Alpha One: The Kronan (5 page)

Jake Carter was on route to Titus 3 and he was alone. Not physically alone—over fifty other TG contestants surrounded him but he was the sole representative from the South Downs Alpha Academy.

He spent the last three hours trying to rationalize whether this was a good thing or not. He kept coming back to the eerie conclusion: Steve was not there because of him. Steve Costello was forced to sit out the finals, despite having won the South Downs competition. His bar room bust up, his drinking, his temper and his inability to make any impact on his study catch-up, had grounded him, confined to the Academy until graduation. This left Jake on his own, as runner up in the South Downs TG competition, here on merit, but Steve’s absence was all down to him and Carla. Jake stole his best friend’s girlfriend. Neither Jake nor Carla told him but Steve guessed. He allowed this and his defunct hero status to take him to a bad place. Steve had gone from hero to villain.

The journey to Titus 3 was tediously slow at sub SD3. It would be a very long three days if he spent the entire journey in silence, restricted to his own company. He tried to make conversation with his fellow contestants, but after introductions and small talk, the other contestants drifted back to their own academy companions. However, Jake was not here to make friends. He was here to win the competition. His Resume would read much better as the 2213 TG winner.

“Hi, the names Tom Duke.”

Jake’s thought process was interrupted by a bald American contestant who plumped himself down in the seat next to him.

“I guess you must be Jake Carter and you are the sole South Downs contestant, what with Costello, having pulled out. That makes you and me amongst the favorites.”

Jake had heard about Tom Duke. He was reputed to be the hottest TG prospect from the American continent. He was good, confident and he knew it.

“Yes. I’m Jake Carter. Good to meet you. Unfortunately as you say, Enson Costello was unable to attend the TG competition.”

“Must be kinda difficult for a guy to contend with being the villain of the peace, now that the wormhole has reopened. His failure could mean the loss of a lot of TG pilots.”

Jake was annoyed, by the Americans brashness. He was obviously trying to provoke a response.

“Steve just had a lot on. Like all of us, graduation is just round the corner.”

“Heard he beat up on a civilian in a bar and he’s been kicked out of Alpha.”

Jake tried to avoid losing his temper, opting for a conciliatory tone.

“Steve Costello is a unique talent and it is fortunate for all of us that he elected not to come. He would have been a formidable opponent. He is not responsible for the wormhole re-opening. Alpha’s scientists got their sums wrong and they are to blame, not us. Look, I am pleased to meet an opponent, but can we just leave it at that for now. Let’s just get on with the competition.”

“Suit yourself. I like to get to know my opponent. You should learn from that. Glad to have met with you Enson Carter.”

The American returned to his seat and left Jake to continue his pondering.

His mind soon turned to Carla. Last night had been full on. Their lovemaking was fantastic and yet the evening was beset with heated and meaningful conversation. They had not argued, merely bringing their emotions to the fore about the way they felt for each other, about their futures, the inevitable periods where they would be apart, the Kryl crisis, and about Steve. Their final embrace was charged with emotion as they recognized the strength of their relationship. He left her knowing that she would inevitably spend time with Steve. She assured him this was a good thing. Steve needed to be brought back to the fore. Jake was left with the uncertainty that scared him the most: he could lose her again to Steve. Yet she had assured him her relationship with Steve was long over. He believed her and he trusted her but he did not trust Steve. Jake knew he would take the chance to be with her again. Did he still have the power to get Carla back into his bed?

Jake slept for a while, but was woken by a comm. link from Carla. Sure enough, it appeared Steve had already tried it on.

“He was absolutely blind drunk and I could not get rid of him. I just waited for him to pass out and left him on the couch. I have locked the door. I am not sure I trust him Jake. I don’t know what’s happened to him.”

“Do you want me to come home?”

“Don’t be daft. I can look after myself. Tomorrow, when he wakes up and realizes what he’s done, I will sit down with him and make him see sense. He is throwing everything away. He is obviously worried about his court appearance.”

“And the fact that I am here and he is there. Carla, be careful. I don’t trust him. I am worried he might do something really stupid.”

“He has come pretty close to doing that already. If there are any issues, I will speak to the tutor. Steve’s priority is to graduate and get out there in a Jump Ship. If he can’t win the TG, at least he can be where he really wants to be.”

“I am not sure, what he wants. If he loses the court case, he will be in big trouble. Are you still going with him?”

“Yes. But I am not sure I am the right person...Don’t worry I will look after him.”

Jake returned his seat to sleep mode. He still had two whole days of travel before he got to Titus 3 and at this rate, they were going to be two very long days.

* * * *

The shuttle banked over Titus 3, then came in quickly as the landing pad locked on, and drew the ship downwards. The small planetoid was an enigma. Despite a breathable atmosphere and a hospitable climate, it had a gravity pressure equivalent to ten times that of Earth. When you were caught in it, there was really only one place to go—straight to the surface. This made the small planetoid the perfect place to test the skills of the very best Jump Pilots and that was why this particular shuttle had touched down today.

The remainder of the journey was uneventful. Jake turned to his studying, as there were no further interruptions from his fellow contestants. Although Carla called him twice more, she had dealt with Steve smartly and he backed off.

This was his first visit to Titus 3. He fully understood why engaging this planet in a TG competition was such a challenge. The shuttle’s descent was alarmingly quick. Without the remotely controlled landing process, the shuttles power to weight ratio, would have been inadequate and she would have been dragged onto the planet surface.

* * * *

On landing and clearing security, the contestants were coached to their accommodation and within forty- five minutes, they sat in a hotel function room awaiting the TG supremo to address them.

“Welcome everyone. I hope you enjoyed your descent to Titus 3. Those of you who have never visited before, will be rather alarmed by the speed and the brutality of the landing process. This ladies and gentlemen, is why you are here. There is no better place to test your skills and for you to show us who is the best TG pilot.”

“We like to keep everyone guessing,” he continued. “This year we have selected Hunter R4’s as the competition vessel. This is going to be a very hard challenge indeed.”

A hush fell over the audience as they realized they would not be cosseted by the automated precision of the Rapier 7 or the smooth and wonderfully adept Sabre 4. They would be flying basic. The Hunter’s were used in the TG finals before, but not for a good few years. This was a cruel blow, to many and some would not cope.

“I will let you get over that shock for a moment, before I explain why...”

“We are all too aware of the events taking place in the Tri-star System and important though this competition is the new variant Rapier and Sabre will not be available to us at this time. We could then have opted for older variants, but we were reminded of just how good you people seem to think you are. The Hunter challenge became an attractive one. You will need all your skills and strengths just to avoid plunging the R4’s into the surface of the planet. I will close this welcome meeting, with a word of caution, be prepared for anything and make sure you are fully awake when you step foot inside your ship...Good luck, you are going to need it!”

The first race commenced early in the thirty-eight hour Titus 3 day. Twenty-two hours of darkness gave way to bright sunlight, almost unbearably, as the twin stars of the Dalbor System reached their maximum brightness.

Today’s race involved a free-for-all offensive across the surface of the planetoid, never once breaking atmosphere, confined to within five thousand meters from the surface. The circumference route of the planetoid was guided by thirty checkpoints. The Jump Ship pilots had to pass within ten kilometers of each. This would be no mean feat. The terrain was constantly varied and included two complex mountainous sections and the infamous Dolphin cavern—a two thousand mile cave that traversed one entire continent of the planetoid. The Jump Ships had to negotiate the cave in near darkness. This was by far the most dangerous section of the course, with some sections less than one hundred and fifty meters in height. Gravity and intermix calculations were plotted in advance as each TG contestant planned their route in finite detail. This was the first race, but it was also the hardest. Some would not make it to the end.

Jake sat almost horizontally as he studied his chart and route calculations. He knew this section was designed to reduce the field. Sixty competitors were too many for a meaningful competition. At such an early stage, this was about safe negotiation of the course, rather than pitching the fastest time.

The command came for the Hunter R4’s engines to ignite and Jake brought himself back to his standard seating position and powered up his twin thrusters. The ion drives would not be needed today, but if emergency thrust burst was required, he would keep them on standby.

The Hunters lined up six abreast in a grid system, which was pre-determined by random selection. Jake’s ship was on the second row. The order to engage was broadcast and Jake fired up his thrusters to maximum for a super fast launch. Seconds later the Hunter rose into the sky, as the procession of Jump Ships began the early stages of the race.

This was full on.
He was back in thirty-sixth place and struggling to stay with the leaders. All the contestants were exceptional pilots.

This was an endurance race and completion was the target, so Jake set about positioning himself safely, with clear distance between those Jump Ships ahead, below, above and behind. The first section of mountain terrain was quickly approaching. A tall range of mountains, where the highest peaks fell just a few hundred meters short of the atmospheric boundary. If you chose the wrong peak to climb over, you could be disqualified in a flash. Jake opted to hug the ground closely and use his helmet telemetry to instinctively keep the ship from getting too close to the surface. Twice, he came close and quick changes to his intermix brought him back to safety. The second mountainous section followed a cruise across a large section of water. Bizarrely this was one of the hardest sections. Detecting the checkpoints over water was difficult because the gravity pull created liquid vortexes, which spurted out from the sea, if altitude dropped to low. Several Jump Ships were lost this way and. Jake was grateful, after fifteen minutes of flying that, this section was finally over, and the second less dense mountain section commenced. The great cavern fast approached and Jake began the finite adjustments required to negotiate his Hunter through the vast underground tunnel.
This will be tricky.

Ten kilometers into the cavern, the gravitational pull decreased, the ride became firmer, and the urge to ditch reduced markedly.

Jake was now in danger. The Hunter immediately behind him closed to less than fifty meters and was obviously trying to force Jake into a mistake. The Duke tried to force him into the side of the cavern, where the height was restricted and light was very limited. Jake instinctively pulled the stick back and allowed his thoughts to control his progress. He eased back further on the throttle and the Duke went shooting by. The Duke’s Hunter did not look back. He was clearly on a quest to reach the leaders.

Jake was in eighteenth place and the tunnel section was proving a formidable obstacle to the Hunters limited maneuverability. Only fifty-two ships remained in the race.

The race continued. Twice, Jake swerved to avoid protruding cave sections and on the closing section, when he could almost sense the daylight, he narrowly avoided ditching as he swerved to avoid the Jump Ship in front as the cave height suddenly narrowed to less than three hundred meters. Then they were clear and in front of them lay the Great Plains and the Antubi dessert. These were two of the fastest sections of the race, but the terrain was difficult and gravity was back to play its fullest part.

The closing section of the race was mostly over water and when the leading Jump Ships finally sighted land, the end was in sight. The Duke came in first, proving he was a formidable Jump Pilot. Jake came passed the winning post in ninth position.

The second and third days of the competition passed by, with five further races, narrowing the field on the final day to just twenty- two. Jake was in third place and was challenging for the lead. The final race was a time trial across the Antubi Desert, the plains and through the cavern, but now, as with the South Downs final TG, the organizers had added a simple reality check. The Jump Ships would be targeted from above and below by a vast array of anti aircraft artillery. Jake lay in fifth place in the time trial, as the contestants exited the plains and headed into the mouth of the cavern. Jake needed to ramp things up and he made adjustments to his intermix calculations. He needed to win this race in the best time possible, to stand any chance of winning the competition outright
.
The leaders were all bunched together, with the Duke tucked in behind the leader. Jake made his move and passed the fourth and third place Jump Ships as the cavern narrowed to one of its lowest points. He was behind the Duke.