Soldiers of Fortune Read Online Free PDF

open his mouth to speak, the quiet of the night was shattered by a deep, violent rumbling that he could feel in his chest and seemed to shake the very ground.
     
                  "Look!"
     
                  He directed his gaze to where one of his men was pointing and froze; rising slowly out of the fog was a ship, a warship by the looks of it. The mist slid off its hull, clinging to the wings and fuselage as it rose up on its repulsors. It must have been sitting in the valley, hidden in the fog. Senior Agent Caalum was convinced this was the end for him, there was no way he and his men could withstand an assault from such a craft. But he'd be damned if he went out without a fight. "Listen up! Form up in a skirmish line, single file! Fire at will!" To their credit, his men let out an enthusiastic war cry and engaged the hovering ship with their small infantry-style weapons.
     
     
    *               *              *              *              *
                  "We're being engaged by small arms fire, Captain," Kage said as Jason was getting his bearings and setting up his nav waypoints.
     
                  "What the fuck?" he asked, looking up as energy bolts splashed harmlessly against the ablative coating of the hull. He had to admire their courage, however misguided. "Put the shields up and jam their com transmissions. We're out of here," he said as he grabbed the throttle. He had absolutely no intention of firing on a group of law enforcement officers who only thought they were doing their jobs. However, he wasn't above scaring the living hell out of them. Smiling, he slammed the throttle forward, eliciting an explosive roar from the main engines. The Phoenix eagerly lunged ahead towards the street and the still-firing CIS agents. Jason dipped the nose towards them and brought the gunship roaring over their heads before climbing away into the night. Fortunately, the mains were still in low-output mode with the exhaust nozzles choked down, so the ringing in their ears would fade in a few hours. Instead of never.
                  The Phoenix ghosted over the trees, her captain intent on making it back to the river and out to the Western Sea. The original plan was to try and sneak up and under the next scheduled freighter that would be trying to make orbit and ride out with it, but that plan had been dependent on them not being detected. Now things were in a state of flux. Eh... I didn't think that plan would actually work anyway.
     
                  "Recall the twins, they can't do anymore out there and I don't want to leave them behind if we have to shoot our way out of here," he said quietly to Kage. He was trying to exude confidence for the sake of his passengers, but inside he had grave misgivings about their chances on making it out of the system. The picket ships were powerful, plentiful, and itching for a chance like this. We may have bitten off more than we can chew on this one...
     
                  "The twins are inbound," Kage said. "Slip-reactor is prepped and the emitters are ready for emergency charge. Our range might be limited depending on how quickly you try to engage the slip-drive."
     
                  "Understood." Jason weighed his options carefully, trying to push ahead with their original exfiltration plan would require them to fly dangerously close to Corran City and its extensive sensor network. It would also mean flying in blind since their own sensors would pinpoint their location instantly. Trying to simply fly up out of the atmosphere on a random vector also would end badly; the planet was still heavily contested and low orbit positively seethed with powerful military vessels. Jason believed one of the tenants of being a good leader was knowing when he didn't have the answer, so he asked, "I don't like our planned exfil.