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thrust from the lifting thrusters allowed the airflow to push their nose back, but they were now flying backwards, and still being bounced about. Josh straightened his right leg, jamming his right rudder pedal as far in as possible. The Falcon’s tail slid to port, and a slight forward pressure on his flight control stick brought their nose down just enough for the aerodynamic forces acting upon their craft to swing it around into a normal, forward-facing, diving attitude along their path of flight. Josh pushed the nose down harder and rolled to port, this time jamming his left foot in to force their tail to slide hard to starboard. He again fired all four of his lift thrusters to keep them in an abnormally tight turn, one that the Falcon was never designed to perform.
    “That’s it!” Loki cried. “You’ve got him! Punch it!”
    Josh slammed the throttle for the main engines all the way forward, causing them to accelerate rapidly. He pulled out all power to the lift thrusters again, now that they were in a stable, aerodynamic flight.
    “We’re gaining on him!” Loki declared. “He’s going evasive!”
    “I can track with him…”
    “Just hold your course, Josh!” Loki insisted.
    Josh did as he was told, trusting his friend to take out the fleeing fighter.
    Loki moved the targeting reticle back and forth, trying to lock on the jinking Jung fighter as it danced about his targeting screen. “Fuck it!” he declared and opened fire, holding the button down as he swept to and fro, up and down, desperately trying to catch the bouncing fighter as they both dove toward the surface of Copora.
    “Hurry up and kill that fucker!” Josh exclaimed. “We’re running out of altitude!”
    Loki smiled, took his finger off the fire button, and pulled the gun control stick back slightly, leading the target in the direction that he would have to turn to avoid smashing into the ground below. The Jung fighter twisted slightly right and pitched up to stop its dive, sliding into Loki’s targeting reticle. The reticle flashed red, and Loki fired once more, destroying the fighter.
    “Fuck yes!” Josh cried out as he too began to pitch up to end their dive. “Nice shootin’, Tex!”
    “Damn!” Loki exclaimed as he activated their comms. “Flight, Falcon One, splash two!”
    Josh pulled their ship level, skimming the treetops for a few moments before starting to climb again.
    “Who’s Tex?” Loki wondered, still grinning from ear to ear.
    “I think he’s a friend of Lieutenant Commander Nash. She’s always sayin’ that.”
     
     
    Commander Telles gazed out the window of the combat jumper as it circled around the outskirts of the small village that surrounded the now-destroyed Jung base. Fires burned, both in the main pile of rubble in the middle of the village where the base had once stood, as well as in several of the damaged civilian structures that surrounded it. Coporan fire crews fought to contain the conflagrations in an effort to keep them from spreading to neighboring structures. Rescue teams pulled at the loose rubble, attempting to free people trapped underneath. The injured lay in the streets, friends and neighbors doing what they could to provide care.
    With the skies of Copora now free of Jung fighters, reinforcements had already arrived and had begun to provide some level of security, both in the streets of Gastien, as well as the streets of the village surrounding the former Jung base. As they circled, the second medical shuttle was already landing, and in moments would be unloading Corinairan doctors, nurses, and medical technicians, as well as thousands of initial therapeutic doses of nanites.
    Unfortunately, it would likely not be enough. Although the devastation in the village surrounding the Jung base was considerable, there was similar collateral damage at several other locations on Copora. The fires at the capitol building had jumped to nearby structures as well, all of which were still burning