SODIUM:4 Gravity Read Online Free Page A

to an end. His punch from the side missed and I countered with a light blow to his larynx.
    When the third fellow stepped in I ducked well below his throw and again went for the groin shot. With two of the men on the ground and a third gasping for air the fourth put his hands up in surrender. The bar brawl had lasted all of 13 seconds.
    I walked back to the table, downed my drink and left money for the tab and tip. I decided it best we leave before the local law enforcement arrived and carted us off to a cell while attempting to sort things out.
    It was frustrating given the circumstances that the same yahoos were still causing some of the same problems out in the real world. I tried to convince myself that everyone was working hard and with that many people were on edge. They were probably just blowing off steam from a 12 hour workday of their own.
    We returned to the base cantina and had another drink before settling in to our individual quarters. I took the final hour I had off and called on my Grandfather for a bit of comfort and support. All was well at the farm and the year had produced a good harvest.
    But, there were no profits. Only credits. All economies had quickly standardized on credits that could be banked for future use. We all knew that the yoke of government control had been fitted tightly around our necks and shoulders, but with the approaching doom there was little room to complain.
    I knew that one day in the future, if there was a future, that free men would rise up to throw off that yoke. But today was not that day, and the words of encouragement from my Grandfather only worked to solidify my resolve.
    Over the next two months I continued with the training of the four crews that were under my charge. As our training techniques had continued to be refined the crews moved rapidly from level to level in the simulations.
    Tactics were optimized, weapons and ship’s abilities enhanced and schedules pushed. Outside, the base factories were coming into full production. With the three main facilities and numerous smaller ones scattered about we expected to have almost 4,000 crews at the ready come zero hour.
    Each new Defender came with four reactors, eight BHD rings, ten sensors and 32 enhanced drillers. They flew faster and turned tighter, nearly matching the rapid turns of the alien fighters. The coil guns had received a boost in kinetic performance of almost 30%.
    As I oversaw the rewarding of Astro-pins to my first three crews upon their graduation, I was already preparing for the new arrivals. I was then suddenly told to report to the Training Commander’s office.
    When I arrived Shepard was already sitting in a chair in front of his desk. Commander Jake Hargrove had a new assignment for us. We would be heading immediately to a short briefing and then taken topside to the hangars for a mission. I asked about Randy and Raven and was told they would not be going along.
    Commander Hargrove escorted us to the briefing room and then offered a quick nod for good luck as he returned to his own important duties. When I turned my head back towards the others in the room, I was stunned to see our chief scientist David Brenner standing before me. He was the father of the technologies that had thus far saved us from complete destruction by the alien invaders.
    David Brenner made his was over to me and gave a quick hug. He then got on to the business of the upcoming mission. A new experimental Defender was being commissioned in the hangars as we spoke. It held 32 Sodium Fusion Reactors, 20 BHD rings and 24 sensors. It also came with a complement of 64 of the newest Drillers.
    With the additional gear on-board the two rear seats had been removed to make room. The new ship would only hold a pilot and a systems engineer. Our mission would be a run out to the main fleet for surveillance.
    I asked why we had been selected and got a reply. David Brenner had seen video footage of the bar brawl. I had been selected because I