by Chris Burton
Chapter Seventeen
Carla
Carla Stevenson sat at her desk in her apartment. She decided to stay in again, despite Steve’s remonstrations. So far this month, she had only been out with Steve twice, and both times they accompanied Jake and Maria. Was this a deliberate act?
She had spent plenty of time thinking about this. Her feelings for Steve had been on the wane for some time and she could not put her finger on why this was. Not until now.
Jake called earlier this evening to ask whether they could put off their tennis match this weekend. Jake wanted to take Maria away for the weekend. This annoyed Carla. She accepted and made the usual reference to him being a ‘dirty stop out’. She was annoyed. When was the last time Steve took her away for the weekend? Steve Costella was far to obsessed with his jump ship and the bloody ‘Top Gun’ tournament. She was more annoyed for another reason. She finally realized she was jealous of Maria because she wanted Jake. There was no disputing it. She wanted Jake and could not have him. Jake’s and Maria’s relationship flourished, and she had encouraged Jake to pursue it. Carla reasoned that she was happy enough to go out as a foursome because it meant this was the only real chance she could spend time with Jake, apart from the tennis—and even that was in jeopardy.
Carla turned her attention back to her dissertation. She tried to complete an assignment on the political changes between Alpha and ECG for the last week, and while she completed the detail, she found the conclusion difficult to finish.
This is ridiculous, she told herself. This was a simple-enough exercise and she just needed to knuckle down and complete it.
“Admiral Koenig,” she wrote, “made it clear that he wishes to continue to widen the divide between Alpha Fleet and Earth, and, conversely, he wants to nurture the relationship Alpha has with the AFP and commercial organizations. It is almost as if Koenig and his fellow senior Admirals wish to…”
She was interrupted by a comm link. It was Joely. She and her sister had not spoken for some weeks following their reintroduction to each other’s lives, nearly eight weeks ago. Carla had begun to get a little concerned.
“Hi Carla how are you?” Her sister’s accent had lost none of its Australian drawl.
“I am good, how are you. I have been hoping you would call, it’s been too long.”
“I’ve been away. You remember, Professor Winterburn told you when we met on Titan. The Collective has been away and we are back.”
“On Titan?”
“No we are in London.”
“You’re kidding, you’re in London! That’s great; have you spoken to Mum and Dad. When can we meet up?”
“Mum and Dad have waited for six years and can wait a little longer. I am in London for three more days and then we will return to Titan. I can’t come to you, but we would like to see you again.”
“I can’t get to London. I am doing my finals. Can you not get down to the Academy.”
“No,” snapped her sister. “Professor Winterburn is keen to meet with you in London. It is important you come here so we can show you more of what the Collective has been doing. Can you come to The Savoy on Saturday? We are in the Elvedon Suite.”
“I don’t want to meet Winterburn. I want to see my sister again. Can’t we just meet up in Piccadilly or something? Yes, I can come on Saturday. “
“That’s great Carla. Come to the Savoy first, and I promise that you and I can go out for a few drinks afterwards. I’ll even call Mum and Dad if it helps.”
“Yes that would be cool. Okay, I’ll meet you at the Savoy at midday on Saturday.”
With that Joely hung up. Carla thought the whole conversation to be strange. Why had Joely snapped at her? She didn’t dwell on it, and opened a comm link to her parents’ house in Melbourne. Despite the hour, they would want to know Joely was on Earth.
Carla took a private shuttle from the Academy directly to the roofline of the Savoy. It was Saturday morning and she entered the foyer of the luxurious London hotel and took a seat at the bar. Joely entered momentarily. They embraced briefly and Carla offered Joely a drink. Joely declined and advised that they had much to discuss and that they needed to get started straight away. Carla started to object, but realized she wanted to keep this meeting with her sister going and would do just about anything to avoid jeopardizing that.
Joely led her via the turbo-lift to the eighty-eighth floor and the Elvedon Suite. They entered, and there stood Professor Winterburn, this time wearing a smart business suit rather than the Betanic Robes he wore during their first meeting.
“Ah, Carla, do come in and take a seat, we have been expecting you. “
Carla entered the suite and took a seat near the window. The view of the London skyline up here was fantastic.
“We have been busy since our last meeting,” began Winterburn. “We have been to the Sentinel home world and to the site of the Tri-stars. We are concerned.”
“Concerned about what? Whys does this affect me? What were you doing in the middle of the Tri-Star region?”
“I will answer your questions in a different order if I may,” said Winterburn. “The Betanica Sect was established fundamentally to protect the Tri-Star region from insurgence and infiltration. It is vital that the twin wormholes remain closed. If they are opened then we have failed, and the galaxy will perish. We were there to represent Earth and to ensure that Earth Central Government and Alpha don’t try to breach the wormholes.
Carla had begun to feel Winterburn’s power start to gain strength inside her. He tried to enter her mind again. She resisted and tried to exert her own mind over his to gain the initiative.
“What has this got to do with me?”
“All in good time Carla. Before we divulge the full impact of our knowledge and the danger that the wormholes represent, I need you to do something for me. “
“Do what? Joely is this for real?”
Joely stood motionless and Winterburn’s continued. “You need to understand the information we have is sensitive and is not available to just anyone. We believe your position as a soon-to-be communications graduate of Alpha’s academy—and because of your aptitude and ideology—makes you the perfect candidate to represent the Collective within Alpha. We wish to recruit your services if you like.”
“Recruit…forget it. Look, I am here to see my sister. I have listened to what you have to say, and I am sure it is really interesting, but…”
Winterburn interrupted “Fine, that’s fine. You need time to reflect on this. Joely take Carla for a good meal and explain further about our role.”
He turned again to Carla and said “You will shortly find the need within you to assist us. You and I will meet again on Titan.”
With that, Winterburn stood up and left the room.
Chapter Eighteen
Jake’s Passion
Jake Carter never had any doubt what he wanted to do. Ever since his first off-world experience when he was just six years old, when his father had flown his wife and son to the Alpha base on Mars on a one-day sightseeing trip. Jake had stared first at the moon as it grew closer and closer, and then as they landed he was able to appreciate for the first time the splendor and beauty of Planet Earth. Aged six, he didn’t perceive things in these terms, but he never forgot this first experience in space. In time he would regard it as one of his most special childhood memories.
Today, Jake stared once again at his home planet. He never grew bored of the view in front of him. From here in standard Earth orbit, the spectacle was as magnificent today as it was sixteen years ago.
Jake was on a training reconnaissance mission. The objective was clear: to observe over a four-hour period as many vessels, satellites etc as he possibly could and then report back. A simple but laborious task, which reminded the students they were not just here for combat. The Rapier 6 was about many things, but today the Rapier and its pilot’s task was simple: maintain orbit and observe.
The mission was productive, with over one hundre
d individual sightings reported. Jake was in his last hour of observation and his mind wandered away from his current task and on to other things: specifically, Carla and Maria. He had strong feelings for Maria but his relationship with Carla was changing. He found himself thinking and worrying about Carla more and more, especially since she started to go on about the Collective. Jake had tried to talk to Steve about it, but Steve had just dismissed it, saying that it would pass. It was clear that Carla had not yet told Steve that she had invited Jake to come with him to Titan.
The Rapier 6 comm system came to life.
“Are you bored yet?” Steve asked.
“This is what it is all about. Not always the glory, my dear chap.”
“Well, by my reckoning, the four hours are nearly up and we can start heading down. What say we do a little satellite chasing?”
“The next Top Gun Trial is at the weekend, Steve. If you screw up you won’t be on it.”
“Ah come on Jakey. Just a quick go. I’ll go first.”
Jake sighed and accepted the inevitable and pulled his ship into line behind Steve for their first run.
Steve lifted his ship first upwards and then into a steep descent. At this altitude, thousands of satellites orbited the Earth. Two hundred fifty years of satellite launches had left its toll, with all manner of satellites, space junk, satellite debris and a whole host of other manmade objects orbited the Earth. Most of the intact satellites were dormant and had either been forgotten about, or were triggered for return but their re-entry mechanisms had failed.
The object of satellite-chasing was to pick a target (preferably a non-functioning one) and blast the satellite into outer space, the only problem being that sometimes the blast impact made the satellites go the wrong way and, instead of their floating safely off into the ether, they would suddenly be drawn into re-entry and be dragged into Earth’s shields, where it would disintegrate on impact. The actual policy on satellite-chasing was that it was somewhat reckless, but if the number of satellites were reduced it was a good thing. The Academy’s stance differed slightly: the activity was barred and, if caught, pilots could expect a good ticking off. Getting caught was unlikely, though, and Steve and Jake knew that, given their proximity to the satellites, they would not be the only trainee pilots today who took their chance in the firing range.
Steve went first but missed his original target. He then blasted an old telecommunications satellite, which split into two, and both parts floated off into space.
Jake then moved in for the kill. He lined up a spherical transmission probe and, having visibly checked its functionality was zero, he turned sharply and pulled away from the object before heading straight for it at high velocity. His blast cannons ripped the spherical object into shreds and the remnants again headed away from Earth’s orbit.
“Great shot, old man,” said Steve.
Jake and Steve targeted another satellite each, both successfully, before they received their clearance to return to Earth. The two jump ships followed each other down slowly having exhausted their main power cells through four hours of relative inactivity. Ahead of them, a further three jump ships were already clearing the shields. Steve was just about to go though himself when their clearance was cancelled and they were asked to make way for the return of a star ship.
The Viceroy was a Type 15 interstellar star ship. The huge Class A ship of the line was the epitome of Alpha’s new fleet. She was testing in the Jupiter void and was being brought back to Earth for her official commissioning. Jake and Steve looked on in awe. This was Jake’s passion. It was the raison d’être for his existence in Alpha, and the prospect of commanding such a powerful—and yet somehow beautiful—thing was almost spell-binding. This was why he had joined Alpha Fleet; one day he would command a star ship…
The star ship cleared the shields and quickly disappeared from range. Steve and Jake were then given their clearance, and they began their descent to Earth. The two Rapier 6’s came down together, landed, and came to a stop just outside the Academy training hangar. They cleared their decks and headed straight to debrief. They would find out who was the most observant.
Chapter Nineteen
The Partacian Dilemma
Admiral Koenig was troubled. The logistics of planning a two-pronged attack on the Sentinels’ Southern Fleet had met an obstacle in the form of the Partacians. They blocked a request for Alpha to attack the Sentinels from within Partacian Space. This was unexpected. The Partacians had no quarrel with Alpha or the APF in general, but they would not grant Alpha access to their territorial space. This was despite the fact that, militarily, the Partacians were defeated by the Sentinels and they wanted nothing more than a successful Alpha campaign against the Sentinels.
The Partacian ambassador’s directive to the APF was specific: Any insurgence into Partacian air space would be treated as an offensive stance against Partacia and would be resisted by force. The physical threat by the Partacians was not relevant thanks to the Sentinels, but they were associate members of the APF and were not a warring race by any means. The Partacians were commodity traders. They expressed interest in the Tri-Star region because of the wormholes, and entered the region with a view to opening one or both of the wormholes and going though them. They could not know what lay on the other side, but there was sure to be a new supply of natural resources which could be traded. They had no prior knowledge of the Sentinels’ claim to this region, and at the time they certainly had no intention of going to war over such an issue.
The Partacians didn’t make good warriors. They were not technologically advanced, and their armed forces were limited by the physical attributes of the Partacians themselves. Small in stature and with limited instinctive fighting capability, they were always going to be on the losing side; and so it proved against the Sentinels. What remained of their fleet was heading for a confrontation with Alpha, then to regroup and head back to bolster their defenses on their borders with the Sentinels’ air space.
Koenig summoned a meeting of his Inner Cabinet. Admirals Kohn and Clarke were Koenig’s closest supporters and, with Koenig as CIC, they formed the quorum that made up the unofficial Alpha Fleet Inner Cabinet. They met periodically when summoned by Koenig.
“Admirals. We need to persuade the Bench that we have to enter Partacian space no matter what happens. I know I can count on your support, but how likely is it we will engage the support of others?”
Kohn replied “We won’t. As I see it, we have three alternatives. We can send our task force over and wait to see whether the Partacians carry out their threat; we can try to deal with this diplomatically, which is not their strong point; or we can revert to Plan C and send the fleet in via APF space with two flanking smaller fleets. I assume that the final option remains unpalatable.”
“Yes,” replied Koenig. “Admiral Clarke?”
“The Partacians are no threat to our fleet. They will roll over. We should just go in via Partacian space and enter Sentinel Space by the back door. It is a simple and effective plan which need not impact on Partacia one iota. We would only be in their territory for a matter of weeks.”
“Without the support of the majority of the Bench, we will be leaving ourselves open to a vote of confidence in our CIC. We could face the prospect of a challenge to your leadership, Admiral Koenig,” said Kohn. “I feel that we should try high-level diplomatic channels. How about using APF diplomats?”
“That would take too long and we would lose the element of surprise,” snapped Koenig.
“I see that we have only one choice, and since presenting this matter to the bench would be futile, then I propose that we order the task force to cross the Partacian border immediately.”
“I agree,” said Clarke.
Kohn nodded his head and said, “I will give the order to Rear Admiral Shenke. I believe they will be ready to commence in less than seven days.”
Koenig agreed, but, as a contingency, he asked Kohn to make contact with the APF diplomats to
commence discussions with the Partacians, with a view to the use of their airspace. This would ensure that both the Bench and the Partacians believed that Alpha was going down the diplomatic route than the offensive one.
“Gentlemen, I want to move our discussions on to the wormholes. As you know, we have received a request from a commercial carrier to allow them to send a ship into each of the wormholes in the Tri-Star region—under protection of Alpha. I have agreed to this in principle, on the basis that this particular sponsor has offered us additional funding if we grant their request.”
“They will have to wait,” continued Koenig, “until we have cleared a path to the wormholes themselves. I assume this will take weeks rather than months. It is important, in the mean time, that we familiarize ourselves with the issues at stake here.”
Admiral Clarke headed up Alpha’s information division. His brief was wide but included the chairing of a committee which looked at off-world anomalies and, in particular, wormholes and ‘gateways’ to other galaxies.
The conventional wisdom was if you wanted to travel to distant galaxies, then you needed a high-velocity propulsion system to get you there. There was however a ‘cheat’ card. Wormholes were a means to propel a space craft thousands of light years in just a few seconds. From an exploration perspective, this was clearly a good thing, but in the real world—and especially in the commercial environment in which Alpha found itself—it was the availability of scarce natural resources that drove the exploration of space. A huge industry established itself over the last hundred years whose protagonists scoured the universe for new ‘gateways’ in the hope that they may pass through them and seek supplies of precious ores, metals compounds, etc.
The Tri-Star system had always been somewhat of a conundrum. The system lay between the Great Central Void, the Turan System and the Nouvarel System and, as such, was far from Sentinel space. It was new to Earth’s stellar cartography teams, having been hidden by the giant gas nebula of the Turan system. A star ship had first mapped its location some ten years ago and, within weeks, all manner of exploration vessels had set off to enter the system and enter the wormholes.