Free A Show of Force by Ryk Brown Page A

replied.
    “You people believe this situation to be humorous?” Minister Abrahms exclaimed. “Is this a joke to you?”
    “This is most decidedly not a joke,” Commander Telles assured the minister. “Captain Scott, and the Aurora, are indeed from Earth.”
    “And you are not, I take it?”
    “No, sir, I am not,” Commander Telles replied. “I am from the Takar system, as is Admiral Dumar.”
    “Takar?” The minister looked puzzled. “I never heard of it.”
    “I would think not,” Commander Telles said. “It is over nine hundred light years distant.”
    “Nine hundred light years?” Minister Abrahms replied. “Now I know that you are joking. I’m actually quite surprised at you, Commander. You didn’t seem the type.” The minister began to stand. “Gentlemen, I believe you’ve wasted enough of my time…”
    “Minister Abrahms,” Admiral Dumar began, “No one at this table has been anything but truthful with you. If you choose not to believe us, that is certainly your right. But perhaps you should hear us out, nonetheless.”
    The minister looked at the admiral, then exchanged glances with Captain Scott and Commander Telles as well. “Very well,” he agreed, sitting back down.
    “Through an unforeseen accident,” the admiral began, “Captain Scott and the Aurora ended up in our sector of space—an area we call the Pentaurus cluster—nearly one thousand light years away from Sol. They were damaged, and unable to return home. They received help from our people, inadvertently got involved in a rebellion of sorts, and by forming an alliance, they helped us gain our independence from a rather tyrannical dictator. Unfortunately, by the time the Aurora returned to Sol, the Jung had already invaded and seized control of Earth. Captain Scott, along with the help of Commander Telles and his men, managed to drive the Jung from his world. Unfortunately, the Earth suffered considerable damage and loss of life in the process.”
    “An impressive, if somewhat difficult to believe, story, Admiral. However, I fail to understand what that has to do with Copora.”
    “In the months that followed,” the admiral continued, “the Jung attempted to retake the Earth—more than once, I might add. Those attacks have left the Earth teetering on the edge of complete collapse. They cannot withstand another attack, hence, under my orders, the forces of the Alliance are attempting to clear a twenty light year sphere around Sol… A ‘safe’ zone, if you will. This will give the Earth at least a full solar year, perhaps longer, to recover.”
    “You plan on eliminating every Jung ship, every surface base, and every soldier, within twenty light years of Sol?” the minister asked, just to be sure he was understanding the admiral correctly.
    “That is correct.”
    The minister laughed. “I hope you have plenty of ships, admiral, because the Jung surely do.”
    “We have enough.”
    “And how many do you believe are enough?” the minister taunted.
    “Two ships of this size, and three more a tenth this size.”
    “More like a twentieth,” Nathan mumbled.
    Minister Abrahms scanned their faces again, unsure what to believe. “Assume for one moment that you speak the truth. What is it you wish from the people of Copora?”
    “Join the Alliance,” Admiral Dumar stated plainly.
    “We have no ships to offer you, Admiral. What few we had were destroyed long ago.”
    “You have people. You have resources. Both are items the Earth sorely lacks at present.”
    “Why not bring them from your world?” the minister wondered. “Takar, was it?”
    “We have been,” the admiral assured him. “But we do not yet have the necessary transportation infrastructure to move the amount of resources needed, at least not in a timely fashion.”
    “If this ship can travel between Earth and Sol in the blink of an eye, then surely it can travel one hundred times that distance in say, one hundred blinks of an eye.”
    “The jump