Star Force: Flashpoint (SF8) Read online

  “Please don’t,” she joked, referencing a previously humiliating bet with a coworker.

  “All I’m saying,” he said rigidly, “is I’d trust Star Force over any of the countries out there, ours included.

  “Dad!” his daughter scoffed at his lack of patriotism.

  “Isn’t Davis and most of his people American?” he defended. “They’re doing the job the politicians won’t, and I’d trust our national security to them any day. At the very least they’re showing up our military, and if I know our boys they’re not going to stand for that. Healthy competition makes everyone stronger, and if that isn’t motivation to make some changes then I don’t know what is,” he said, pointing to the Orion as it now completely stretched across the screen as it continued to pass by.

  David’s eyes remained glued to the screen as he lightly jabbed his sister in the arm. “Best vacation ever.”

  On the bridge of the Orion Captain Minsk watched as his pilot expertly maneuvered his whale of a ship past the starport and into a parking orbit a few kilometers off, stationing the ship within easy sight of every dropship and starship coming to and from the station. Once there the ship would make necessary station keeping thrusts, but otherwise would become a stationary orbital headquarters for Star Force’s military fleet.

  With the remote pilots he had onboard, Minsk had already reclaimed possession of his support ships and positioned them at strategic positions around the system, as well as taking control of most of the others from the Turok and Mjolnir, leaving those battleships free to maneuver about with a handful of escorts while the Orion handled the ‘show the flag’ operations, deployed as much for rapid response to potential crises as they were for intimidation purposes.

  The Archons wanted Minsk to leave no doubt in everyone’s minds as to who was in control of Earth orbit and that was what he was going to deliver, buying time for the size of their fleet to grow before anyone realized that their ship count was too low to protect against a coordinated assault across multiple targets, as well as giving Star Force’s army of engineers a chance to install weapons mods on all their stations.

  Minsk doubted that anyone had the potential to exploit their weakness, but he and the Archons both felt that they needed to plug the holes in their orbital defense sooner rather than later, feeling that some form of trouble was inevitably on its way. They’d succeeded in thwarting the Chinese attacks because they’d held their fleet away in secret…but from now on their potential enemies would be forewarned and forced to prepare accordingly before they tried to cause any more trouble, which in the short term meant a period of stability.

  The long term, however, was anyone’s guess, and if Star Force wanted to maintain control of orbit they were going to have to stay a step ahead of everyone else, for soon the big five, seeing as how they no longer possessed military superiority in space, would begin rushing to catch up in an arms race that would dwarf that seen during the Cold War, rewriting previous allegiances and shifting the geopolitic as every nation began to reposition itself with Star Force becoming the standard-bearer, setting the stage for the next major shift in Earth’s history.

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