"Target acquired," the tactical officer reported. "Computer is compensating for planetary rotation and orbit…firing solution locked. Mag cannons will fire in…seven minutes and two seconds."

"God have mercy on us," Russo muttered.

Kohl ignored him. What he was about to do was a necessary evil if they were to guarantee victory. The Federation had shown itself to be highly resilient in struggles against overmatched opponents, and he would not allow the Alliance to be one more improbable victory for them.

If humanity was to survive, it had to do so under a unified government. The Federation's system was too wasteful and redundant. The ESA's was centralized and focused on the advancement of society as a whole not the petty squabbles of regional governments that were duplicated again at the federal level. If Kohl had to break long-standing norms of space combat to do it, so be it.

The mag cannon shells would be fired from the Implacable at hypervelocity and accelerate as they were pulled down into the system, getting multiple gravity assists along the way. Eleven days after they were fired, the ferrous shells would slam into the training center on Brabus, eliminating the Mickey threat for good.

"Captain, once we have fired, prepare to get us back up to the outer system," Kohl said. "No need to hide our presence any longer. What we're about to do cannot be stopped."

"Aye-aye, sir."

One of the unspoken rules since humans began strapping cannons and missiles to starships was you did not use them against populated planets. Throughout the small regional spats and short-lived wars that had popped up through the centuries, no captain had turned the awesome power of a capital warship against a defenseless planet. The taboo on such an act was so culturally ingrained in them that Kohl could see his own crew struggling with the ethical implications of his orders.

"We are not evil…for what we do here today," he said, addressing the bridge crew. "We do not celebrate the deaths of our comrades down on the surface…fellow spacers not so different than you or I. But one day, they would raise arms against us and prolong this wasteful war even further, unwilling to accept the inevitability of it all. We do the hard thing here today so we may live in peace that much faster. The kinetic strike is clean…no fallout. This planet will recover and, one day, the people of the great nation we forge will look back at this moment and realize we sacrificed as much as they did."

The speech seemed to stiffen most of the spines on the bridge, and the captain, his eyes glossy with unshed tears, nodded to him. Kohl nodded back and patted the tactical officer on the shoulder. "Step aside, son. I'll authorize the firing sequence myself."

The lieutenant commander started to rise, but sat back down.

"With respect, Admiral, it is my duty."

"You are a worthy officer, Commander…Yovenko. Please, carry on."

"Cannons armed and ready, turrets tracking…first salvo away," Yovenko said, sounding ill.