by Ryk Brown
“He’s a little boy playing at being captain,” Eli insisted. “He has no idea what he’s doing.”
“I beg to differ. He appears to have done quite well thus far.”
“He’s destroyed a handful of ships using hit-and-run tactics and deception. If he didn’t have that jump drive, he would have been destroyed long ago. He’s bluffing, General. I’d bet my life on it.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Quite sure.”
General Bacca sighed. His lips pressed tightly together. “Unfortunately, those stakes will not be high enough.” The general looked at Eli. “Quite an interesting game, your poker.” He looked back at the still image of Captain Scott that remained on the view screen. “We shall put our cards on the table, and we shall call your brother’s bluff. Then we shall see what young Captain Scott is truly made of.”
“What do you intend to do?” Eli asked.
“Choose a city,” the general stated calmly.
“Pardon me?”
The general looked at Eli once more. “A city, Governor. If we are to call his bluff, we must offer a demonstration of our resolve.”
Eli fought to control his demeanor as a wave of fear washed over him. “What do you intend to do, General?”
“I intend to destroy a city of your choosing, Governor.”
“General, I hardly think that is necessary…”
“On the contrary, I believe it is absolutely necessary.”
“General, the Jung have gone to great lengths to win the hearts and minds of the people of Earth. We were just starting to make some headway. What you are proposing will undermine all those efforts. It will turn the people of Earth against the Jung. You can’t possibly expect to rule this world without…”
“The Jung shall rule this world with or without its population, by subterfuge or brute force. Either way is acceptable.” General Bacca stepped closer to Eli, looking him directly in the eyes. “Choose.”
Eli stood fast, staring back at the general, weighing his options, and realizing he had none. The general’s eyebrow shot up again as if he were challenging Eli. “Perth.”
“I’m sorry?” the general said.
Eli cleared his throat and spoke up. “Perth.”
The general nodded, both eyebrows raised. He tilted his head to one side. “A logical choice. Remote enough to lessen the global impact, yet populated enough to have meaning.” The general signaled to his aide as he spoke. “I would have preferred something a little more centrally located—bigger impact and all that—but I suppose it will have to do.” General Bacca issued orders in Jung to his aide, who immediately began barking instructions to subordinates. “To be honest, Governor, I didn’t think you had it in you. However, do not think for a moment that I’ll allow you to continue to sacrifice your less prominent cities first.”
“There are to be more?” Eli asked, shock and fear in his eyes.
“Of course,” the general answered. “Isn’t that how this game is played? One keeps raising the bet until the other one folds? Your next choice shall need to be considerably more significant in the eyes of your world if you wish to remain in power.”
Eli felt a wave of panic come over him. He had heard stories about how the Jung had destroyed entire civilizations, wiping out everything and rebuilding from the ground up. Those rumors were what had driven the rapid buildup of the Earth Defense Force, despite the overwhelming odds against their success. Eli himself had seen the futility of military resistance long ago and had done what he had felt was necessary to secure his position as Governor of Earth in order to protect his people from such destruction. Despite the sacrifices he had made over the last year, his people now saw him as a traitor. His children feared him. His wife barely spoke to him. And now, it seemed it was all for nothing.
“Wait!” Eli said. “That woman! Show me her image again!”
“Governor…” the general started.
“Do it!”
The general conceded, signaling to his aide to honor the governor’s request. Moments later, the computer-enhanced image of Jessica taken from the combat shuttle appeared on the screen. Alongside it was her picture from her EDF service file.
“It’s her! From the party! I knew I’d seen her face before!” Eli turned to the general. “She and my brother have an intimate relationship. At least, they did a few months ago at the Founder’s Day celebration at my father’s estate…”
“I fail to see the significance of…”
“You can use her as leverage! Don’t you see?” Eli pleaded. “If you capture her, torture her…”
“That was our intent…” the general interrupted.
“If Nathan knows we’re holding her prisoner, he will try to free her… He may even put his ship at risk to do so.”
“That’s absurd,” the general said. “No good commander would do…”
“Exactly! That’s what I’m saying; Nathan is not that pragmatic. He thinks with his heart, not his head… does what feels is right at the moment, never thinking about the consequences. He’s been that way his entire life. Use her against him.”
General Bacca stared at Eli for several seconds. “Perhaps. Perhaps. I will consider this strategy. Since I have already committed considerable forces to the capture of Ensign Nash, I need do nothing more in order to play that card.”
“Thank you,” Eli said, obvious relief in his voice.
“However, Perth’s fate has already been decided,” the general added, nodding at his aide.
“What?”
“The bet has already been made, Governor,” the general explained. “To back down now would appear weak and would embolden your brother. I cannot allow that. Besides, if your brother truly cared for this woman, he would not have put her into danger in the first place. No, we shall make good our threat. We shall show your brother that resistance will only lead to greater death and destruction.”
“But, General,” Eli argued, “we’re talking about millions of lives!”
“Yes, and I suspect that number will grow considerably before the Aurora is finally destroyed.” General Bacca turned back toward Eli, a determined look on his face. “No one challenges the Jung and survives… no one.”
* * *
“Still nothing,” Loki said.
“That’s four comm waypoints without contact,” Josh noted from the front seat of the Falcon’s cockpit.
“I know.”
“Maybe they don’t have their laser comm-unit. Or maybe they’re not in a location where they can transmit.”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe we should be closer.”
“We’re only four light seconds out, Josh.”
“That’s, what, over a million kilometers?”
“About one point two million.”
“That seems awfully far away to me.”
“Actually, it’s pretty close.”
“By whose standards is four light seconds considered close?”
“By how quickly a Jung interceptor can FTL it out and take a shot at us,” Loki reminded him. “That’s the only standard I care about.”
“Yeah, well, there is that.”
“Time’s up,” Loki said. “Plotting the jump to the next comm window.”
Josh sighed. “How long do you think the captain is going to want us to keep trying?”
“I don’t know, but we’re running out of comm waypoints.” Loki looked at his jump computer display. “Come twenty-five degrees to port, eighteen down relative, and maintain speed.”
“I thought the waypoints were based on some kind of algorithm or something,” Josh said as he started his course change.
“Nope, completely random, more or less. Jessica insisted. We expected to have the ability to t
ransmit extensions to the list along the way.”
“Well, that was a bad idea, wasn’t it?” Josh said.
“We’ve got four comm windows left. If we don’t establish contact by then, we probably never will.”
“Can’t she just radio for help?”
“Their ground radios aren’t that strong,” Loki explained.
“How strong do they have to be? We’re only four light seconds out! Hell, a Corinairan comm-unit could reach that far, and everyone on the planet had one of those.”
“It’s not the same thing, Josh. The ground radios are low-powered, designed for close-range communications. They’re made that way on purpose so that they aren’t easy to detect. We’d have to be within twenty kilometers to be able to pick them up.”
“Then let’s jump to within twenty kilometers,” Josh suggested.
“We don’t even know if they’re still alive, let alone where they are,” Loki reminded him.
“So we start with the crash site and work our way out.”
“Our orders are…”
“…to attempt to make contact with any survivors,” Josh finished for him. “They never specified how.”
“The how was implied.”
“You’d think they would know better than to imply something to me,” Josh chuckled.
“Maybe so, but they did tell us to avoid getting shot down,” Loki argued. “I distinctly remember that part, the ‘don’t get shot down’ part.”
“No problem! We jump in, do a single, quick pass, and jump out. Then we do it again from a different direction. If anyone is alive down there, they’ll hear us. We make a hell of a noise when we jump into the atmosphere, remember?”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“Besides,” Josh continued, “Lieutenant Telles wanted details about the tactical environment, right? What better way to collect that information than to do a few flyovers?” Josh waited several seconds but got no response from his partner. “Come on, Loki. We’re talking about Jessica.”
“I know. I know.” Loki sat for another few seconds, thinking. “Fuck it,” Loki finally said. “Let’s do it.” Loki sat up straighter in his seat as if preparing himself. “But I’m keeping my finger on the jump button the entire time. If we take so much as a bug on the windshield, I’m jumping us clear!”
“Deal!”
“New course,” Loki said as he started a new plot. “Eighty-seven degrees to port, forty-two down relative. Reduce speed to eight hundred.”
“Eighty-seven to port,” Josh acknowledged with excitement as he continued their course change. “Forty-two down. Reducing speed to eight hundred.”
“You are going to get us both killed one of these days, you know that?” Loki said.
“Remember what the lieutenant said. ‘We are men of war! Be such men!’” Josh laughed. “I’m just being such a man.”
“I’m pretty sure the lieutenant’s programming has a bug or two,” Loki mumbled.
“On course and speed,” Josh reported.
“Jumping in three……two……one……jump.”
Loki’s visor instantly turned opaque as the blue-white jump flash washed over them. The Falcon suddenly decelerated sharply as it came out of the jump and slammed into the thick, night atmosphere of Earth.
Loki was thrown forward, his restraints digging into his shoulders. “Jump complete!” he groaned as the air was forcefully expelled from his lungs.
“No shit!” Josh also groaned as his visor cleared. He glanced out the front of the canopy at the moonlit landscape below. “I don’t see any Jung fighters down there.”
“That’s because they’re all above us!” Loki shouted. “I’ve got contacts all over the place! Eight, nine… at least a dozen! All fast movers!”
“Do they see us?”
“Bright-ass flash and thunderous noise, remember? Yeah, I’m pretty damned sure they… Shit! Four of them are changing course! They’re turning toward us! They’ll be in weapons range in thirty seconds!”
“We’re coming up on the crash site now!” Josh said. “Skimming the treetops, baby!”
“Falcon, Nash! Do you copy?!” Jessica’s voice called over the comms.
“Holy shit! It’s her!” Loki cried out.
“I told you it would work!” Josh declared in delight.
“Nash, Falcon! We copy! Are you all right? How many of you survived? Did the major get out?”
“Shut up!” Jessica hollered over the comms. “No LCU! Local low band only! Delta ground! Two bravos opposed! In motion! Will monitor rotating comm frequencies! Algo one Charlie! Encrypt! Say back!”
“Uh,” Loki quickly recalled what she had just told him, then keyed his mic. “Local low band, delta ground, two bravos opposed, in motion, rotating comm frequencies, algo one Charlie, encrypt.” Loki unkeyed his mic. “I think.”
“Say-back good!” Jessica confirmed. “Area hot! Bug out until next comm! Nash out!”
“Falcon out!” Loki glanced at the threat display. “Fuck! Two slipping in behind us! They’ve got a lock!”
“Hang on!” Josh yelled as he slammed the throttles forward and pulled the Falcon’s nose up hard. The ship screamed as it began to climb. Josh yanked the control stick to the side, and the Falcon snap rolled to port, coming out on its side.
“They’re firing!” Loki yelled.
Josh slid the base of the control stick to the right and twisted it, causing the back end of the interceptor to suddenly kick out to the right. Two missiles streaked past them, missing the Falcon’s tail by only a few meters.
“I’m putting our nose on them!” Josh yelled. “Shoot something!”
“Firing nose turret!” Loki said as he grabbed the manual control stick for the turret and squeezed the trigger.
Bolts of plasma energy sprayed from side to side ahead of the Falcon as it dove toward its onrushing attackers. A split second later, the Falcon passed between the two Jung fighters as it continued to dive toward the surface.
“It might help if you actually hit something, Loki!” Josh yelled as he pulled back on the control stick to level off.
“There are two more headed straight for us!” Loki said.
“Coming right!” Josh announced as he pulled the Falcon into a tight, right turn.
“They’ll have weapons on us in fifteen seconds!”
“And the two you just missed will be on our ass in five seconds!” Josh reminded him. “Get us out of here!”
“Put some sky in front of us so I can jump us out of here!” Loki insisted.
“Pitching up!”
Josh grunted as the sudden change in pitch pushed him down hard into his flight seat. “Get us out of here now!” he insisted.
“Plotting escape jump!” Something flashed on Loki’s sensor display. “What the hell?”
“What?”
“I just got a huge energy spike on the horizon to the west!”
“Who cares!” Josh yelled. “Get us out of here!”
“Three seconds!” Loki told him.
“We don’t have three seconds!”
“Jumping!”
CHAPTER NINE
“How the hell did they find us so fast?” Jessica whispered as she ducked down behind an old, fallen tree.
“I don’t know,” the sergeant answered. “I haven’t seen any shuttles since the first group.” He tapped his comm-set. “Mechky, Nutara, you copy?” There was no response. “Damn it. They haven’t answered the last four hails. I don’t think they made it.” The sergeant peered out over the rock he was hiding behind, quickly searching the moonlit trees for signs of movement. He ducked back down slowly, then looked at Jessica. “Two pair, left and right. You good to shoot?”
Jessica nodded, turning her body car
efully so as to not cause any more pain in her right shoulder than necessary. “Why couldn’t I have been shot in the left shoulder?” she mumbled to herself as she raised her weapon and prepared to fire. “You’re a go, Sarge,” she whispered once she was ready. She looked carefully into the forest in the distance, barely making out the two Jung soldiers advancing slowly on the right side. One of them was holding a device in his hand, looking down at it periodically.
“They have some kind of scanning device,” she whispered.
The sergeant looked at Jessica’s targets as they suddenly stopped. The soldier holding the device said something, and he and his cohort started moving more to their right. The sergeant looked back at his own two targets, both of whom had changed direction and were angling left instead of advancing straight ahead as they had been. “They’re going to try to flank us,” he warned as he raised his weapon and opened fire.
Jessica also opened up, each discharge of her Corinari energy weapon sending waves of pain through her shoulder as it kicked back directly into her wound.
The soldiers dropped, one on his belly and the other ducking behind a tree as they returned fire. Jessica ducked as several needle-like beams of energy struck the rock she was hiding behind, blowing the top of it into dust and pebbles that flew in all directions.
Jessica shook the debris off her head, squinting as the dust settled, then popped back up and continued shooting. There were no more energy beams coming from beside her. She looked to the left and saw a Jung soldier scurrying to his right. She took aim, led him slightly, and fired a single shot as he passed behind a large tree and came out on the other side. The soldier took the shot in his left side, causing him to spin to his right and fall. She watched for several seconds, but he did not get up. “I think we got them,” she said as she settled back down behind her rock. She turned to her left, but the sergeant wasn’t there. She looked farther back and saw his boots sticking out from behind a bush. “Fuck.”
Jessica duck-walked over to the sergeant. He was still alive. His eyes were open, and he was breathing rapidly. Most of his left shoulder was burnt, along with the left side of his neck and face. His helmet had partially melted to the left side of his head. She could see that he was in terrible pain. She squatted down next to him as she pulled out the med-kit from the combat armor Mechky had given her after taking it from Letvil. “Which one of these is for pain?” she asked as she fumbled through the contents.
