Read Ep.#14 - "The Weak and the Innocent" (The Frontiers Saga) for Free Online

parameters for the jump into the navigation computer as he waited for the confirmation reply from the controller on board the Aurora.
    “ Falcon Four, Aurora Flight, read back correct. Good hunting. ”
    “Give me ten to starboard and eighteen down,” Loki instructed. “Maintain current speed.”
    “Ten to starboard and eighteen down,” Josh replied as he entered the course change and pressed the execute button. “Coming to new course now.”
    “Jumping to medium orbit over Kohara in five seconds.”
    “On course and speed,” Josh confirmed.
    Again, the Falcon’s canopy briefly turned opaque as the ship jumped the remaining distance to the Tau Ceti system’s most heavily populated world.
    “Jump complete,” Loki reported as he changed the comms to the new frequency. “Koharan Command, Falcon Four in medium orbit over Kohara at one five seven by three seven. Fully loaded and awaiting orders.”
    “ Falcon Four, Koharan Command, ” the communications tech replied urgently. “Join action over Cetia. Locate and destroy any ground targets attempting to converge on our location. Last two elements to the north are being evacuated now. Other Falcons are covering their withdrawal. Flight comms now on three two five point two. ”
    “He does not sound happy,” Josh said as he pitched their nose down toward the planet below.
    “Koharan Command, Falcon Four, jumping down to cover you. Copy new flight comms on three two five point two.”
    “ Just keep them off our ass for five more minutes, Falcon Four! ”
    “Copy that,” Loki replied. “Twenty-seven to port, eleven down, and drop your speed to two five zero.”
    “Twenty-seven to port and eleven down. Decelerating to two five zero,” Josh confirmed.
    “Jumping down to five hundred meters in three……”
    “On course.”
    “Two……”
    “On speed.”
    “One…… Jumping.”
    Josh kept his eyes straight ahead out the forward canopy as it turned opaque gray, then clear again. The surface of Kohara, which had been ten thousand kilometers below them only seconds ago, was now less than five hundred meters directly ahead and rushing to meet them at the leisurely rate of two hundred and fifty kilometers per hour.
    “Jump complete,” Loki announced. “Deploying nose turret. Charging wing cannons.”
    Josh pulled back slowly on the flight control stick to his right and throttled up their atmospheric engines, bringing the ship out of its forty-degree dive toward the city of Cetia.
    “Falcon Four, on station, sector one, looking for targets,” Loki announced over the comms as the Falcon leveled off just above the buildings of downtown Cetia. He watched as his targeting systems began to identify enemy targets on the streets below. Within seconds, there were more than a dozen red dots to choose from. “I’ve got at least a dozen targets on the ground, and more popping up.”
    “Just tell me where to fly, Lok.”
    “I’m linking them to your heads up. Just line them up and I’ll take them out.”
    “You got it.” Josh reached forward with his left hand, touched the window on his display console and swiped it upward from the console to the air above. Red dots suddenly appeared, with range and type information displayed next to each of them. “Damn, I love this new display system,” he said as he rolled the ship to port toward the nearest red dot. All the red target dots circled around him from left to right as he continued his turn, rolling out as the furthest dot to the left moved to center. “How about we take them from left to right to start with?”
    “Sounds good to me,” Loki replied. “Let’s make a wide arc around the backside of them. Keep all the lead elements on our starboard side so I don’t have to swing the turret around as much.”
    “What’s the fun in that?” Josh complained. “Flying a lazy circle and all?”
    “You can have your fun when we come back for the ones that got away,” Loki promised.
    “Just don’t let any