by Chris Burton
“An excellent idea Courtney.” Rose continued to refer to his confidant and friend personally than by rank, while he used normal protocol when speaking to Troy and Schneider. “We will deploy sub-space charges from both fleets. Let’s double up and fire all targets from both sides. A total of six charges. Okay, everyone let’s get to it.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Home for the Weekend
Jake Carter was on his way home. He had not seen his parents for three months and looked forward to some ‘down’ time, some good food and to seeing his parents and, in particular, Barrat, the family collie. He was slightly apprehensive, though, about seeing his father. He had not spoken to him since Joanne’s memorial service, and he knew that he would persist with his assertion that progression to Starship command didn’t come through starting his career as a jump ship pilot, especially with the news coming from the Ionian front of major jump ship losses being reported.
The short trip in Jake’s PTV from the Academy to his parent’s home in Surrey only took ten minutes. Jake brought the craft down expertly onto the circular launch pad which his parents had installed last year to accommodate their new hyper space yacht.
His father had seen him arrive, dropped his gardening tools and walked towards the house to let his wife know Jake had arrived.
The house was situated in a leafy wooded lane on the outskirts of the town of Farnham, the hustle and bustle of modern life taking a back seat in this peaceful and remote environment. Barrat, who was in the corner of the garden, recognized Jake instantly and charged across the garden to greet his long lost friend. Barrat was very excited, with his tail wagging in circular motions. a sure sign that he was pleased to see his ‘brother’ as Barrat’ s ‘Mum’ and ‘Dad’ referred to Jake.
Jake was happy to respond in kind and bent down and gave Barrat a big hug. Then his mother and father arrived and he hugged both of them too before returning briefly to Barrat, who demanded further affection.
The reunited family took tea on the terrace, the weather still good even for December, and Jake’s mother and father both talked at some length about what they had been doing for the last three months. Jake managed to avoid discussing what he was doing, while he listened intently to his parent’s news. He knew it wouldn’t be long though before the inevitable cross examination started.
A news update from the Ionian Front on the holoscreen, in Jake’s parents’ drawing room, brought the subject of jump ships close to home. The news was bad. The Sentinels had somehow managed to use atomic missiles at close range and destroy a chunk of the Alpha Fleet. The headlines were dramatic, the by-lines reported the total losses to date of some five hundred jump ship. Equally dramatic, but more specifically, this allowed Jake’s father to jump straight to his pet subject.
“I wonder how many of the pilots were new Alpha Graduates? Probably some of them from South Downs.”
Jake agreed and said the news was horrendous but would improve as the Fleet made headway into the Sentinel ranks. His father would not let it drop.
“I’m going to take Barrat in the garden and take a Spa. If it’s okay with you?”
“Now, Jake,” said his mother. She knew this was a blatant attempt by Jake to move the subject on, but she let it go. There was plenty of time to discuss these matters and Jake did come here to relax.
* * * *
The Spa room was adjacent to the pool and tennis complex, which his parents had built ten years ago. They was frugal with their money over the years, with Ros’s earnings more than sufficient to cover monthly expenditures, meaning Simon’s salary was used almost exclusively for investment. They were able to pay for the entire complex and the Space yacht outright without the need for credit. Jake had developed his love for tennis here, but it was the Spa which evoked the most vivid memories. Mostly of times he spent with various girlfriends in the sauna and the steam bath.
The complex included an interactive modular game console and a pressurized anti-gravity chamber, the use of both of which made Jake a popular friend to have when he was a teenager.
Jake headed for a sauna first, before a brief steam bath and a quick swim. His father then joined him in the game room, where they used the gaming console briefly before his father suggested that they use the gravity chamber.
Simon Carter was a youthful fifty-five and, like his son, was fit. He had opted for early retirement from active duty five years previously to take a staff post at Alpha One’s EMEA Operational HQ in London. His job was to facilitate and co-ordinate the development of the new class of high-velocity stellar drive mechanisms’ that would see velocities exceed SD10 in the medium-to-long term. The project was successful, and Commander Carter’s team of engineers had just released the first prototype Type R Hyper Stellar Drive mechanism. It was hoped that star ships would be powered by this new drive system within five years.
As such, the project was more than successful, and Simon Carter anticipated that his long awaited 4th Star was just around the corner. He would retire in five years in the knowledge that he had achieved; he became an elite commander and he had served both Alpha and his planet well. He was content. Content because his life was good, and he no longer placed his life and the lives of others under constant threat every time he issued an order in anger. Now, though, his concerns lay elsewhere, with his son’s career and his son’s life. He knew how much danger this chosen career path would place on his son, and he would do everything possible to minimize that danger.
Father and son entered the anti-grav chamber through a pressurized vault. Weightlessness was instant and as enjoyable this time as it was the first time. They both took five minutes of anti-grav exercise before the pressure automatically equalized and the chamber’s gravity returned to normal.
Dinner was taken at 6 p.m., and after coffee and biscuits, Barrat brought his lead and Simon Carter asked whether Jake would be joining him for Barrat’s evening walk. Jake agreed, thinking full well that his father would now take the opportunity to force his point home about jump ship command.
“So, what happened to Maria then?
“She just got too close. I am not looking for commitment right now.. I need to concentrate on graduation.”
“Yes, I agree. How are things going now?“
“Okay, I have completed my Quadroponics dissertation and my Weaponry and Quantum Mechanics theory is coming on nicely.”
“No mention of your jump ship training and the Top Gun competition?”
“I didn’t think you would want to talk about them.”
“Why not? They are an integral part of your final year studies. We have no problem with you developing your jump ship skills and even your participation in the Top Gun event. They can only add value to your resume.”
They entered a clearing and Simon took a ball from his pocket and began to throw the ball for Barrat.
“You’ve got to remember that I feel that the best career path for you following graduation is not the jump ship path. The knowledge is good, but so are your weaponry and your stellar navigation and your quantum mechanics. They will all lead to a good posting, perhaps even Earth Defense. We are not trying to force the issue. We know you are conditioned to feel that the quick fire route to star ship command is via the jump ship route, but times have changed.”
“Dad, I know how you feel. You tell me every time I see you. I can assure you that I am not being conditioned. I am able to make up my own mind and at the moment, however, with two whole terms left before I graduate, the jump ship route is my preference…that may change but it is unlikely.”
“I know. I am not trying to rock the boat. We just see the sheer number of jump ship pilots losing their lives. There is no future in it. Admiral Black agrees with me.”
“Ah, I knew you talked to him about me at the Wake. You never miss a trick do you?”
“Now, he approached me and it was a few days after the wake. He said they thought of you as the son-in-law they never had. You were, and I guess always will
be, the nearest thing they had to a son-in-law.”
“I am still close to them. They were so devastated. I guess it is inevitable that they would want to urge me to move away from the jump ship path.”
“Yes, Black said he was more than happy to use his influence to facilitate a good posting for you. These are the kind of contacts that make things happen. You could be in a command post within two years.”
“Maybe, but I want to make it on my own. Can we just agree to disagree for the time being? I don’t doubt that Mum will want to talk about this too before I leave tomorrow. Let’s leave it for a bit.”
“Okay. Do you want to take over the ball-throwing for a while?”
Jake continued to throw Barrat’ s ball, and within a few minutes they had reached the turning point in their walk and a had a view looking out over the Surrey Hills. The leaves had turned and begun to fall. The scenery was every bit as beautiful as Jake remembered it.
Jake’s father started to talk about the battle. “It will be over quickly,” he said.
“What makes you say that? Maybe in their favor.”
“No, Alpha definitely has a few tricks up their sleeves. There is no way they would have gone into this battle underprepared and without a killer tactic. I think they will use tactical nukes or maybe even a sub-space derivative.”
“Something you know?”
“Yes and no, mostly rumors. Guess we will have to wait and see what Alpha’s response is.”
They continued in silence for a few minutes before his father piped up again.
“So tell me about Carla and Steve. You said that they had split up and that you and she are going to Titan?”
“Yes, although it’s only a temporary split. Carla and I remain close. You know we still play tennis every weekend?”
Jake went on to explain why Carla wanted to visit Titan and why she had asked him and not Steve. As he finished his explanation, they neared the gates of his parent’s house. They walked the remainder of the walk in silence.
Jake awoke much later than usual for a Sunday morning. There was little space traffic noise here and, despite a day of little exertion yesterday, he had felt comfortable sleeping in. He took breakfast on his own, then joined his mother in the garden. Simon Carter had gone to have a drink with his friend. A habitual custom, every Sunday for many years.
Ros Carter was forty-nine, but looked more like thirty-nine. She had a good life and practiced healthy living with a positive mental attitude. As head of the Battle Injury unit at the Farnham Medical Center, she witnessed some of the most atrocious injuries man could ever inflict on themselves. She strived to make as many of them better, or to make the patients as comfortable as possible, and that was how she got through the day. Right now. she was on call, 24/7, with breaks at the weekend critical to her own self-preservation. They anticipated the worst. The recent losses at the Ionian front would soon result in a huge number of referrals to her facility; it was a flagship center and served a large community because of their overall capability.
She was glad to have the opportunity to spend some one-to-one time with Jake. She, too, wanted to talk about jump ships, but she would be more subtle than her husband.
“So Jake, why has Carla invited you to Titan? Is there something you need to tell me?”
“No Mum. We are close, but purely platonic. This is an emotional time for Carla and she needs someone she can rely on. Steve is unreliable, especially at the moment.”
“Steve has always been unreliable. Typical jump pilot really. I always thought they were a good match, i.e., opposites attract.”
“Yes they make a good team, but Carla needs some space. I am going along for the ride, plus I have never been to Titan. It will be interesting for my studies, if nothing else.”
“If she tries it on what will you say?”
Jake decided to ignore the question.
Ros Carter smiled. It was a vested interest. She liked Carla, and Carla represented the more pleasant side of Alpha’s activities. She was a good communicator and would make a fine diplomat some day. She liked the idea that Carla and Jake could get together and she might well persuade Jake not to go down the ‘fly boy’ route. She turned towards Jake again and sighed.
“Joanna’s service was nice. She was a wonderful girl. You miss her, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do. She and I had some good times together. It is such a tragic waste of life. Mum, I know you are going to link this with my jump ship training. Jo was unlucky. She was too good a pilot for her loss to be anything other than bad luck.”
“Is it luck then, a lottery if you decide to become a jump ship pilot?”
“No, it’s about skill. The luck is when and where you get called into duty, just as it is with a star ship. The ten thousand personnel lost in the battle with the Sentinels were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and most of those were in ships of the line. You need to understand that I enjoy piloting jump ships, and that it is still the fastest route to command. I could be looking at squadron leader within eighteen months.”
“Jake. We know; you will make the right decision, but you must understand our concerns. Dying in combat is not romantic or cool and neither is injury. There is nothing cool about being paralyzed from the neck down or losing half your face in combat. Is there?”
Just then, Simon Carter appeared, having downed his two pints. He seemed pleased enough. ”Just seen Sarah Whittaker in the village, Jake, she was asking after you.”
“Sarah Whitaker is after a husband, and preferably a jump ship pilot. Stay clear, Jake,” teased his Mum.
“She’s cute but a bit too small-town provincial for me. Anyway, I have only just finished with Maria. I have not got time for relationships.”
“I have invited her and her family to our Christmas drinks party on the 17th. I presume you are still coming?”
“Yes. I should be, academic work pending. Please don’t try and set me up with Sarah again. She’s nice, but not my type and I am only twenty-two.”
Jake knew that this was yet another subtle way of trying to move him away from jump ship. Jump ship Pilots were considered pretty lowly in the Alpha community, but way up there as a catch for the jet set super rich debutantes. Sarah was the daughter of a wealthy landowner in the local village, and Jake was definitely still on her target list. Trouble was that Jake was there before, and he did have fond memories of their brief time together in the Spa…
The subject turned to Christmas and his parents’ local and community issues, and continued through lunch. After lunch they sat and had coffee in the drawing room and chatted briefly about world affairs, Alpha and ECG. Jake was getting itchy feet. He still had plenty of studying to do before class tomorrow. His parents made their case for not following a jump ship career path emphatically, and further discussions would simply labor the point. He decided to finish his coffee and prepare to leave.
Just as Jake stood and prepared to say his goodbyes, a further news update appeared on the holoscreen. a new and significant development occurred on the Ionian Front. News was just coming in of Alpha’s response to the Sentinels Atomic attack.
So the rumors were true, Alpha was stockpiling illegal sub-space weapons and they used them in combat.
Chapter Thirty-Six
The Sub-space Attack
There was never any doubt. It was clear in Rose’s mind that the charges would be deadly and so they proved. Six charges were fired via short-range Tiger missiles. Each missile was launched from an individual Sabre, with the first three being launched by Admiral Shenke’ s mini-fleet and the second three launching thirty seconds later from the main fleet.
The gas cloud barely cleared when the Sabres were launched and they delivered their cargo accurately to within five hundred meters of their target. The Tigers accelerated briskly and impacted the Sentinels shield system. That was sufficient. The charges exploded on impact, and the sub-space reaction occurred instantaneously, with the Sabres barely clearing their target b
efore the explosion reached them. The explosion spread like a bush fire, engulfing half the Sentinel Fleet within seconds of impact. There was no gas cloud and, thirty seconds later, the initial explosion abated and the net result of the attack was clear to all. Three large holes had appeared along the length of the Sentinel Fleet.
The destruction was enormous, with some five hundred Sentinel vessels vaporized in an instant. Nearby vessels were ripped apart, some partially intact, others spread over a large area. Then there was the void. Small at first but gradually growing, an area of dark space within which nothing existed. As it got larger, it engulfed more and more Sentinel ships.
The Sentinel fleet was in disarray, but their commanders had the good sense to quickly move the vessels most at risk out of the immediate range of the expanding void. The Sentinel Fleet was divided into four sections just as the Alpha plan had envisaged. The fleets shield system was malfunctioning and Alpha acted swiftly to carry home their advantage.
The Centurion B initiative was Alpha’s planned winning battle strategy. The strategy mimicked that of the Centurion B, an Alpha Battle-cruiser from the last Galactic War that had found itself on its own, facing thirty enemy vessels. The Centurion commander decided that running was not an option and that they must shoot their way out. They achieved this by splitting the thirty vessels into small groups, by running jump ships in close range diagonal passes, gradually spreading the enemy fleet while the main ship blasted the enemy vessels out of existence. In summary, the strategy was to deploy high numbers of jump ships to weaken the resolve of the enemy fleet, while the main fleet concentrated all of its fire power on the weakened points of the enemy fleet. This was a simple but effective battle tactic, in this case especially effective because both the jump ships and the fire power was coming both from the main fleet and the mini-fleet.
* * * *
The Sentinel Fleet was decimated. Alpha’s advantage pressed home but it could not last. General Yoshi acted to ensure this battle was far from over.
Battles in space are more than three-dimensional. A commander has the flexibility to move his vessels both up and down as well as back and forth and left and right. In this environment it was clear General Yoshi needed to act quickly to prevent Alpha from running away with victory. He didn’t have the initiative, but he did have the numbers and he still had a few tricks up his sleeve.
