Alpha One

by Chris Burton

  Admiral Neville sat down and made a few brief notes on his tablet, before rising again and declaring a twenty-minute adjournment to prepare the necessary documentation for a special resolution. He would, he decided, make it his first action after the break to resign his leadership of the bench. This was not his game anymore. He would let the younger Admirals fight it out, and hope that the political ramifications of the vote they were about to take would make the bench see sense and hold off the total divorce of Alpha from ECG. He stood once again and collected his tablet, and left the room without further word.

  Admiral Koenig waited patiently for the other members of the bench to leave the chamber before rising. He knew that it was highly likely that, by the end of today, one way or another he would become Alpha’s new Commander in Chief.

  The Admirals all returned to the chamber twenty minutes later.

  Admiral Neville stood and spoke for what he believed would be the last time at this forum.

  “Admirals.” He said shakily. “It is with regret that I feel compelled to resign my post as CIC immediately. I shall also be tendering my resignation from Alpha with immediate effect. I feel certain the motion will go against me and I cannot knowingly be involved in this action. Alpha Fleet was established by Earth Central Government to defend the realm, and it is only by a quirk, no, a mistake in the drafting of the original articles, which allows this resolution to take place at all. Alpha will be a lesser organization without Earth’s influence, and it fills me with a deep sense of despair and anxiety for what the future holds for both the defense of Earth, its colonies, and the region in general. Today, unless I have misjudged the mood in this room, Earth has suddenly become a less stable place to live.”

  He sat down, and a few moments passed before Admiral Yohoti stood up and announced himself as interim chairman, pending the establishment of a new CIC, which must be resolved today. No one questioned his actions or passed further comment. Yohoti continued by opening the debate on Alpha’s proposed independence from ECG. The arguments were brief. Those who supported Neville felt disenfranchised. They made their observations, but the stronger and more persuasive arguments came from Koenig and his supporters.

  Within thirty minutes, Yohoti stood.

  “Gentlemen, Ladies, I propose that we move to vote by a show of hands. All those in favor of the special resolution to amend the Articles to remove the influence of ECG please raise your hands.”

  Yohoti counted twelve hands and then raised his own. Only Neville and Martin’s hands remained by their sides.

  “The article is amended accordingly. Let the records show that ECG ceases to have any influence over the affairs of Alpha Fleet forthwith.”

  He stood again and asked the bench to consider nominations for a new CIC. He asked that nominations be proposed and seconded, and that after lunch each nominee should make opening statements, be cross–examined and then make closing statements with a view to voting by ordinary resolution.

  In the event Koenig stood unopposed. He already had the support of the majority of his peers; his coronation was swift and effortless, and at 15.39, Admiral Koenig, the newly elected Commander in Chief, stood up.

  “Thank you Admiral Yohoti for standing in as temporary Chairman. Admirals, I am honored to take on the highest of Alpha posts, and on such a momentous day in our history. We must not rest, we must facilitate our funding requirements, and we must renew and extend our abilities. We must specify and develop our strategy towards the Sentinels and to the other warring factors in the region, and we must take our seat at the top table of the AFP.”

  He turned towards Admiral Neville.

  “James, your undoubted loyalty and ability has stood the test of time, and you have been without doubt one of our great CIC’s. We respect your decision to stand down and wish you all the best in your future endeavors.”

  Koenig then turned back towards the bench. “This meeting is closed.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  The Sentinels Prepare

  General Yoshi was in a confident mood. After all, he destroyed the Alpha ship and severely damaged two others. Following his victory, he passed back into neutral space and moved into the Ionian System. He then rejoined his fleet and continued their preparations while hiding in the plasma wave cloud swathing the eastern tip of the system. The waiting was nearly over. His fleet numbered some seven thousand ships, by far the largest number of vessels he ever commanded; and because the majority originated from his Southern fleet, they were a superior fighting fleet.

  His intention was clear. He needed to remove the threat from Alpha and seek revenge for the near destruction of the Northern fleet.

  He was joined by five hundred vessels from the Eastern fleet and over seven hundred fifty from the Western fleet. This was his fleet and he was given the task of destroying the human threat. This became the Sentinels’ top priority.

  Alpha was heading ever closer to the three stars and this was a matter of great concern. The Betanica Sect had even gone so far as to issue a Jombarat decree. This was an ultimatum that the Sentinels were compelled to carry out. Since religion was paramount in Sentinel society, the issue of such a decree was taken seriously. They must remove Alpha’s offensive threat and capability to travel to the Tri-Star system by whatever means necessary.

  The Sect sent one hundred of their own fighting vessels to do their bidding. These ships were mostly small and were not part of Yoshi’s command. They were devastatingly effective because they used phased neutron weaponry capability. Such weapons were outlawed in most societies, but there was no jurisdiction over the Betanica Sect. They would use this weapon whenever their commanders deemed it appropriate.

  Yoshi’s task force was ready and he planned to give the command to move out and head into Alpha’s territorial space shortly. The fleet was ready, the Sect ships were ready, and this morning he attended a Katana Ceremony where yet another human was sacrificed. Where are they coming from, he asked himself?

  Yoshi sat at his Salu, a vast throne-like chair from which he delivered his commands. Here he issued the order to attack and pursue the Alpha vessel, and he issued his own decree earlier this afternoon. The Task Force must destroy the source of the threat to the Tri-Star system. They must destroy Alpha One.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Roslyn

  President Roslyn leaned against the metal balcony and looked out over Lake Lugano. It was a humid night, following several hot days and, despite the thunderstorms of yesterday, the muggy conditions continued.

  This was where Roslyn came to relax. His villa sat on the gently-rising slopes of Monte Bre, one of two mountains that looked out over Lake Lugano, both of which stood proudly like sentries guarding the city of Lugano. He liked to come here a couple of times per year, and acquired the villa when he first became a senator in the lower house of ECG. As President, the opportunities to visit his favorite part of Europe were few and far between, until recently when he decided to take a small step back from confrontation and try to enjoy the last eighteen months of his presidency.

  He flew his yacht directly from the AFP summit on Telgaron just two days ago and landed on the water in front of his villa. The summit was interesting for the first twenty-four hours before the conversation inevitably turned to Alpha Fleet and to their divorcing themselves from ECG. This came as a surprise to Roslyn, as his cabinet colleagues assured him Alpha’s senior Admirals were not ready to make such a huge commitment. Clearly this was not the case, and to make matters worse, Admiral Koenig was elected as CIC—totally unopposed.

  The government would challenge the legality of the move. This was political expediency. It was however highly unlikely that they would be successful, and there was a certain inevitability about it all, even if the speed of the events took everyone by surprise.

  Alpha took this action following Roslyn’s refusal to provide further funding. This was the start of his new leadership ethos, which simply told his government colleagues, his friends, family a
nd his enemies he meant business and would not be broken by anyone. Why should he? His status and term as leader of ECG could not change, but Roslyn wanted to be seen historically as a great leader following his ten year term of office. His current popularity and that of his party was not clear, especially following Alpha’s unilateral decision to divorce itself from ECG. If he didn’t act, he could be perceived as being a weak President. He needed to come up with a strategy to pull back some of his government’s influence over Alpha. Roslyn worked through his mind the makings of a solid and workable policy to achieve just that.

  He already started the process. Initially he made representations to the main power brokers at AFP: he told them he felt it was unreasonable for his government to still be funding Alpha in the light of AFP’s funding to Alpha. His stance here was simple. ECG would reduce their ‘voluntary’ contributions to AFP’s central purse if the new funding commitments were allowed to continue. This was not met favorably, but his government could do as they wished and it might yet prove a popular strategy politically.

  As he stood watching the moonlight shimmer across the lake, the second part of his strategy took shape. Alpha may control the space ports on Earth and its surrounding colonies, but his government controlled the shield systems. He could control Alpha’s movements within the Earth’s territorial boundaries by limiting shield clearance. They would control departures and lease clearance facilities for Alpha and other commercial ventures. Alpha would reduce funding and have to bear costs to clear each planets shield systems.

  This is brilliant, he told himself. He would work on the logistics and wording of his next speech to congress tomorrow. How long would it be before Koenig came knocking on his door, desperate for a return to the old ways?

  Chapter Fifteen

  Top Gun Preliminary Trials

  The ‘Top Gun’ or ‘Top Gun’ tournament, as it became known, was pseudo-military slang for the ‘Alpha combined jump ship command trials ’. ‘Top Gun’ was an historical term for a competition between US Navy Pilots vying for the top prize in piloting of military attack aircraft in the late Twentieth Century. Although the term and the practice were lost in time, the name ended up being applied to Alpha, and it stuck. Even Alpha used the term together with the official title in its event literature. The trials took place yearly and were open to all Academy final-year students. Each of the fifty-plus Alpha Academies would send two pilots to the trial finals based on Titus 3, and the outright winner was termed ‘Top Gun’ with the college to which he or she attended termed ‘Top Gun Academy’. The rivalry between Academies was fierce and the top five or so Academies invested heavily in ensuring they put forward the best candidates for the Trial Finals. The Finals were held in April so, once completed, the Pilots could go on into their final term and concentrate on their academic finals and graduation without hindrance.

  The South Downs Academy commenced their Preliminary Trials in October. The sixty or so applicants were whittled down to ten who contested the Final Trials for the Academy. This was a proven method of selection, one which gave South Downs the title of Top Gun Academy twelve times in the last twenty years, and the last five years in a row. As a result, the Academy gained a reputation as a jump ship specialist college and was consistently in the top five by academic performance.

  Jake and Steve were listed on the official South Downs College Top Gun sponsorship list. This meant the college officially supported them, although officially they were provided no special preference. Unofficially they were given ‘additional assistance’ during the run up to the various trials. The Academy reasoned non-sponsored candidates were invariably not in this for the final prize.

  Over the years, candidates with no serious prospect of winning entered the Top Gun Trials for a variety of reasons. Most fraternities were represented—some took part for fun, some for recognition and some believed they had a realistic chance of winning.

  Today was day one of the preliminary trials. It was the first Saturday in October and once again it was blisteringly hot; so hot, in fact, that the jump ship take off pads had to be air-cooled to ensure the jump ship fuel lines didn’t ignite when they fired up. There were no Rapiers or Sabres in sight today. The Hunter RS7 was the jump ship preliminary vessel. All students had flown these at some stage in their compulsory training and their use was freely available. The Hunter was a one-man short-range attack jump ship with similar flight characteristics to the Rapier, but less agile and much heavier. They also required manual calculation of fuel intermixes, a process automated on the newer vessels. They were being phased out as Alpha invested heavily in the newer Rapier and Sabre variants, but were still very much a part of Academy training as the manual fuel-mix calculation provided valuable experience.

  Jake had not flown a Hunter for nearly three months, when his preliminary trial commenced. This was a time trial, involving two circuits of Earth and the moon in a figure-eight formation. He would launch at the same time as five other candidates. The objective was to launch and land within ten minutes, preferably a great deal faster. He carried out the usual pre-flight inspection, paid particular attention to the fuel lines and to the standard drive configuration. The previous pilot might have used the wrong intermix, which could be the difference between success and failure even for one of the academies best Top Gun prospects. At 10.30 a.m. precisely, Jake powered up the Hunter and taxied forward toward the vacant jump pad, fifty meters in front of him. He hit the pad at maximum thrust and the Hunter launched immediately. Jake compensated for a slight shudder in the throttle and brought the ship into symmetry for a near perfect launch and clearance of the planet’s shield systems within twenty-five seconds. His ship was already some distance ahead of his nearest rival.

  Jake’s intermix calculations were completely accurate, and the acceleration to his maximum close-planetary velocity was achieved instantly. He progressed ‘round the moon and back towards Earth effortlessly, and then carried out the reverse swing adjustment required to bring the ship into a negative curve, allowing for a smooth transit into the second part of the ‘eight’ configuration. Jake’s time was excellent as he brought the ship ‘round the circuit for the second time. He obtained prior re-entry clearance as he passed the halfway point of his second circuit. He launched the ship into landing mode as he cleared the defense shields and plotted a course for his return to the Alpha port.

  He touched down and came to a complete stop eight minutes and 28 seconds after he had first fired up the engines. This was a good time, but would probably not be the best. He had gone for quality and the assurance of qualifying for the next phase of the trials rather than the fastest and most spectacular method. Jake managed to dismount the Hunter before the next-best paced jump ship touched down in second place in his particular heat.

  Carla was a decent pilot, although jump ship training was not one of her academy options. Both Steve and Jake urged her to take part in the trials. She was in the same heat as another good pilot, Maria. Carla was quick, but Maria was quicker. She touched down with a time of eight minutes and 47 seconds.

  After eleven heats, the organizers called the pilots together for the final heat’s pre-flight briefing and Steve Costello entered the hangar with eager anticipation. He was granted ground clearance just two hours previously, having begged both his tutor and his flight trainer to allow him to take part. This had only been possible because the twenty-four hour psych analysis revealed nothing ‘out of the ordinary’ and the Occupational Health team gave him a one-week pilot ban, rather than the one-month ban expected. Steve’s trial was faultless and uncompromising. He recorded a time of eight minutes and fourteen seconds, the fastest recorded time for the first section of the preliminary time trial.

  The Trials broke for lunch, and at 2 p.m., the first heat of the afternoon’s events were scheduled to take place. The Hunters launched in teams of ten. This time they commenced their trial at different places on the figure-eight circuit, the idea being that each pilot would chase down the
colleagues in front of them. This was again a time trial, but with the added distraction of having to either overtake, or be held up by, the ship or ships in front of you. This was a much more complicated proposition and the line between success and failure was thin.

  Jake, Maria and Carla were all in the second heat. Jake had adjusted the fuel intermix to compensate for the fact that no launch or landing was required. Again his adjustment was correct but the Hunter felt sluggish. He compensated halfway through to prevent the other pilots in the heat from catching up. Jake won his heat, with Maria coming in third, but his time was less than perfect, leaving Jake feeling he may have to speed things up in the third event.

  The third, and final, event of the day was an attempt to spice things up a bit. The trial was over the same course, but this time the heats were run in the order each person appeared in the trial table. This meant Jake, Steve and Maria went in the last heat.

  The ten Hunters lined up at their distinct starting points in the ‘eight’ formation as before and the trial commenced. Jake started well and ran first as he entered the second circuit, but he got caught up in a squabble with the two ships in front of him. This cost him time, and he ended up finishing in overall 5th place for the day. Steve ran well all day and it was no particular surprise that he ended in first place. Maria flew fantastically well and managed to pass Jake, ending the day in 4th place. Carla finished a highly respectable 27th. She was animated when they all met for a coffee at the close of the day’s trials.