Frontiers Saga 12: Rise of the Alliance Read Online Free Page B

you talking about? We’ve been to several of them.”
    “Not with this many people,” Loki said.
    Josh peered into the room from behind Loki. “Damn, there are a lot of people in here, aren’t there.” Josh pushed Loki forward. “Come on, let’s find a seat.”
    Josh stepped around Loki and started heading for a pair of seats in the back row of the main section of the briefing room.
    “Where are you going?” Loki asked, seeming slightly panicked.
    “There’s two seats over there, Loki.”
    “In the middle of everyone? Maybe we should sit in the back?”
    “Why?”
    “Humor me.”
    “Okay.” Josh turned and followed his friend up the steps on the side of the room and up to the second to the last row in the gallery, taking two of the empty seats near a cluster of Corinari pilots who had been on board the Aurora since they had first left the Pentaurus cluster. “Kind of far back, isn’t it?” he asked as they sat.
    Loki looked across the rows of seats below. “Most of the four zero two crews are down front.”
    “You know, it is better back here,” Josh realized. “We can make smart comments and the CAG can’t hear us.”
    “Just be quiet, Josh,” Loki warned. “There’s got to be a reason that Major Prechitt asked us to come to this briefing.”
    “Yeah, it did seem kind of strange,” Josh agreed, “seeing as how we don’t have a ship, and all.”
    Loki continued to scan the room. His brow furrowed slightly. He leaned toward Josh. “Why is everyone looking at us?”
    “Because we’re famous, remember?” Josh waved at the some of the four zero two crews that were looking back toward them. “How’s it going, guys?”
    “Oh, jeez, Josh,” Loki exclaimed. “You don’t even know them.”
    “Hey, they’re looking at us, remember.”
    “Remain seated!” Major Prechitt ordered as he entered the room with Major McCullum following close behind. Major Prechitt stepped up to the podium and immediately began to speak. “To those of you who have recently joined us, first I’d like to welcome you aboard. Second, I’d like to warn you that you might as well forget most of the combat tactics that you learned in the Corinari, as ninety percent of it won’t work in the Sol sector. The Jung are a completely different type of pilot. They fight to the death, they don’t believe in surrender, and they don’t believe in mercy. Luckily, the Jung seem to believe in quantity over quality, as most of the pilots that we’ve faced thus far were not that skilled. In addition, their ships, while fairly effective in space, are poorly designed for atmospheric flight. If you do run into a good pilot, get him to chase you down into the atmosphere and you’ll be able to fly circles around him. Of course, none of that really matters to those of you flying the four zero twos, as you’re better off using the jump and shoot approach rather than straightforward dogfighting. Do not let your instincts to engage the enemy in the traditional sense take over. You’ve been blessed with jump drives. In combat, I strongly suggest you use them. I urge you four zero two crews to review the flight data from all of the Falcon’s engagements. You’ll learn quite a bit.”
    “Oh, don’t let your head start swelling up,” Loki said under his breath. He looked at Josh next to him, noticing the change in his posture and expression. “Too late.”
    “Incidentally,” Major Prechitt continued, “the four zero twos will now be referred to as ‘J-F-Four-Zero-Two Falcon’, or ‘Falcon’ for short. We will be forming a second air wing specifically for the Falcons. This wing will be under the command of Major McCullum.”
    “That sucks,” Josh mumbled as the major continued his briefing. “There can only be one ‘Falcon’.”
    “I don’t know,” Loki disagreed, “I think it’s pretty cool. Sort of an homage.”
    Josh looked at him. “A what?”
    “A sign of respect.”
    “Yeah, right. None of those four zero twos