Hello, my name is Jack.\u00a0 The Shang hit us hard.\u00a0 Real hard.\u00a0 We stood back up and the Peloran stood with us.\u00a0 We figured as far away as they were from home, all we had to do was hit \u2019em hard and we would have a short and victorious war.\u00a0 We were wrong.\u00a0 Of course some of us were Cowboys, and Cowboys don\u2019t give up just \u2019cause the getting\u2019 gets tough.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Crickets welcomed the morning, a faint sound on the edge of his hearing.\u00a0 The lake spread out before him, waves gently lapping against the sandy beach, tickling his toes.\u00a0 Sunlight burned the mist away, glinting off the waves.\u00a0 Three beautiful young ladies rose out of the lake, water streaming down their bodies.\u00a0 Jack smiled.\u00a0 This was going to be a beautiful morning.<\/p>\n
Alarms rang, and Jack frowned.\u00a0 That sound didn\u2019t belong on the beach.<\/p>\n
\u201cWarning, warning, this is not a drill,\u201d a voice he knew<\/em> did not belong near this lake announced in a calm voice.\u00a0 \u201cAll personnel to Battle Stations.\u00a0 This is not a drill.\u00a0 All personnel to Battle Stations.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAh crap,\u201d Jack said and reluctantly opened his eyes, sending the wonderful dream about the blonde, brunette, and redhead to the place where dreams go when they fade away.\u00a0 He saw the dull grey bulkheads and shook his head.\u00a0 This really sucked.\u00a0 He sniffed and slid out of his rack, avoiding the other pilots doing the same, and grabbed the bits of his uniform.\u00a0 He pulled it on, stuffed his feet into his boots, and ran out into the corridor ahead of the other pilots, still buttoning the last of his buttons.<\/p>\n \u201cWarning, warning, this is not a drill,\u201d Connie continued to announce over the speakers as Jack ran towards the flight deck, the other pilots behind him.<\/p>\n \u201cBetty!\u00a0 What\u2019s going on?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRight here, Jack,\u201d the cyber answered in his right ear, her holographic image appearing on his shoulder in full uniform.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s been another attack.\u00a0 The Shang hit Fort Wichita with a hyper missile salvo.\u00a0 They\u2019re trying to sweep up the survivors now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd we\u2019re moving to stop them?\u201d\u00a0 Jack jumped through the hatch.\u00a0 The inner hangar opened up before him and he whistled.\u00a0 After three months, he still loved entering the business end of the U.S.S. Constellation<\/em>.\u00a0 \u201cWow,\u201d he whispered.\u00a0 Pilots for the other eleven squadrons, all navy, spilled out of their sleeping quarters, making for their fighters in the massive open hangar bay that ran the length of the carrier.\u00a0 Looking towards the bow, he saw the multi-colored spectrum of hyperspace through the energy curtain that held the air in.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you,\u201d Connie said from a nearby speaker.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s always nice to be appreciated.\u00a0 And to answer your question, yes, we are moving to protect Fort Wichita.\u00a0 Please get in your fighter.\u00a0 We are approaching the launch point.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, Mom,\u201d Jack answered and ran deeper into Cowboy Country.\u00a0 He came to a stop at his fighter and climbed up the ladder provided for him.\u00a0 He dropped into the cockpit and watched the displays come to life around him.<\/p>\n \u201cWelcome, Jack,\u201d Betty\u2019s voice said from the fighter\u2019s speakers as the canopy began to close.\u00a0 Her avatar jumped off his shoulder and landed on top of the instrument panel with a dancer\u2019s grace.<\/p>\n \u201cStatus?\u201d Jack asked as he smiled at her and buckled himself in snuggly.<\/p>\n \u201cAll computer and weapons systems are online and operational,\u201d Betty said with a smile.\u00a0 \u201cThe reactors are still warming up to full power and should be ready in one minute.\u00a0 You beat me again.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cExcellent,\u201d Jack said.\u00a0 He scanned the hangar, watching the other pilots scramble into their fighters.\u00a0 The canopy finished closing, locking them off from outside eyes.<\/p>\n Betty stretched and the uniform faded away, the yellow sundress she preferred fading back into existence.\u00a0 \u201cMuch better,\u201d she said and sat down on the instrument panel, crossing her legs with a satisfied smile.\u00a0 \u201cNow,\u201d she said, her voice back to business, and pointed towards a display that came to life.<\/p>\n Jack saw the fleet holding in space over America, in combat with the Shang, and pursed his lips.\u00a0 An American destroyer drifted towards Earth, most of its power systems offline.\u00a0 A quarter light second below it, Fort Wichita belched flame and wreckage into space, damage caused by the surprise attack.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was two minutes ago,\u201d Betty said and the scene shifted to show a Peloran battleship and her escorts smash into the Shang fleet\u2019s flank.\u00a0 \u201cAnd that was thirty seconds ago.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to hit them in the other<\/em> flank as soon as we are ready to launch.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cExcellent,\u201d Jack said with a dark smile that said just how ready he was to kill some Shang.<\/p>\n Betty\u2019s eyes narrowed at the tone of his voice.\u00a0 \u201cBe careful, Jack.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCareful\u2019s my middle name,\u201d he answered and began tapping displays to make certain the fighter was ready.\u00a0 It was make-work really.\u00a0 Betty had already done it all, but it was time to look busy.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s not what I meant and you know it,\u201d she said in a scolding tone.\u00a0 \u201cYou know<\/em> my terms.\u00a0 When this war is over\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Jack raised one hand and met her gaze, his jaw set stubbornly.\u00a0 \u201cWhen?\u00a0 How can you be so sure we\u2019ll win?\u201d<\/p>\n Betty pursed her lips.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m not.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure the war will end though, win or lose, and when it does, you know<\/em> my terms.\u00a0 I won\u2019t be\u2026this\u2026forever,\u201d she said with a wave of her hand towards the hangar around them.\u00a0 \u201cThis is our job<\/em>.\u00a0 Don\u2019t let it become your life<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Jack set his jaw harder.\u00a0 \u201cTell that to the people who don\u2019t have<\/em> a life anymore thanks to those Shang<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Betty gave him a sad smile.\u00a0 \u201cI understand,\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n His eyes narrowed and he almost asked how she could.\u00a0 He kept his mouth closed and shook his head, though.\u00a0 He pushed the anger that almost made him say that away, took a deep breath, and let it go again.\u00a0 He closed his eyes, opened them, and met her gaze.\u00a0 \u201cYeah, me too.\u201d\u00a0 He placed his hand on the panel next to her, apologizing for what he almost said.<\/p>\n She blinked, meeting his gaze, and he had the feeling she knew what he hadn\u2019t said.\u00a0 Her smile grew happier though and she placed her small hand on his finger, turning the projectors in the fighter up to solid so he could feel her.\u00a0 \u201cThen let\u2019s do our job<\/em>, Jack.\u201d<\/p>\n He nodded towards her.\u00a0 \u201cYeah.\u00a0 Our job.\u201d\u00a0 He looked outside to see the last of the Cowboys climbing into their fighters.\u00a0 \u201cSpeaking of which.\u201d\u00a0 The last canopy began to close.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is Cowboy One to all Cowboys,\u201d Lieutenant Colonel Johanson transmitted from his fighter.\u00a0 \u201cDo you read?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRoger,\u201d Cowboy Six answered, and the sixth light appeared on Jack\u2019s display.\u00a0 As each pilot added his \u201cRoger\u201d to the list, another light appeared until only one light remained dark.<\/p>\n \u201cRoger,\u201d Jack transmitted and his light came on.<\/p>\n \u201cExcellent,\u201d Johanson transmitted.\u00a0 \u201cDatalinks are sweet.\u00a0 Now we have a change in plans, Cowboys.\u00a0 Mom, can you beam me out?\u201d he asked as his fighter pulled up off the deck.<\/p>\n \u201cYour beam, Cowboys,\u201d Connie said over the speakers as a beam of red light appeared in the middle of the hangar, leading out to the bow.\u00a0 \u201cGood luck with your mission.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThanks, Mom,\u201d Johanson transmitted.\u00a0 \u201cSnuggle up, Cowboys, and stay on my beam.\u201d\u00a0 His fighter\u2019s engines flared to life and he accelerated away.<\/p>\n Jack relaxed back in his seat as Betty took the fighter off the deck, slotting into line just below another Cowboy.\u00a0 Betty accelerated to follow while maintaining formation with the other Cowboys and stayed on the beam.\u00a0 Ahead of them, the other squadrons pulled away from the beam, giving them clear traffic out of the hangar.\u00a0 The fighter passed through the energy curtain holding the air in and they were in hyperspace.<\/p>\n Jack looked to starboard, where the U.S.S. New Jersey<\/em> held station two kilometers away, even her kilometer-long bulk almost fading into the background in the multicolored kaleidoscope that was hyperspace.\u00a0 He could barely spot the rest of the task force escorting the Constellation<\/em>, on the absolute edge of detection range.\u00a0 Detection ranges in hyperspace were so short that only the centermost ships of a standard formation could see everybody in the fleet.\u00a0 In really big fleets, fleet command depended on other ships to tell them where the rest of the formation lay.<\/p>\n \u201cStay on me,\u201d Johanson ordered and pulled up.\u00a0 Jack and the other Cowboys followed, moving above the carrier.\u00a0 \u201cCowboy Flight is away, Mom.\u00a0 You are clear to maneuver.\u00a0 Good hunting.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGood hunting, Cowboys,\u201d Connie answered and the Constellation<\/em> turned towards the New Jersey<\/em>.\u00a0 \u201cCommencing translation in\u2026three\u2026two\u2026one\u2026now.\u201d\u00a0 Her transmission cut out as the fleet carrier flashed and disappeared.\u00a0 The other ships of the squadron flashed and disappeared as well, leaving the Cowboys alone in the sea of hyperspace.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat are we doing, sir?\u201d Jack asked, his plot still showing the last update of the battle, with the Peloran squadron driving deeper into the Shang flank.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re waiting,\u201d Johanson answered with an amused tone.\u00a0 \u201cThe Shang have to have a reserve.\u00a0 This is too small an attack force to punch us out.\u00a0 So we are waiting for them to commit that reserve.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAh\u2026and then we flank them,\u201d Jack said with a smile.<\/p>\n \u201cExactly,\u201d Johanson transmitted.\u00a0 \u201cSo right now, we snuggle up and wait for word.\u201d<\/p>\n A message drone flashed into being in front of their formation.\u00a0 It flashed them a datadump and Jack winced at the story it told.\u00a0 The New Jersey<\/em> and the Peloran squadron between them had hammered the Shang force into the defending line, destroying several Shang warships in seconds.\u00a0 And ten seconds ago, another Shang force had arrived to surround the Peloran squadron.\u00a0 The data cut, showing when the drone had been sent.<\/p>\n \u201cOr maybe we don\u2019t wait much at all,\u201d Johanson added.\u00a0 A beam appeared on the plot, aiming towards the point in hyperspace that correlated with the new Shang flank.\u00a0 \u201cCowboy One to all Cowboys.\u00a0 Stay snuggled and follow my beam,\u201d Johanson ordered and accelerated down the beam.<\/p>\n Jack interlaced his fingers and cracked his knuckles, getting ready for action as Betty followed orders, maintaining perfect formation with the other cybers.\u00a0 He watched the display, marking their approach towards their target.<\/p>\n \u201cCheck your music,\u201d Johanson ordered.<\/p>\n Jack turned to Betty and she smiled.\u00a0 The jammers were active.\u00a0 The fighter accelerated again, following Johanson\u2019s fighter.\u00a0 He glanced at the displays to confirm that they were as shallow as possible in hyperspace, not moving more than a few meters per second faster than the same speed in normal space.\u00a0 They were approaching full correlation between the two, the point where it would take the least amount of energy possible to jump between them.\u00a0 Even at the wall though, it still took a lot of energy to translate, more than any other Terran fighter had ever been able to generate before.<\/p>\n \u201cTranslate in three\u2026two\u2026one\u2026now!\u201d Johanson ordered.<\/p>\n Jack saw a flash of blinding light, blinked, and when his eyes opened the stars glinted in a black sky.\u00a0 He scanned the battle all around him, taking everything in.\u00a0 Earth lay below them just over a light-second away, America in full view.\u00a0 A map display showed the moon and her forts on the far side of Earth, too far away to be of much use here.\u00a0 He squinted and the view zoomed in to show him a squadron of Chinese warships moving in over the Pacific.\u00a0 Fort Honolulu fired towards them, warning them away from the Hawaii Orbitals.\u00a0 So far, only the Shang seemed willing to fight inside the Lunar Orbit and Jack really hoped the Chinese didn\u2019t decide to join in now.<\/p>\n He turned to scan the main battle and had just enough time to recognize what he was seeing.\u00a0 Missiles from Earth, the Moon, and various Western Alliance Forts streamed into the battle, but when a missile\u2019s flight time was measured in seconds it was real easy for point defense batteries firing from each Shang ship to kill it.\u00a0 The ground and low-orbit light or gravity based weapons were quiet, too far away to hit anything if they fired.\u00a0 The Shang now surrounded the American and the Peloran squadrons still protecting Fort Wichita, pouring energy and short-range missile fire into their targets.\u00a0 They\u2019d brought in more reinforcements while the Cowboys moved to this location, and the wreckage of starships floated all around the battlefield, some falling deeper into the gravity well.\u00a0 This was going to be another rough day for the planet if those didn\u2019t get pulled back up.<\/p>\n Directly ahead of the Cowboys, the Peloran squadron fought for its life, a Shang cruiser between them.\u00a0 Jack squinted and saw the light sheer around the Shang ship showing that its deflection grid was at full power.\u00a0 Nearly all of it was aimed at the Peloran squadron.\u00a0 He saw laser batteries shooting down missiles and fighters between the two forces, and a Peloran destroyer belched fire and fell out of formation.<\/p>\n \u201cFire!\u201d Johanson snapped and the universe turned inside out.<\/p>\n Jack had been told that, to all intents and purposes, a gravitic cannon grabbed the laws of gravity by the neck with both hands and throttled them.\u00a0 About all the physics he could remember was something about hundreds of gravities of gravitic sheer compressed into a five centimeter \u201cbeam.\u201d\u00a0 It was a decidedly unpleasant experience when two such \u201cbeams\u201d passed within meters of the cockpit on either side and made the human inner ear think that \u201cdown\u201d was to both sides simultaneously.\u00a0 The eggheads said there were no permanent side effects.\u00a0 Jack doubted them.\u00a0 The Peloran placed their<\/em> grav cannons outside<\/em> their ships after all, very far away from any fragile biological crewmembers.\u00a0 There had to be a reason for that.<\/p>\n There were twelve Avengers in Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 112, and each of them carried two grav cannons.\u00a0 The Shang cruiser had the vast majority of its deflection grid aimed at the Peloran ships, with very little power dedicated to the direction the Cowboys came from.\u00a0 Twenty-four cannons ripped through the deflection grid like it was tissue paper and drove deep into the ship\u2019s structure.\u00a0 A moment later, forty-eight lasers began to fire, pulsing from one target to the next, running from nose to stern, destroying every external sensor, weapon, or engine port they could detect.<\/p>\n In the end, the laser fire wasn\u2019t needed.\u00a0 One of the grav cannons breached the missile magazine for the forward missile bays.\u00a0 The missiles were in safety shut down mode, not yet sent to the bays for firing, but when the gravitic beam slashed through the magazine, it effectively tore several of the missiles apart and compacted them inside the beam\u2019s area of effect, causing a large percentage of the missiles\u2019 mass, some of which was energetically active when brought together, to combine in extremely unstable ways.\u00a0 Once the beam passed through, and hundreds of gravities of sheer no longer held the missiles together, the pieces of former fusion-powered missiles once again became separate.<\/p>\n The separation was suitably explosive and the bow of the Shang ship vaporized.\u00a0 The ship slewed violently out of formation, spraying wreckage as it spun away from the battle.<\/p>\n Cowboy squadron spun as one, the cybers in charge still acting in unison, and aimed at another cruiser.\u00a0 \u201cFire,\u201d Johanson ordered and twenty-four grav cannons ripped into another target.<\/p>\n Their second target was prepared, spending the seconds it took for the Cowboys to kill its compatriot to reorient its deflection grid to protect itself from their attack.\u00a0 Twenty of the beams twisted off into space where distance and loss of control made them impotent after a mere few hundred kilometers.\u00a0 One of those slew through a flight of Peloran missiles and they exploded spectacularly in empty space.\u00a0 The other four cannons managed a direct enough hit to penetrate the grid and did some damage to the armor, but none of them had enough power and control left to break through the dense armored hull.<\/p>\n The same could not be said about the four much larger grav cannons the Peloran battleship fired a moment later.\u00a0 Mere seconds before, the Shang deflection grid had held, twisting the Peloran weapons away in the most classic of all defenses, not being where the weapons fire arrived.\u00a0 Now a significant percentage of the cruiser\u2019s total reactor load was spent holding the fighters on their flank to \u201cmere\u201d armor damage.\u00a0 All four Peloran beams smashed through the weakened deflection grids and hit the cruiser like the hammers of ancient gods.\u00a0 The Peloran capital weapons were not<\/em> measured in mere hundreds of gravities, or in centimeters.\u00a0 The second Shang cruiser did not<\/em> explode.\u00a0 The four beams sucked sections of the ship in, compressing the compartments inside each one, ripping the ship into ever-smaller sections.\u00a0 When the beams faded away, tiny compressed metallic pebbles and larger undamaged but no longer connected pieces of ship fanned away from where a ship of war had fought seconds ago.<\/p>\n \u201cMy God,\u201d Jack whispered in awe.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah,\u201d Betty answered in a low voice.<\/p>\n The displays flashed in warning and Jack\u2019s eyes went wide.\u00a0 It hadn\u2019t taken long for the Shang to send a couple squadrons of fighters their way at all.<\/p>\n \u201cGo HOTAS and bring the fangs out!\u201d Johanson ordered as forty Shang fighters bore down on them.<\/p>\n Jack smiled at the age-old order and placed his hands on the throttle and stick.\u00a0 If the Shang wanted a dogfight, they were going to get one.\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s dance,\u201d he said and pulled the stick over.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s time for the Tango,\u201d Betty answered as the Cowboy formation exploded, fighters peeling away into flights of two fighters.<\/p>\n \u201cSounds good to me.\u201d\u00a0 Jack brought the stick hard over again, and felt the fighter buck around him from a near miss.\u00a0 He really wasn\u2019t doing the lion\u2019s share of the work, even now.\u00a0 Betty did most of it, with her near-light-speed reaction time, maneuvering the fighter in a nearly random program of evasive maneuvers.\u00a0 The problem was, that even the best cybers were simply not truly<\/em> random, and with enough experience they could be predicted.<\/p>\n Jack pulled the throttle back hard and the engines flared to life.\u00a0 If asked, he would have said he had no idea why he did it.\u00a0 He just felt like doing it.\u00a0 He was embracing the randomness of life that he was best at.\u00a0 A split second later, a missile passed through where they would have been and went on its merry way.<\/p>\n \u201cBetty, I do<\/em> think someone\u2019s trying to shoot us.\u00a0 Do you have an answer?\u201d\u00a0 He flicked the stick over, altering their course just a little bit to starboard.\u00a0 Betty maneuvered them around that base course, thrusters flaring with each shift, while the laser turret spun and fired.<\/p>\n \u201cResponse on the way,\u201d Betty returned.\u00a0 \u201cDamn.\u00a0 Deflection grid held.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo it,\u201d Jack ordered and set his teeth.<\/p>\n The Avenger spun around on its axis, turning towards its attacker, as another almost random flare of thrusters sent her up and over a salvo of missiles.\u00a0 The laser turret pulsed the deflection grid on full repeater mode, bending away from the target with each shot.\u00a0 The grav cannons missed the Shang fighter that was desperately maneuvering to avoid being killed, but swept across its deflection grid, collapsing it instantly.\u00a0 The four barrels of the laser turret went to rapid fire, shredding the fighter in seconds as the Avenger spun back to face her general course.<\/p>\n Jack swallowed as a frigate came back into view, her laser turrets and missile bays spraying all over the Cowboy formation.\u00a0 He glanced at the displays to see that a quarter of the Shang fighters, one credited to his wingman, were down with no Cowboy casualties.\u00a0 A flash of light heralded a successful missile strike on Johanson\u2019s fighter.\u00a0 Jack gritted his teeth as the Colonel\u2019s Avenger spun out of control, deflection grid sputtering in and out.<\/p>\n \u201cCover him!\u201d Jack ordered and Betty brought their Avenger around to fire the grav cannons at a fighter trying to take advantage of the Colonel\u2019s situation.\u00a0 Lasers followed up and the Shang fighter ceased to exist.<\/p>\n The frigate focused fire though and Johanson\u2019s fighter ripped apart under the assault.\u00a0 His wingman banked away, lasers playing across more Shang fighters, but the frigate\u2019s fire turned to destroy it too.<\/p>\n \u201cDamn,\u201d Jack whispered, scanning the plot quickly.\u00a0 The two senior officers, the only two Cowboys who had been pilots when The War started, were gone, just like that.\u00a0 The Peloran squadron was making headway against its attackers, and the Peloran fighter formation was reforming now that the Cowboys had pulled some of the Shang off their case.\u00a0 But if they didn\u2019t do something about the damned frigates, they were all going to be in a world of hurt.<\/p>\n \u201cLock that target,\u201d he ordered, looking at the frigate.\u00a0 Somebody had to kill it after all.\u00a0 He took in a deep breath, readying himself to give the order.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t the highest ranked of those remaining, but somebody had to give the order to do it.<\/p>\n \u201cWait one second,\u201d Betty said, smiling at him.<\/p>\n Jack let the breath out slowly, gazing at Betty\u2019s hologram.<\/p>\n \u201cCowboy Three to all Cowboys,\u201d a voice transmitted into his cockpit as the frigate flashed on his displays, showing the whole datalink had locked it.\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s kill it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOorah,\u201d Jack answered without hesitation in chorus with the other Cowboys.\u00a0 He smiled at Betty.\u00a0 \u201cYou knew.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI knew,\u201d she returned, her avatar looking towards the frigate in the distance.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t worry, Jack.\u00a0 Your time will come.\u00a0 I have faith in you.\u201d<\/p>\n The Cowboys swung around, locking onto the frigate, and twenty grav cannons fired on the frigate.\u00a0 It was a much smaller target than the cruisers they\u2019d fired on before, designed for fighter suppression.\u00a0 True warships could destroy it with relative ease, while it lacked the heavy weapons to threaten larger warships.\u00a0 That was probably why the Peloran warships had mostly ignored it and its sisters in favor of ships that were actually penetrating their deflection grids.\u00a0 Unfortunately for the frigate, the Avengers mounted gravitic cannons designed to take down larger warship deflection grids.\u00a0 A grid designed to deflect the lighter cannons fighters typically carried collapsed under the Avengers\u2019 fire and the frigate belched atmosphere and fire.\u00a0 The laser turrets played across it and the frigate began to drift out of the conflict, power systems sputtering out.<\/p>\n The displays flashed and Jack glanced up to see Cowboy Seven\u2019s damage codes going red.\u00a0 Her nose flew away, separated by the concentrated fire of a dozen Shang fighters.\u00a0 Her laser turret went with it.\u00a0 The damaged fighter swung away from her attackers, trying to open the range.<\/p>\n \u201cCovering fire!\u201d Cowboy Three ordered and nine Avengers swung around as they maneuvered randomly, avoiding enemy fire as much as possible.\u00a0 Gravity twisted through the Shang formation, ripping deflection grids and fighters apart, and thirty-six laser barrels sought out the survivors.<\/p>\n Jack brought the stick over, because he felt like it, and scanned the displays.\u00a0 Two more of those frigates still harassed the Peloran fighters, ripping holes in their screening formation.\u00a0 Someone had to do something about them soon.<\/p>\n \u201cBetty?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n \u201cAlmost certainly,\u201d she answered.<\/p>\n A frigate flashed in the display.\u00a0 \u201cCowboy Three to all Cowboys.\u00a0 Flights Four, Five, and Six, focus on that frigate and kill it.\u00a0 Flights Two and Three, we will provide covering fire.\u00a0 Now!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOorah,\u201d Jack said and swung his fighter around to face the last of the Shang fighters sent to harass them.\u00a0 Six Avengers, including the injured Seven that still had two very functional main cannons, charged forward deeper into the battle that raged around the Peloran squadron.<\/p>\n \u201cFire \u2019em up, Betty,\u201d Jack ordered and kept his eyes scanning for threats as he maneuvered them wherever he felt like going at that particular moment.\u00a0 The grav cannons and lasers lanced out, taking down another fighter, and the survivors broke away, leaving the rear of the Avenger formation unmolested.<\/p>\n The head of the formation fired and twelve waves of gravitic sheer tore into the frigate.\u00a0 The frigate bucked under the assault, its deflection grid failing, and armor ripped away.\u00a0 A squadron of Peloran heavy fighters took advantage of the situation, hammering its other flank with lasers and breacher missiles, and explosions wreathed it from stem to stern.<\/p>\n More Shang fighters swarmed in and Jack and the other three Cowboys spun to fire on them.\u00a0 He scanned, watching the frigate break apart under the assault and took in a deep breath.<\/p>\n The Peloran battleship and her escorts accelerated past the third frigate, her heavy fighters ripping into it on the way by.\u00a0 Massive rents in the Peloran ships\u2019 flanks spewed wreckage and atmosphere into space.\u00a0 It was obvious they\u2019d taken a severe beating in the last few minutes but they continued to accelerate, firing into the rest of the Shang formation, breacher missiles and grav cannons shredding the deflection grids with their gravitic interference.\u00a0 Lasers punched through, and for a second the Peloran ships were close enough they even fired kinetic lances at a significant percentage of the speed of light.\u00a0 More Shang ships and piece of ships spun away and the formation scattered, individual ships jumping to hyperspace with a flash of light.<\/p>\n A face appeared on the display and smiled at them.\u00a0 \u201cThank you.\u00a0 You saved me from taking heavy damage.\u201d<\/p>\n Jack looked over at Betty with a raised eyebrow.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s Hal,\u201d she answered his unspoken question.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s the Guardian Light<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAh.\u00a0 Of course,\u201d Jack returned.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s a pleasure to help,\u201d he said to the warship.<\/p>\n Betty cocked her head to the side before smiling.\u00a0 \u201cNew orders coming in.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCowboy Three to all Cowboys.\u00a0 Engage datalinks with the Peloran squadron.\u00a0 Slot in and prepare to protect them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOorah,\u201d Jack and the others answered without a pause.\u00a0 \u201cBetty?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWay ahead of you, Jack. \u00a0Datalinks are synced\u2026now.\u201d<\/p>\n The displays flashed and he saw the Peloran squadron arrayed in them with new codes that showed their situation.\u00a0 Bad.\u00a0 Nearly half their point defense was gone, most of their missiles and lances had been expended, and their armor was a memory in more places than he wanted to think about.<\/p>\n \u201cDamn,\u201d Jack whispered.\u00a0 \u201cIf that\u2019s not heavy damage, I don\u2019t think I want to see<\/em> heavy damage.\u201d<\/p>\n Hal\u2019s smile deepened.\u00a0 \u201cI do not wish to see it again either.\u00a0 Hence the reason for my thanks.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRight.\u00a0 Betty, link us into their point defense network and let\u2019s see about keeping them from taking heavy damage.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOn it, Jack.\u201d<\/p>\n The Peloran squadron turned and accelerated towards the American fleet covering Fort Wichita.\u00a0 Nearly half the American ships were dead in space and every single one of the others, even the mighty New Jersey<\/em>, spewed atmosphere out of holes in their flanks.\u00a0 All of them, even the battered fort, continued to fire on the Shang, though.\u00a0 A quick scan of the displays showed that half of the Shang ships were similarly battered, drifting towards Earth and a very messy landing if they weren\u2019t stopped, but they still had the advantage of numbers and the American forces were taking extreme damage.<\/p>\n Jack blinked as he saw something else appear on the displays.\u00a0 Squadrons of fighters from every major nation of the Western Alliance were launching from their ground bases, rising up towards space.\u00a0 The Russians and Chinese were doing the same, and Low Earth Orbit was beginning to become a very busy place.\u00a0 Jack swallowed.\u00a0 If the Lunar Treaty fell, if war erupted inside the Lunar Orbital, it would be beyond catastrophic for every soul on Earth.\u00a0 If the treaty held, the Shang would lose their advantage in numbers in a few minutes at most.<\/p>\n A face appeared on one of the displays, a face every school child born in the last century knew very well.\u00a0 It was the face of the Peloran who made Contact with that British squadron a hundred years ago.\u00a0 He smiled.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is Admiral Aneerin of the Peloran Confederation,\u201d he said as if he did not have a care in the world.\u00a0 \u201cYour attempt to destroy Fort Wichita was admirable but it has failed.\u00a0 You are now out of time.\u00a0 I am free of the ships you thought would pin me in place and reinforcements are coming.\u00a0 You may destroy a few more ships if you stay, but you will not<\/em> destroy the fort, while we will<\/em> destroy every ship that remains to try, and then I<\/em> will track down every ship that flees and kill them<\/em>.\u00a0 This is your only<\/em> chance to decide your fate.\u00a0 Flee now, and I will let you go.\u00a0 Stay, and I will<\/em> kill you all<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 A Shang heavy cruiser flashed red in the displays.\u00a0 \u201cAll ships will fire on that<\/em> target in five\u2026four\u2026three\u2026two\u2026\u201d Aneerin continued, a hand raised and lowering a finger at each count.<\/p>\n A flash of light engulfed the ship and it disappeared into hyperspace.\u00a0 More flashes of light heralded the retreat of other Shang ships, first one, then two and three at a time.\u00a0 Ten seconds later, only the Shang cripples remained, floating around the field of battle.<\/p>\n The transmission faded away and Jack let out a breath he hadn\u2019t realized he was holding.\u00a0 \u201cMy\u2026God,\u201d he whispered.\u00a0 A display showed the Chinese squadron moving away from Hawaii and back towards their orbitals.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah,\u201d Betty answered.<\/p>\n \u201cHe stopped it,\u201d Jack whispered.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo you think he was bluffing?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMe neither.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think I want to play poker with him.\u201d\u00a0 Jack leaned back in his seat as the surviving Shang fighters retreated as well, moving towards deep space and a probable pickup by their mother ships.<\/p>\n \u201cMe neither.\u201d\u00a0 Betty gasped and brought a hand up to get his attention.\u00a0 \u201cOrders coming in!\u201d<\/p>\n Jack raised an eyebrow at her as another face appeared on the displays.\u00a0 Woodchuck.\u00a0 Cowboy Three.<\/p>\n \u201cMom has taken heavy damage,\u201d Woodchuck said.\u00a0 \u201cCowboy Country is a big hole in her side.\u00a0 We can\u2019t land right now, but the Peloran have invited us to refuel and repair on their flagship.\u201d\u00a0 He gave them all an aristocratic raise of the head.\u00a0 \u201cI have accepted.\u00a0 Are there any who would disagree with me?\u201d<\/p>\n Jack pursed his lips and glanced at Betty.\u00a0 She nodded towards Woodchuck\u2019s image.\u00a0 He was really just one of the new recruits, no seniority except for test scores and a rich family over the rest of them.\u00a0 And now he was giving them the chance to accept or challenge him.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t the smartest thing to do in a lot of ways, but it fit him.\u00a0 Jack nodded at Betty.\u00a0 \u201cNot from this peanuts gallery, Chief,\u201d he said with a wry smile.<\/p>\n The other Cowboys echoed his statement and Jack relaxed in his seat, smiling at Betty.\u00a0 She gave him an approving look.\u00a0 It seemed Woodchuck had a new call sign.<\/p>\n \u201cOk, men,\u201d Chief said, sounding like the heir of a wealthy family, sure of his seniority over everyone else.\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s go in tight, let\u2019s put our best foot forward, and let\u2019s make certain they don\u2019t regret inviting us over to visit.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOorah,\u201d the Cowboys answered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hello, my name is Jack.\u00a0 The Shang hit us hard.\u00a0 Real hard.\u00a0 We stood back up and the Peloran stood with us.\u00a0 We figured as far away as they were from home, all we had to do was hit \u2019em[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2304-forge-of-war-1stdraft","uentry","postonpage-1","odd","post-author-jack"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackofharts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackofharts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackofharts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackofharts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackofharts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=379"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jackofharts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":381,"href":"https:\/\/jackofharts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379\/revisions\/381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackofharts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackofharts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackofharts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}