DREADNOUGHT 2165 (14 page)

"Actually, either of us could have done it.
We both have the authority required. And since the
command-sanctioned use of a compound like the one you described is
defined as a war crime under the Hamburg Treaty, it would probably
be in both our best interests if nobody knew about the whole
affair. Of course, there's no orders on record from either of us
because no crime was committed. Nobody ordered them to make it and
take it. Fabricating this compound and using it was a choice the
Lancers made for themselves."

"No, Mr. Cozen. You just made it look
like that. You
created
conditions
where doing what you wanted them to
do was their best path to survival so they took it. You manipulated
them like you manipulate all of us. You made the Lancers your test
subjects." Cozen didn’t deny it. Ram asked, "Did it
pass?"

"Excuse me?"

"Your compound. Did it pass your test? Do
you think it's ready to be used by all the hundreds of new fighter
pilots from the flight school?"

"No. No, it didn't. And not hundreds,
Mr. Devlin,
thousands
. After
this next class of 300 graduates from my flight school, the program
will expand to 1200. We're talking about a whole generation of
fighter pilots. With accelerated training, AI assistance and
inexpensive craft, they'll be as plentiful and cheap as
infantrymen." And, therefore, just as expendable, Ram was sure.
Cozen said, "We will launch
legions
of pilots into battle and overwhelm the alien enemy. And we
must do whatever it takes to win. Whatever it takes." Then, his
demeanor changed. He stepped away from the window and sat down hard
on his couch. He ran his hand through his white hair in a gesture
of frustration Ram didn't often see.

"Is something wrong?"

"Since you
think
you know what's going on, Mr. Devlin, you
might as well know the truth. Staas Company’s Board of Directors
has decided to take the F-151 Bitzer program from me..." His voice
almost cracked. "And give it to one of my rivals. Bloody
ingrates."

"Mr. Cozen, regarding the Lancers... It
would be better for all concerned, particularly yourse-"

"Mr. Devlin. Is this your experiment in
blackmail? If you're not careful, you're going to end up just like
me."

*****

After the Lancers sat on stage with the VIPs
for two straight hours without twitching or flinching or picking of
noses, the speeches were over.

An hour after they began giving out medals,
the Secretary General of the UN spoke J. 'Jordo' Colt's name in
front of all the cameras and the crowds and most of Humanity. She
said, "Lt. J. 'Jordo' Colt." She said other things, too, but that
was all he remembered. After she put the Distinguished Flying Cross
around his neck on a blue, velvet ribbon, the CFO of Staas Company
himself shook Jordo's hand and gave Jordo a small box like the one
Shafter had once given him. Jordo knew what was inside. Paladin and
Holdout and Dirty and Gusher had already opened theirs. Once Jordo
had his new, 1st Lieutenant's bars, the rest of the Lancers, now
all 2nd Lieutenants and officers, pinned their new rank on their
collars and stuck their chests out and beamed at the cameras.

Also by A.D. Bloom

http://www.amazon.com/A.D.-Bloom/e/B0054RE7TE

The War of Alien Aggression

(2164-2165)

Hardway, Kamikaze, Lancer,
Taipan, Cozen's War
.

All five books in a single volume - the war
with the Squidies from the first engagement to the final
detonations.

640 pages, 192K words

Hardway

Intelligent life reaches out to
Humanity using particle beam weapons and masers. The pilots and
crew of the carrier
Hardway
are first to fight in the conflict that quickly escalates
from a bloody first contact to a full-scale, interstellar war. Ram
Devlin knows he and the rest of Humanity may have been tricked into
engaging in a war that didn't have to happen. The verity of the
history being written is in doubt, but the survival of his crew and
the very future of mankind is at stake.

Kamikaze

The privateer attack carrier
Hardway
invades Procyon to destroy
an alien blockade gun meant to keep the human race confined.
Hardway
and her pilots meet their
match in the Squidies' massive gun and the alien aces that protect
it until they discover why the aliens are beating them.
Hardway's
officers must commit to
paying for victory in war's only true currency.

Lancer

Privateer Admiral Harry Cozen needs pilots
for an experimental fighter squadron, so he offers the inmates of
Bailey Prison a deal. Colt is serving 5-7 and he knows the deal is
too good to be true, but he still takes it. He and the rest of the
C-Block nuggets learn to fly the new F-151 Bitzer and prepare to
sortie against alien aces on a mission far more dangerous than
anyone's telling them.

Taipan

The privateer attack
carrier
Hardway
is drafted into a force group commanded by Harry Cozen's
bitter rival from Staas Company
. She stole
his fighter program and his thousand new pilots. Now, she's
determined to use them as cannon fodder. Nobody can argue with her
battle record, but the officers and crew of
Hardway
and the Lancers of the 133rd
Fighter Test Squadron may be all that can keep her pilots alive in
a knife-fight deep behind enemy lines.

Cozen's War

The Staas Privateers and the UN fleet have
brought the fight to the Squidies' home system. The massive Earth
invasion fleet faces off against every ship the Squidies' can
muster. Harry Cozen is in command and this is his greatest gambit,
but alien propaganda threatens to reveal the war's greatest secret
on the very day the broadest and bloodiest battle of the conflict
unfolds. Knowing how thin the margin is between victory and defeat,
Ram Devlin races to the Squidies' homeworld moon with a weapon of
mass destruction that could end the war in seconds. Humanity must
win, but the price of victory may be a thousand more years of
war.

About the Author

A.D. Bloom types loudly on a 1998 IBM M13
mechanical keyboard (13H6705), prefers writing on vertical
monitors, and claims he’ll make portable aerial radar from a $12
usb radio dongle when he’s done with his current project.

thewarofalienaggression.wordpress.com

http://www.amazon.com/A.D.-Bloom/e/B0054RE7TE