[Frontiers Saga 13] - A Show of Force by Ryk Brown

Author:Ryk Brown [Brown, Ryk]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Publisher: Ryk Brown
Published: 2015-04-06T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

Naralena sat staring at the video display on the wall in Ellyus Barton’s well-appointed guest suite. As of late, her days had been spent relaxing as she watched countless Cetian news and entertainment programs, both current and past. Although she had learned much about both the Jung, and the Cetian culture, she felt somewhat guilty. The last five days had felt more like a vacation than a dangerous, off-world assignment on an enemy-held world.

“Learning much?” Jessica asked as she entered the room.

“Actually, yes. Did you know that the Jung are telling the people of this system that the Earth is still infected with the bio-digital plague?”

“Seriously?”

“It appears to be a recent development, going back a few weeks at most. However, it appears to be gaining momentum lately.”

“I know the Jung love to use propaganda—every government does—but it seems a bit far-fetched, doesn’t it?”

“They’re doing an awfully good job of it,” Naralena insisted. “Pictures and everything.”

“Where are they getting pictures?”

“I’m not sure about all of them, but I do recognize some of them. They’re from just after the Jung first invaded your world. They were likely altered to remove any trace of the Jung from the images, of course, but the end result is quite effective. It paints a portrait of a world that is constantly ravaged by the plague and is struggling to maintain a population large enough to support its own infrastructure.”

“I don’t get it,” Jessica admitted. “What’s the point?”

“The Jung are saying that they are trying to enforce a quarantine on the Earth to prevent them from spreading the plague, just like before.”

Jessica shook her head. “This is really suspicious. Why this effort? Why now?”

“To spread distrust?” Naralena suggested. “To build themselves up as protectors in the eyes of the local population?”

“Are they even bothering to tell the people of their attempt to conquer Earth?” Jessica wondered.

“Not a word. According to the Jung, they have ships parked outside the Sol system to prevent anyone from leaving it. If a ship doesn’t heed their warnings, they destroy it.”

“I suppose they have nice graphics for that one as well?”

“Of course.” Naralena looked at Jessica. “Do you think there is a correlation between our arrival and this new propaganda tactic?”

“It’s possible, I suppose,” Jessica admitted. “It’s also possible the Jung here at least know about the liberation of Earth. We were never quite sure of how many comm-drones were launched during that battle, or the direction they were launched. For all we know, the Jung have known about Earth’s liberation all along. Or this whole thing might have been planned from the start, as a ‘public opinion countermeasure’ of sorts. They probably thought of this long before our first jump, when they first learned about the jump-drive project. There’s no way to tell, really.”

“Then you’re not worried about it?”

“Worried? No, not really. No point,” Jessica insisted. “Nothing I can do about it. It is worthy of reporting to the Alliance, however, as it is bound to hamper development of relations after we clean the Jung out of this system.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.