Midshipman Henry Gallant in Space (The Henry Gallant Saga)

by H. Peter Alesso

  “Thanks for the help, Henry,” said Red when they were done.

  “Uh ..., sure, glad to…”

  “How about a game of chess?” asked Red.

  “That would be great,” said Gallant. This was the first invitation any of the midshipmen had extended to him. He put his study tablet aside, vowing to make up the time after his next watch.

  They went into the nearly empty common room and began setting up the virtual four-dimensional space-time chess set. The few midshipmen in the room glanced at them and then went about their business.

  Behind his back, Red hid a white piece in one hand and a black piece in the other. He brought his hands forward for Gallant to select. Gallant picked the left hand and Red opened it to reveal a white pawn.

  Gallant began with a Queen’s Pawn Gambit. Red wisely declined the gambit. As they played, the center of the multidimensional board became occupied with several high ranking pieces. The pieces created a heavier ‘effective-mass’ in the center. This stretched the virtual fabric of the board. The effect was that the movement of these pieces became limited. Instead of ranging the entire length of a diagonal path, the bishops, for example, were only able to move a few squares along the diagonal.

  Gallant concentrated, trying to make a good impression, but it was clear, early on, that Red was a Master. Nevertheless, Gallant made one surprise move that caught Red off guard and for several minutes, he looked really worried. When he finally found a countermove, he laughed and slapped Gallant on the back.

  “You almost got me there, buddy. Good job.”

  After that, Red’s moves dominated the board.

  “Red, were those family images in your locker?”

  “Yes,” he said, as he opened the locker door and pointed, “See, these are my parents, brother, and sister at our home in Alberta, old-Canada. Dad runs the family lumber mill with Mom’s oversight. The business has been in the family for four generations and he has a dozen uncles, brothers, and cousins on the payroll. My brother, Richard, runs a construction company that builds houses with Dad’s lumber. My sister, Peggy, is a veterinarian. She’s married with three children of her own.”

  Red shifted in his chair and continued, “Dad always wanted me to join him, but when I told him about my hope to get into the academy, he was very supportive. He even helped with getting recommendation letters for my nomination. I did very well on my competition exams. All that plus grades and football were enough for a ticket to Mars. We had a great party before I left. I miss them like crazy,” Red heaved a sigh. “What about your family?”

  “I was lucky to get into the academy based mainly on my academic record and exam results. I didn’t play athletics in school. I had to work in data storage for UP Interplanetary Communications to help support my grandmother and me.”

  “That’s tough.”

  “Who are all those girls?”

  “Admirers,” said Red, with a grin.

  “All from your hometown?”

  “They're from as far away as Earth, and as near as Jupiter Station," he laughed. "It’s something that defies explanation.”

  Gallant smiled at the redheaded giant and returned to concentrating on the chess match.

  It didn’t do much good however, because in three moves, Red forced him into a mating position.

  “I yield,” he said, surrendering his king.

  “Not bad, but would you mind some advice?” asked Red.

  “No, I’d appreciate any pointers,” said Gallant.

  “You demonstrated good instincts and a keen mind. Your play was aggressive, but not reckless. However, your strategic viewpoint is weak,” summarized Red.

  “Strategic viewpoint? What do you mean?”

  “Think of it, this way. Both white and black start the game with exactly the same pieces, in exactly the same position across a symmetric field. The only difference is that white move first. It is the initial advantage of the first move that gives white an edge. Black must counter each white move effectively to diminish that advantage while simultaneously looking for an opportunity to create his own advantage.”

  “Sure,” said Gallant.

  “You shouldn’t think of the opening moves as an immediate thrust to victory.”

  “Oh?”

  “The opening moves are all about creating a new configuration on the board that is no longer symmetric and equal - one where you have gained a leveraged dominating position. Your opening is merely a stepping stone to set up the tension that could eventually lead to a decisive mate. It’s a matter of patience and timing.”

  “Thanks, Red. I’ll try to do better next game,” said Gallant.

  “Great, that was fun. Now, I need something physical. I’m heading for the gym. What about you? Want to come?”

  “That sound good to me,” Gallant said enthusiastically.

  They quickly changed their clothes and went to the ship’s gym. Red immediately began on the weight machine while Gallant started jogging on one of the many treadmills.

  As he began working up a sweat, Gallant looked around the large compartment.

  To his chagrin, he noticed Kelsey and Neumann off to one side, walking on neighboring treadmills, chatting away amiably. Every time Kelsey’s laugh erupted, Gallant felt a pang, though the couple remained oblivious of him.

  “I think, I’m going to call it quits early. I’ve got to get cleaned up for my next watch,” he said to Red.

  “Okay, Henry. I’ll see you next cycle.”

  CHAPTER 9

  Over the next few weeks, along with his fellow midshipmen in Fighter Squadron 111, Gallant developed his advanced fighter pilot skills. In addition, he studied and trained to qualify as Officer of the Deck. And all the while, Chief Howard guided him to meet his responsibilities as Communication Division Leader.

  During his studies of the squadron’s Eagle fighter, he learned about the latest antimatter engines. They shot antiprotons into the nucleus of uranium atoms, which caused a release of energy that broke the nucleus apart just like the fission process in a conventional nuclear reactor. However, even a small number of antiproton reactions could start a chain reaction that would otherwise have required a much larger mass of uranium to sustain. With antimatter catalyzed reactions, only one gram of uranium was required along with a microscopic amount of antiprotons. However, the antiprotons had to be kept isolated in plasma bottles surrounded by powerful magnets coils.

  Gallant enjoyed flying stunts in his Eagle in order to get a feel for its capabilities. He found the engines capable of great acceleration. They could reach 0.01c and maintain it for ten hours before powering back to cruising speed of 0.004c. They were even capable of long independent trips of several weeks under reduced environmental conditions. As a pilot, he wore a pressure suit for normal ops and a shielded armor suit in combat. During target practice Gallant fired the high energy pulsed lasers and antimissiles. Using the neuron headgear, he was able to interfaced with the fighter’s weak AI computer, and when in range, with GridScape.

  A critically limiting aspect of the neuron headgear was that it required young pliable minds to effectively fine-tune to the synaptic interface. Each pilot was trained to concentrate his mental energy into a meticulous focus and hold that attention for a protracted period. Consequently, pilots were 'burned-ou't within a few years, requiring them to be reassigned. However, this synergetic neuron relationship between pilot, fighter and GridScape, allowed close coordination of maneuvers and weapon systems producing a highly effect weapon's platform.

  For Gallant, the demands of the neuron headgear were particularly onerous. He often suffered migraine headaches after long and difficult training sessions. But he kept his pain to himself and none of his shipmates noticed his problem. By meeting his qualification schedule and online test requirements, the XO and other senior officers were placated. Gallant didn’t let on about the toll this was taking on him.

  One day, Gallant was deployed in a fighter screen covering Repulse with Kelsey as h
is astrogator. Red was flight leader of Flight 4 with Gallant as his wingman.

  “Flight 4, take the anchor position,” ordered the OOD on Repulse.

  “Roger,” responded Red. Then he switched channels to talk to Gallant, “Ok Henry, guide on me.”

  “Click…click,” Gallant tapped his microphone in response.

  The pair of fighters was on the sun-side flank of the fighter screen. They were acting as the anchor node in the unit’s radar lattice. The rest of the dozen Squadron 111 fighters were positioned at other points in the lattice structure. The radar lattice served to extend a single ship’s radar range by collecting the signals from multiple nodes and integrating the results. It produced a collective image that included objects that would otherwise be hidden within a planet’s, or moon’s, shadow.

  The lattice radar allowed the fleet to see greater details of the Solar System’s eight planets and their many varied moons. The inner terrestrial planets were primarily rock and metal, while the outer gas giants were more massive with many moons. Jupiter and Saturn were composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, while Uranus and Neptune were composed largely of ice, ammonia, and methane. As a result, each object created a different complication for the radar to analyze.

  When Gallant reached his designated position, the lattice radar swept an area of space around Jupiter that had not previously been exposed.

  Repulse reported, “We’re picking up a new contact. Designate it as Alpha 23. It is located just behind the horizon of Europa.”

  The United Planets maintained the Jupiter refueling station in orbit around Ganymede, which in turn was in orbit around Jupiter at a distance of one million miles. Of Jupiter's sixty-six moons, Ganymede was the most massive, even larger than Mercury. On the surface of Ganymede, UP also had a research laboratory, which included an accelerator for the production of antiprotons. Together these bases were UPs furthest assets away from Earth. It was Repulse's mission to guard them.

  Europa was in a closer Jupiter orbit, approximately 226,000 miles. It was at the edge of the planet’s horizon at the moment. As a result, Repulse and its fighter screen were about a million miles away from Alpha 23.

  Repulse ordered, “Flight 4 investigate the bogy. Flight 3, extend your flight trajectory to provide support as required.”

  “Aye aye, sir,” replied Red.

  Gallant accelerated after Red toward Alpha 23. He quickly reached the maximum velocity of 0.01c, or 1860 miles a second. This was five times Repulse’s maximum velocity.

  Red used standard UP references to identify the location and flight path of the target. This established the observer’s ship as the reference point and set the bearing, azimuth, velocity, course, and time. The relative bearing from other ships to the bogey was taken from this standard. The direct line of sight from the reference ship to the sun was set as 000 degrees. The bearing directly away from the sun was set as 180 degrees. The plane that the reference ship had formed as it orbited the sun was set as zero degrees azimuth. Anything above this plane was a positive angle and anything below this plane was designated as negative, or down, angle. The velocity and time were also taken relative to the reference ship and the course calculated accordingly.

  Soon Red was able to report the location and flight path of the bogey as, “Alpha 23 - bearing 168 degrees, azimuth up 010 degrees, velocity 0.001c, course 180, time 14:34.”

  Because every other ship was tracking Red’s position, they were able to take his sighting and using dead reckoning they plotted Alpha 23’s data to their relative position.

  Flight 3, consisting of Neumann and Chui, positioned themselves between Flight 4 and Repulse so that they would ready to scramble to support either.

  Flight 4 changed course to intercept the target. Normally, ships used the most fuel-efficient means to move from one circular orbit to another - known as a Hohmann transfer orbit. This required that the spacecraft began in a roughly circular orbit around the sun, or planet. Then it used a thrust in the direction of motion to accelerate or decelerate the spacecraft into an elliptical orbit. The spacecraft fell freely along this orbit until it reached its destination. In this case, Red choose expediency over efficiency and maneuvered aggressively to intercept the target.

  After about four minutes, Flight 4 was approaching Europa. They concentrated on identifying the target’s features. It began to look more and more like an alien ship.

  Red reported to Repulse, “Alpha 23 appears to be a small Titan ship, destroyer size.”

  The Titan destroyer was about 280 feet long. That was one seventh the length of the Repulse, but six times as long as an Eagle. It had an overall saucer shaper with a large dome center section. Missile tube and plasma cannon openings were apparent on its surface as well as radar and telescope obstructions. This ship was typical of what the UP had encountered to date, though some larger cruiser size ships had also been reported.

  Two years earlier, a UP survey ship had made first contact with an alien in orbit around Saturn’s moon Titan. The alien refused to communicate. UP began to refer to the aliens as Titans and the nickname stuck. Unmanned exploration satellites launched from the Jupiter Station had revealed that there was an alien presence on the moons of Saturn and Neptune. It wasn’t known if the aliens were native to the Solar System or visitors from another star that had begun colonizing the outer planets, though the latter case was highly suspected.

  “Flight 4 close on the target. Repulse will maneuver to support you,” the order came over the intercom.

  “Roger,” acknowledged Red.

  But the aliens had other ideas. Apparently, their radar range was more limited, but they finally realized that they had been discovered and were beginning to accelerate into a higher orbit to escape.

  Gallant launched his weapon’s virtual screen and armed his pulse lasers and Mongoose antimissiles.

  "Unidentified ship, this is United Planet's Jupiter Fleet. We request that you identify yourself and state your purpose," was broadcast from Repulse several more times as they tried to communicate with the unresponsive alien.

  Instead of replying, the alien fired a plasma blast toward Flight 4 at a distance of about 0.5 light-seconds, or 93,000 miles distance.

  Gallant sucked in his breath awaiting the explosion. He loosened his grip on the manual controls of the fighter as he reached out with his mind to tighten his mental control. He adjusted the throttle settling and positioned the thrusters. When the Titan’s plasma blast came, it missed wide and dissipated before it reached the fighters. He recorded the radiated signals thrown off by the alien and its blast.

  Gallant thought, this isn’t like mock combat, these weapons are live. He said over his flight communicator, “Red, I don’t think that shot was meant to hit us. It could have been just a warning shot.”

  Red responded, “Probably, true.” Even though Flight 4 wasn’t authorized to return fire, and he hadn’t requested it, Red sharpened his course and increased speed directly toward the target.

  Gallant sensed the adjustments of Red’s Eagle and guided his ship to remain in the wing position. The encounter was turning deadly. He was becoming anxious about his responsibilities and especially for his astrogator, Kelsey.

  They were closing the distance to the Titan craft, but a new order interrupted them, "Do not pursue. Break contact and return to Repulse."

  Red bit back a curse, but changed course to return to Repulse. They monitored the Titan traveling away. Soon it moved out of Jupiter's orbit and set a course toward the outer planets.

  Gallant was glad to return after such an extended and exhausting mission. His neuron headset was bathed in perspiration and he had a throbbing headache. He could hardly wait to complete debriefing and get to his bunk to rest. As he lay down, he wondered about the alien. It must have been a scout keeping an eye on the UP base. He considered the alien’s maneuvers and actions sharp and professional. It fitted the role of a scout ship meant to collect information and defend itself, but not provoke unneces
sary hostilities. The fact that the aliens refused to communicate troubled him, but he was sure of one thing - they would be back.

  CHAPTER 10

  After an interminable day of personnel and maintenance reports, followed by a humdrum evening watch as JOOD, Gallant returned to his cubicle to find Red changing into gym gear.

  “Hey, Red, wait up. I’ll join you,” said Gallant, stripping off his uniform while grabbing his gym outfit from his locker, “I need to work up a sweat.”

  “Okay, I know what you mean. I just completed six mind-numbing hours sitting on a lumpy chair in engineering. You would think with all the AI power available, an EOOW could do something more useful than monitoring reactor parameters as they dance around with every power fluctuation. I am, so ready to let off some steam.”

  They were quick to exit through the common room and began jogging down the corridor to the gym. In a few minutes, however, their jog turned into a run, and then into a race, where no quarter was given. A few good-natured elbows found their way into each competitor’s ribs, not to mention an occasional genial shove.

  They arrived at the gym out of breath, but invigorated.

  “The only reason you won was because of those scrawny legs that let you hug the corners,” laughed Red. He huffed and puffed while leaning against the bulkhead.

  “I’m glad you’re able to find an excuse for your dismal performance,” retorted Gallant, gasping for his share of air.

  When they entered the nearly empty gym, they found Kelsey jogging on the track that circumscribed the compartment.

  “Hi,” said Gallant as he joined her, matching her pace. They were content to jog side by side quietly for a while. The only interruption was the regimen of Red’s exercise, which took a more physical nature.

  WAMP! WAMP! WAMP! WAMP! moaned the heavy punching bag, as Red slammed his gloved fists into it. Red's decision to work on his boxing skills, provided a rhythmic harmony for Gallant’s and Kelsey’s jog, which followed the brisk tempo that Red maintained for nearly half an hour. Finally, they took a break.