Earth Afire (The First Formic War)

blue-collar scrubs acting like soldiers.”
    “Then the U.S. military are idiots,” said Lem. “Asteroid miners are far better space pilots and far better prepared for space combat than soldiers and pilots brought up from the planet.”
    Simona shrugged. “I’m not a strategist. I just keep your father informed.”
    “Why doesn’t the U.S. military just pound the mothership with nukes?”
    “They have. Or rather they tried. Three days ago. It didn’t work. The Formic guns picked off the missiles on their approach, long before they reached the Formic ship. The missiles detonated and emitted massive electromagnetic pulses that took out about three dozen satellites and created artificial radiation belts that will annoy everyone for years to come.”
    “If the nuke strike failed, then why is the U.S. going through with a manned strike? If the Formics can hit missiles, taking out shuttles and ships will be child’s play.”
    “The U.S. doesn’t think so. The Formic weapons systems are hidden inside the ship and only emerge when the ship is threatened. STASA footage of the Battle of the Belt and the footage of the Formics taking out the U.N. secretary showed us where those weapons are concealed.”
    “How? The surface is round. Every square inch of the ship looks identical.”
    “I don’t know. They must have some way. Maybe the ship’s close enough now to detect small discrepancies on the surface. All I know is they intend to target those places where the weapons are stored and cripple the guns before they can emerge. A second team of ships will be striking the Formics here, at the tip, where the shield-generation equipment is located. The U.S. is confident that with those two objectives achieved, they can easily push on with a full-scale assault.”
    “They’re wrong,” said Lem. “The Formic guns are only the first line of their defense. The ship itself is a much more lethal weapon. There are apertures all over the surface. Any of them can open and fire laserized gamma plasma in any direction. I’ve seen it happen. The shuttles don’t stand a chance. When do they plan to do this?”
    “In about forty-eight hours,” said Simona.
    “You have to stop them.”
    “That’s your job. That’s what the interviews are for. Tell the world what you know. You don’t have to exaggerate. You don’t have to lie. Be honest. You and your crew have seen the Formics up close. No one else has. Convince the U.S. to withdraw and let Ukko conduct a drone strike.”
    “I’ve already told you. Drones with glasers could be a bad idea. I’m not endorsing that approach. If you want me to say that in an interview, forget it. You’ll have to find someone else to do that.”
    “Fine. We will. Say what you think is best. But if you say anything against the drones, we’ll only cut it out later, so don’t bother. Just help us stop the U.S. assault. You’d be saving lives.”
    “Spare me the saving-lives argument. You and I both know that Father wants to be the hero here. He doesn’t want the U.S. and its allies taking out the mothership because he wants that glory for himself. I know how my father thinks, Simona. If it doesn’t benefit him, he doesn’t care.”
    “You really don’t think much of him, do you?”
    She would echo everything he said to Father, but at the moment he didn’t care. Right now his mind was racing. A spark of an idea had ignited. What if this was the opportunity he had been waiting for? The drone strike was destined to fail. And yet Father was putting all his eggs in that basket. Fifty drones and fifty glasers. A massive fortune. Not enough to bankrupt the company, but certainly enough to pass a vote of no confidence in Father and boot him off his throne once the glasers and drones were destroyed. The Board couldn’t ignore a mistake like that.
    It would take some time and effort to rebuild the company, of course, but Lem had rebuilt companies before. Never on this scale, but the game was the same regardless of the company’s size.
    Booting Father wouldn’t be enough, though, he knew. Lem also had to position himself as the rightful successor, and having Father elevate him as a national hero certainly wouldn’t hurt in that effort. The Board would have their eye on Lem. They would be desperate to rebuild the company’s image, and what better way to do that than with a media darling with proven business success who just happens to be the founder’s tenacious son?
    Granted, the