As the battle continued to rage around him, he glanced up at the fading balls of fire and debris from the Jung battleship and battle platform. Again, he almost smiled as he imagined the Aurora ambushing and destroying the Jung cruisers with relative ease. It felt good to be on the offensive.

  “Next jump point in thirty seconds,” Loki announced.

  “I’ll be on the numbers in ten,” Josh replied, as he continued his turn. A distant flash of red-orange light to their left, in high orbit above the gas giant, caught his eye as he rolled out of his turn. “Damn, what the hell was that?”

  “Checking…” Loki studied his sensor screen for a moment. “… Got it. Scout Two destroyed a frigate… And in a single pass.”

  “On the numbers, reducing speed.”

  “Jump point in ten,” Loki updated.

  Josh glanced forward at the moon Copora which now lay dead ahead and slightly below them. Despite the dozens of low altitude jumps into the atmosphere that he and Loki had executed in the past, the rush he felt seconds before execution was always there.

  “Jumping in three……” Loki counted down.

  Josh moved his left hand to the throttle for the lift thrusters.

  “Two……”

  Josh pulled back slightly on his flight control stick, causing the Falcon’s nose to pitch up slightly while still maintaining their direction of flight.

  “One……”

  “Arrival attitude set,” Josh reported as his visor became opaque.

  “Jumping.”

  Josh instinctively closed his eyes and slammed the throttle for the lift thrusters to maximum as the jump flash washed over them. A split second later, his visor cleared and he could see the streets of Gastien rushing up at them. The Falcon’s engines screamed as its lift thrusters fought to slow their descent. The ship shook violently due to both the displacement of air caused by their sudden arrival in the Coporan atmosphere, as well as the vibrations of their lift thrusters reverberating through their airframe.

  “Jump complete,” Loki reported. “Locking on targets, opening weapons bay doors.”

  As exciting as a jump into the atmosphere so close to the surface always seemed, both Josh and Loki knew that they were never really in any danger of impacting the ground. So shallow was their entry angle to the surface, that their lift thrusters were only needed for a few seconds, in order to allow the Falcon’s lifting body to take over the job of keeping the ship airborne.

  “Weapons locked, missiles armed, firing,” Loki announced as he activated the weapons release sequence. “All weapons away.”

  Josh kept his eyes forward, watching as their four missiles streaked away ahead of them, continuing between the buildings for several hundred meters before they began to climb upwards at a shallow angle. “Pitching up,” he announced as he pulled the flight control stick back slightly to initiate a shallow climb of their own.

  “Jumping in three…” Loki stated. Red threat indicator lights began to flash on his console as an alarm sounded in his helmet comms. “Incoming fire.”

  “Evasive?” Josh asked, moving his left hand to the main throttle.

  “Negative,” Loki ordered, “Jumping.”

  Falcon One disappeared in a blue-white flash of light just as it cleared the tops of the buildings between which it had flown. The evening fog swirled wildly, filling the void left by the disappearing jump ship as red-orange energy bolts pierced the chaotic mist.

  The four missiles reached the top of their arcs, turning downward toward their targets. The Jung air-defense cannons on the surface that were being targeted swung their barrels toward the incoming missiles and continued firing. However, the Alliance missiles had their own evasive programming. They each began to corkscrew wildly as they continued their descent toward their targets, the radius of their spiral varying randomly. Seconds later, the four missiles slammed into their targets, exploding in brilliant yellow flashes.

  Jung air-defense cannons exploded, sending a devastating shock wave out in all directions that nearly leveled neighboring structures. More yellow flashes could be seen in the distance and in all directions, as the air-defense cannons targeted by other Falcons also exploded.

  “Jump complete,” Commander Eckert reported as Scout Three’s jump flash subsided.

  “Man, I’m glad these aren’t real windows,” Captain Nash commented, “otherwise, we would all be blind by now.” The Captain turned slightly to his right looking aft over his shoulder. “Where is Scout One, Toosh?”

  “Sensors show Scout One ten kilometers ahead slightly to port. They’re firing, sir.”

  “Eyes on,” Captain Nash requested. The image on the view screens in front of them that normally displayed only their forward view, changed to a magnified view of Scout One’s target, a Jung frigate. Six red-orange balls
of plasma, fired by Scout One moments earlier, struck the enemy frigate as its rail guns were coming about to open fire. Yellow flashes of light reported their impacts against the frigate’s hull, and secondary explosions from within further reported their penetration. The profile of Scout One could be seen passing over the image of the Jung frigate as the secondary explosions from within its hull tore it apart.

  “I guess One didn’t need us after all,” Captain Nash commented. “Wellsy, patch me through.”

  “You’re live, sir,” the comm officer replied.

  “What took you so long, Poc?” Captain Nash asked over the comms, a touch of sarcasm apparent in his tone.

  “Jumped in a bit farther from the target than expected,” Captain Poc replied. “Must be a glitch in the jump-nav computer.”

  “Or in your copilot,” Captain Nash quipped back. “Meet you at the rally point.” The captain looked to his right. “Skeech?”

  “Rally point it is, sir,” Commander Eckert replied.

  Captain Nash smiled. “I could get used to this.”

  “Confirmed. Target charlie two is destroyed,” Mister Navashee reported from the Aurora’s sensor station.

  “What about the frigates?” Nathan wondered.

  “Scouts Two and Three have already taken out their targets,” Jessica replied from the tactical station. “Scout One’s target is on the far side of Copora.”

  “Incoming message from Scout Two,” Naralena announced from the comm station at the back of the bridge. “They are relaying from Scout One… Target foxtrot one is also destroyed. Scouts One and Three are jumping to the rally point, along with Scout Two.”

  “That means we now own the 61 Cygni system,” Jessica declared.

  “Not yet we don’t,” Nathan corrected, appearing slightly annoyed at her statement as he slowly rotated his command chair to face aft. “Not until our forces on the surface have taken control of Gastien, and that Jung base has been either captured or destroyed.” He looked at Jessica. “Any word?”

  “Flight ops reports all operations over Gastien are on schedule,” Jessica answered. “No air losses reported.”

  “Any losses on the ground?” Nathan wondered.

  “None reported,” Jessica replied. “Then again, Telles wouldn’t waste time reporting losses unless he felt it was significant.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Nathan said. “Problem is, Commander Telles’s idea of significant isn’t necessarily the same as ours.”

  “I’m detecting all three Scouts are now at the rally point, Captain,” Mister Navashee reported.

  “Mister Giles, move us into high orbit around Copora and hold position over Gastien,” Nathan ordered. “Comms, notify all Scouts to move into position around Copora to prevent escape. If any Jung shuttles attempt to flee Copora, take them out.”

  “Yes, sir,” Naralena acknowledged.

  “Contact Telles while you’re at it,” he added.

  “Message, sir?” Naralena inquired.

  Nathan looked at Jessica and smiled. “Tell him we now own the 61 Cygni system.”

  Commander Telles stood in the middle of the command post, his eyes scanning the various view screens in precise and practiced fashion. The screens displayed the feeds from cameras installed in the helmets of each Ghatazhak soldier. The images changed from time to time as technicians, monitoring the hundreds of camera feeds, selected those they felt at any given moment needed to be seen by their commander.

  No ordinary person could keep track of which combatant’s point of view they were seeing at any one moment, nor where that combatant was located in relation to the overall battle. However, for Commander Telles, it was a simple task of matching IDs in the upper corner of each display to their corresponding icons on the current tactical map.

  “It looks like we’ve pretty much got this area under control,” Master Sergeant Jahal stated.

  “Indeed,” Commander Telles agreed. “Have we uplinked to the Aurora?”

  “A few minutes ago,” the master sergeant replied. “They should be broadcasting globally as soon as the Scout ships get into position.”

  “Transfer tactical control for this area to Bunker Two.” Telles looked at the lead monitoring technician. “Show me the feeds from Strike Group Two,” he ordered, “squad leaders only.”

  The images on the view screen changed. Although it was obvious that the combatants were in an entirely different location, as evidenced by the lack of tall buildings in the background, the images they displayed were similar. Jung weapons fire was flying about, seemingly in all directions. The Jung resistance at their base outside of Gastien was considerable.

  Commander Telles noticed a look of concern on the senior monitoring technician’s face. “Problem?”

  “We’re only receiving two hundred feeds,” the senior controller reported.

  Commander Telles tapped his comm set. “Two Leader, Command. Sit-rep.”

  “Command, Two Leader,” the commanding officer of Strike Group Two replied over comms. The sound of weapons fire, explosions, and screams of agony could be heard in the background. “Resistance is heavy, sir. The Jung have armored gun emplacements along the wall, positioned every ten meters, with multiple turrets at each corner. In addition, the perimeter is seeded with antipersonnel mines. Estimate force strength to be greater than five thousand within.”

  “Containment?”

  “Confirmed. We may not be able to get in, but they sure as hell can’t get out, either.”

  “Losses?” the commander asked dispassionately.

  “Estimate two hundred and twelve still combat effective.”

  “That’s nearly half their force,” Master Sergeant Jahal said under his breath.

  “What about the insertion teams?” the commander inquired, ignoring the master sergeant. “Did any of them make it in?”

  “Affirmative, but they didn’t last long. There are too many Jung troops inside the walls. We can keep jumping teams in and try to thin the bastards out, but we’re going to lose a few hundred of our own doing it, not to mention a few combat jumpers. So far, we’ve been lucky.”

  Commander Telles took a moment studying the tactical map.

  “Incoming message from the Aurora, Commander,” the comm officer reported. “Message reads, ‘We now own the 61 Cygni system.’”

  “Own?” the master sergeant looked at his commander. “Nash?”

  “Undoubtedly,” the Commander agreed. “Such a bold statement would be out of character for Captain Scott.” Telles returned his attention to the views of the battle. “Two Leader, Command… Dragon five.”

  “Scott isn’t gonna like it,” the master sergeant mumbled.

  Commander Telles ignored his master sergeant’s warnings. He knew that there was a high probability for loss of Coporan life under the alternate plan. Most military bases utilized civilian workers to perform mundane housekeeping tasks, and they had no intelligence as to whether or not the same was true on Copora. It was for that reason that they had decided to at least attempt to insert a number of Ghatazhak precision strike teams within the Jung base, in the hope that the element of surprise would provide the edge they needed. What they had not known, however, was the actual number of Jung soldiers stationed within the base. One thing he was quite certain of; the current strategy would result in even greater Ghatazhak losses, all without any guarantee of success. In his mind, such losses were unacceptable, not because the loss of his men bothered him, but because future reinforcement levels were unknown.

  “Command, Two Leader. Copy Dragon five.”

  Commander Telles looked at his comm officer. “Get me the Aurora.”

  “Jump complete,” Commander Eckert reported as Scout Three’s jump flash faded away. “At intercept position tango seven.”

  “Weapons?” Captain Nash inquired.

  “Laser turrets charged and ready,” Lieutenant Scalotti replied. “Plasma cannons are also on line.”

  “Rolling over,” the captain said as he put
the ship into a roll to starboard. The image of the moon Copora below began to move along the outer edges of their window-like forward view screens, from left to right. “Let’s hope nothing bigger than a shuttle tries to make a run for it,” he added as Copora came to rest across the top of the screens at the end of their roll maneuver.

  “Captain, the Aurora is moving. She’s changing position,” Ensign Agari reported.

  “Message from Aurora, Captain,” Wellsy announced from the comm station. “Dragon five… minus two twenty.”

  “This ought to be interesting,” Captain Nash commented.

  “Contacts!” Ensign Agari reported. “Three ships, coming up fast from the surface. Shuttles… two personnel, one cargo.”

  “FTLs?” Captain Nash asked.

  “Unknown. They’ve got the power plants for it, though.”

  “ETA to FTL threshold?”

  “Lead ship will reach threshold in a minute twenty,” Ensign Agari answered.

  “Any armaments detected?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Comms, broadcast on all frequencies… Tell them to return to the surface or they will be destroyed,” Captain Nash ordered.

  Ensign Wells activated their comms and immediately began his broadcast. “Attention departing shuttles! Return to the surface immediately or you will be fired upon!”

  “I said, destroyed, Wellsy,” Captain Nash insisted, slight irritation in his tone.

  “Sorry, sir,” the ensign replied. “Return to the surface or you will be destroyed.”

  “One minute until the lead ship reaches FTL threshold.”

  “Target the lead ship’s engines,” Captain Nash ordered.

  “Aye, sir,” Lieutenant Scalotti acknowledged.

  “Any chance they didn’t hear the warning?” the captain wondered.

  “If they have their comms on, they heard it, sir,” Wellsy insisted.

  “Fifty seconds to threshold,” Ensign Agari reported.