Alpha One

by Chris Burton

  The mini-fleet followed at a safe distance. The likely destination of the Sect fleet, the Tri-Star system, was six days away at current speed. What would happen when they got there was unknown, but it was likely there would be more bloodshed.

  Hoskins returned to his quarters to find Obeya lying in his bed. He needed the comfort of a woman and Obeya was there for him. He went back on his word to his wife, but here he lived a separate life. He had needs and his wife could not help him. Jonathan Hoskins returned to his bed and to his mistress. He needed comforting again.

  Chapter Forty

  Christmas Homecoming

  There were twenty remaining competitors in the South Downs Academy Top Gun tournament. By the end of this weekend’s event, the finalists would be known, with the final itself taking place in the early New Year.

  Jake and Steve were neck and neck, with Steve edging in front at the end of the last event. They would next compete in Rapier 6’s, which definitely gave the advantage to jump ship students over the remaining candidates, as the jump ship pilots completed more than 300 hours flight time in the Rapier 6 variant. The elite pilots were already ahead of their non-jump ship student counterparts. The final twelve were expected to be composed of jump ship elite pilots only.

  Now all the remaining candidates would be given their chance. With fewer competitors, six different events were scheduled to take place this weekend. These varied from speed trials to obstacle courses to wing-man flying. There was even space for a freestyle section, which allowed the candidates to demonstrate their full repertoire of capabilities.

  The Top Gun supreme was in his element. They were at the business end of the tournament and he already looked closely at the remaining competitors, two of which represented the Academy in the Alpha-wide Top Gun tournament. Today’s events would start with a time trial from Earth to Jupiter and back. The distances involved, given the increase in power of the Rapier over the Hunter meant the intermix calculations would have to be precise to ensure the optimum balance between the two drive systems involved. The stellar drive must be engaged at exactly the right point and only the most technically-astute candidates would ensure both the timing and the mix was correct. The candidates would fly in two batches, with those placed in thirteenth to twenty-forth place going first.

  Jake and Steve watched as the first batch of Rapiers lifted off from the space port and accelerated briskly to clear Earth’s defense shields. Steve was in his element. This is what he lived to do and he had the lead again. He didn’t intend to let Jake have it back. He knew his friend wanted it too, but his career was mapped out in a different direction. Steve always wanted to be a jump pilot, to emulate and surpass his father’s tragically short jump ship career and to be the best. He had no real ambition beyond this. He didn’t particularly aspire to make squadron leader or group commander. Those things would come as a bonus in time, but were not what motivated him to succeed.

  To win the outright Top Gun competition would be the icing on the cake, a recognition of his ability, and nothing would stop him from achieving this. That he and Carla no longer dated supported this assertion. He came to terms with their split and wasn’t surprised when Carla told him a few days earlier that their split was permanent.

  She wanted to concentrate on her studies and her career, and that it was better for both of them. She was right and he could concentrate on his career.

  Steve tried to put Carla to the back of his mind and the Top Gun tournament was currently the best excuse he had. The reality was different. He was devastated to think he might have lost Carla for good.

  The two friends joined the other candidates in the café adjoining the Academy hangar and waited patiently for the jump ships to return, to be made ready for their turn.

  Jake’s usual enthusiasm for the Top Gun event was muted. He desperately wanted to see Carla before she went to Australia for Christmas and the Top Gun got in the way. He was assured of a place in the final twelve and the event, despite the more varied agenda on this occasion, didn’t exactly inspire him.

  The twelve jump ships were ready, following a fast turnaround, after returning from their original sorties. Jake was allocated a vessel at the back of the hangar, meaning he would have to wait to launch. The first Rapiers cleared the hangar. He watched as Steve Costello maneuvered his jump ship out onto the nearest jump ship bay, launching immediately. Momentarily, Jake taxied forward. Within a matter of minutes he was in flight and en route to the scheduled event start point. Jake’s competitive nature took over again as he pulled onto the starting grid. All the Rapiers were level and awaited the start of the race.

  The Rapiers surged forward on what, in relative terms, was a sprint. The ships fastest off the line accelerated to pre-stellar velocity, but the early leaders were not likely winners of the race. Their high velocity at launch meant it was likely they miscalculated their intermix calculations and the acceleration to light speed would be compromised. As the jump ships made ready for their first turn, Steve, who engaged his Stellar drive last, was leading. Jake was third, behind their greatest rival, Enson Hilliard, a hybrid Human-Vanarian, which made for a slightly unusual look, with his angular facial features with small green, almost feline eyes. This didn’t affect either his athletic prowess or his piloting brain. Like Steve, he was in this for the glory and wanted simply to graduate as the best jump ship Pilot. He was kept largely at bay in the competition to date, but he argued he felt uncomfortable in the Hunter and preferred the Rapier.

  Jake found it difficult to keep up with him, and even Steve must stretch himself to keep the hybrid at bay. Jake decided he needed to look at this intelligently. Right, now he was almost 1000 meters behind Hilliard. He needed to calculate his mix to ensure he came out of light speed at the last minute and gain perhaps a vital fraction of a second advantage that would take him past him. He knew Hilliard and Steve would concentrate on keeping each other at bay, giving him a potential advantage.

  Hey, I might even get in front of Steve, Jake thought.

  The race drew to its conclusion. Jake was on his own in third and drifted to almost two thousand meters behind the leaders, but he was ready. They would make their intermix calculations.

  Jake waited patiently. The jump ships could now see Earth, and the leaders had less than thirty seconds to take their ships sub-light and engage their auxiliary drives. Five seconds after Ensons Hilliard and Costello, Jake disengaged his stellar drive and his auxiliary drive kicked in. His ship instantly decelerated, causing massive negative G and forcing Jake back tightly in his seat. This was a perfect drive switch and it worked. Steve remained in front, but the hybrid was behind Jake, too far behind to make any impact. The two friends crossed the line almost together. Steve won and consolidated his position as leader. Jake was second with a healthy lead over Hilliard.

  “Where the hell did you come from?”

  “I was sitting behind you guys waiting for one of you to screw up. I nearly got you as well.”

  “Saw it coming, my friend, just in time. It looks like Hilly didn’t. He ended up well back.”

  “Yes, but he is getting better. We are going to really have to watch him this weekend.”

  “I agree. Perhaps we should negate his threat.”

  “What do you mean, negate?”

  “He doesn’t like being squeezed. If we work together we can put him under pressure.”

  “That’s not exactly in the rules.”

  “No one will find out,” said Steve.

  By good fortune or not, Jake and Steve were paired together in the next race, each taking turns to be the others wing-man. The objective: to hold as close as possible to each other over the course in the fastest time possible. Penalties were deducted each time the wing-man left the leads’ domain by even a fraction. This was child’s play for Jake and Steve, with Steve assuming the wing-man position first. Jake took the lead and held it. When it came to the changeover, Steve took a wide birth and allowed three other Rapier pairs to overtake.
He wants to increase the odds, thought Jake. Talk about confident.

  Steve’s intention became clear moments later when he realized Hilliard was Steve’s intended target man. Hilliard was wing-man in his pair and held close, as his lead tried to catch the two pairs in front. Steve began to drawer in on Hilliard and Jake had no choice but to follow. Jake was furious but held on for fear of losing points.

  Steve took his Rapier to within five meters of Hilliard’s ship before moving in closer, to within the slipstream of the wingman. This was a perfectly legitimate, if not slightly unorthodox move, given the vast expanse of space surrounding them, but Steve wanted to get his wingman in closer still.

  Jake held on. He knew Steve relied on his consistency and ability. There were few happy to fly in formation, passing another vessel where there were centimeters between the four ships. Inevitably, Jake took his ship even closer to his lead, to ensure he had room to pass Hilliard. Steve made this difficult, squeezing Jake’s air space to the narrowest of paths. Then he used the slipstream to pull past Hilliard and his lead.

  Jake and Steve shot past and moved in for their next target. Jimenez, the lead ship from Hilliard’s pair, held the line and continued. Steve’s slipstream pulled the Spaniard’s Rapier off line and the Rapier, briefly out of control, fell away quickly before Hilliard was able to pick up and rejoin his lead ship. He lost nearly five hundred meters, and the pair lost two places in the race, as a result of his deviation. Hilliard’s recovery was good, but dramatic. He lost further ground in the overall standings.

  The Race Marshall followed the events closely. He could not fault Jake, who stuck to his lead despite some clever but extremely dangerous flying from Enson Costello. He would have to watch Costello and Hilliard. This could turn into something bad.

  Steve and Jake came within range of their next target. Steve was going to try the same thing again, but Jake would have none of it.

  “Back off Steve. You made your point and Hilliard lost ground. That was extremely reckless and could have turned out bad for both of us.”

  “Relax Jake. I won’t get you in as close this time. We need their slipstream if we are going to get ahead of this pair and get close to the lead pair before the end of the race. Hilliard has lost confidence now.. You should be clear to take second place into the final round as long as you don’t fuck up.”

  Typical Steve arrogance, thought Jake. “Just keep it legal and don’t fuck up yourself, you bastard. Remember, I am more than capable of taking first place into the last round,” he added for good measure.

  Steve and Jake were able to retake the lead before the Rapiers jumped out of hyperspace and crossed the finishing line in perfect formation. With few errors, they took maximum points from this race, and their overall lead in the competition grew. Steve used the slipstream to maximum effect in both overtaking maneuvers, but this time he allowed Jake room to pass the opposition ships. His flying was fantastic but arrogant, and he did little to diminish his growing reputation for being selfish and dangerous. He was not a team player.

  The third and final event of the day was a close-quarter ground-hugging exercise on Mars. The Rapiers would hug the ground closely, flying at no less than one hundred fifty meters and no more than seven hundred fifty meters above the planet surface at high velocity, all the while avoiding anti-aircraft fire from below and above. This was a typical jump ship training exercise pilots must perfect before graduating and, as such, was open to exploitation by the pilots who frequently tried dangerous tactics to get the better of their opponents. However, Steve was on his best behavior, and on completion of his run became the man to beat. Jake was in the second batch of twelve vessels. He was slightly ahead of Hilliard, who was strangely quiet since the last race. Jake was on a good run and set himself up for the final run in, when he was wing tipped by Hilliard from behind. Jake had barely enough time to react to ensure his ship didn’t plunge into the hills ahead. He recovered and realized he was overtaken.

  Hilliard has set out his stall, thought Jake, so here’s mine.

  Jake accelerated forward and entered Hilliard’s slipstream. Hilliard tried to shake him loose, but Jake once again showed his close-quarter flying was a match for anyone. Amongst the flack and anti-aircraft fire from below he shot passed Hilliard legitimately.

  Hilliard must react quickly, thinking the race would shortly be over. He could not use slipstream; he must nudge Carter’s ship off line to pass him. Jake would have none of it and held his line. Hilliard’s Rapier nudged the rear of Jake’s ship twice before making a bad error of judgment. He got caught in Jake’s afterburners and was thrown off course. He had little reaction time as the rocks below got closer. He tried to pull up, but gravity took over and the Rapier spun. The Rapier never recovered and smashed into the rocks below. It exploded on impact, instantly killing Hilliard.

  “What the hell happened out their Enson Carter?”

  “Hilliard went crazy. He wing tipped me first and then, after I got beyond his slipstream, he nudged me. On the third occasion, he got caught in my afterburners. He must have spun. He would have been only three hundred meters from the ground. He had no chance in a spin and no time to use his ejector mechanism.”

  The Race Marshall watched Hilliard closely and witnessed the events leading up to the crash. His observations echoed those of Jake Carter. “I agree. A tragic accident, down to pilot error. There will be an inquiry, but you will be free from blame. Try not to think about it and get some rest. Tomorrow we have three more races and you are still in a great position.”

  Jake woke early on Sunday morning after a restless night, with long periods lying awake with his head pounding out the events of the previous day. Hilliard was dead and he felt partially responsible. How is Steve feeling? He started the whole bandwagon rolling. His actions brought about the chain of events, which lead to Hilliard’s death. A human being who, less than twenty four hours before, drank coffee and joked with his fellow candidates as they waited for the first batch of candidates to arrive from their opening race. Hilliard was a close rival, in many respects their only close rival, but did he deserve to die?

  The Top Gun supreme gathered the remaining twenty-three candidates to make some carefully chosen words about the events of yesterday.

  “Enson Hilliard ultimately paid the price for breaking the rules and for taking his piloting skills beyond the limit. He didn’t deserve to die, but it is important to put the events leading up to his death into perspective. He was being competitive, but to seek advantage he tried to remove a colleague from the race. This lead to his untimely death., We will send our collective sympathies to his family.”

  He paused and then moved on. “Today we must complete the Top Gun event. We cannot postpone or delay, given our proximity to Christmas and commitments in the new term, but I do feel it is appropriate that we act with a sense of decorum. We will fly just one extended and simplified race today commencing at Alpha Two, and taking in the Kuiper Belt, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and Venus before returning to the Moon.”

  He demonstrated the course on the holographic display in front of him. “There will be five laps, with the winning race time expected to be about five hours. In essence, this is an endurance race. There should be little room for illegal overtaking maneuvers and over-indulgent acrobatics. This is about doing as well as possible in the race to achieve your place in the final twelve. Good luck candidates.”

  Steve was barely talking. He was subdued and took the loss of Hilliard badly, thought Jake. Steve, however quickly dispelled that myth when he approached Jake in the café, as they awaited the preparation of all twenty three Rapiers. “We have this wrapped up. No one else is close enough to us and as long as we both finish in, say, the top ten, we should both qualify easily. I am still going to win it though.”

  “How are you feeling today about Hilliard?”

  “He is dead and it was his fault, simple really, I feel sorry for his family but it was his fault. He tried to play games with us, but
ended up in a ditch. No one else’s fault but his.”

  Jake was surprised but knew that Steve was in the zone. He also knew the organizers called Steve to one side this morning and issued him a stern warning—that further dangerous antics could lead to disqualification.

  The order came to board the Rapiers at mid-day. The Rapiers were moved to a larger hangar to accommodate their increased number. It was not long before the Rapiers were off-world and on the grid, awaiting the start of the race. This time, the intermix calculations were constantly variable and an optimum mix could not be pre-programmed into each Rapiers NAVCOM, because of the sheer complexity of the various flight changes the race demanded. The NAVCOMs made their calculations as each obstacle arose.

  When the race started, the front runners quickly established a lead, and the field spread out as they continued their first circuit. Steve and Jake were in second and third place respectively as they completed the first circuit. Jake kept a close eye on Steve. He knew this was a good opportunity to beat him. He had consistency and skill on his side, whereas Steve was the greater overall pilot, but lacked the steely determination and consistency required for an endurance event of this kind. Jake knew that he needed to get ahead, but waited for a lapse of concentration by Steve.

  Thirty minutes later, the position remained the same. Jake glanced up at his ceiling display which monitored key systems, the NAVCOM, and the drive systems to ensure optimum performance. It was bit more than a cursory glance as the ship suddenly felt heavier. All systems worked within normal parameters. Just being paranoid, he told himself and he took his attention back to the race.