A Show of Force Read Online Free PDF Page A

them, falling to the ground and smashing through the trees below.
     
     
    Josh’s visor cleared as their jump flash faded away.
    “Jump complete,” Loki announced. “Convoy is dead ah…”
    “FUCK!” Josh exclaimed, his eyes going wide. Directly ahead of them were several mammoth trees, each standing more than twenty meters taller than the others in the surrounding forest. He quickly rolled the Falcon onto its starboard side, barely managing to pass between two of the towering Coporan trees.
    “What the…” Loki exclaimed as one of the trees passed directly over their canopy only a few meters away. He could see the flashes of blue-white light from the other three Falcons jumping in behind them, against the tree branches as they streaked by.
    The Falcon snap rolled back to the left, coming level once again.
    “Holy shit!” Josh exclaimed. “They’ve got some big fucking trees, don’t they!”
    Loki ignored his pilot’s comments, focusing on his console displays. They were closing in on the convoy rapidly. “Opening weapons bays; dropping busters! Engaging nose turret!”
     
     
    Four small missiles, two each, dropped from the Falcon’s port and starboard weapons bays, their engines igniting as their tiny winglets deployed. They immediately streaked ahead, slamming into four of the Jung armored vehicles only a few seconds later. As the enemy vehicles exploded, red-orange bolts of plasma from Falcon One’s nose turret peppered the roadway, blowing it to pieces. The plasma bolts found their targets, and although they did not destroy them they instantly superheated their surfaces, causing the men inside to perish as some of their body armor melted and burned them, while others simply burst into flames as the Falcon streaked over their heads and climbed away into the Coporan night sky.
    The surviving vehicles continued down the roadway at top speed. Energy weapons turrets on top of several vehicles rotated to face behind and opened fire on the other three approaching Falcons as, one by one, they too released their weapons and opened fire with their nose turrets.
     
     
    “Did you see that?” Josh exclaimed as they continued to climb. “We blew the shit outta them!”
    “Loop back and continue your climb,” Loki instructed. “Fast movers coming in from three four zero, twelve thousand, ten clicks out.”
    “Got it.”
    “We’ve got two intercepts left,” Loki continued. “Get our nose on them so I can lock on.”
    “No problem,” Josh replied as their climb became inverted. Just before the top of their arc, Josh snap rolled the Falcon right-side up and continued to climb at a thirty degree angle.
    “I’ve got them,” Loki announced. “Six targets, total. Targeting two. Firing intercepts.”
     
     
    Two more missiles dropped out of the Falcon’s weapons bays and streaked away on fiery tails of white-hot thrust. The intercept missiles crossed the now nine kilometer gap between the Falcon and the incoming Jung fighters in a matter of seconds. The first missile slammed into the lead Jung fighter, but the second one missed.
     
     
    “Damn!” Loki swore. “One missed!”
    “We can jump in and take them!” Josh urged.
    “No time!”
    “ Convoy destroyed! ” Falcon Seven reported over the comms.
    “Five Jung fighters inbound!” Loki warned.
    “Falcons, One, Three, Five, and Seven,” the flight controller called over the comms. “Ten seconds to Dragon… Jump, jump, jump!”
    “We’re outta here!” Loki declared as he activated an emergency jump, engulfing their ship in blue-white light.
     
     
    Four jump flashes lit up the night sky, leaving behind the burning wrecks of the Jung convoy on the roadway below. The scene became eerily quiet as the deafening ‘crack’ of the jumps faded away. Only the sounds of the burning wreckage, and the cries of the dying could be heard. In the distance, the sounds of the battle that had been raging at the Jung base only a few kilometers away had