Alpha One - Chris Burton [14]
“The panel has considered your actions; that you have admitted your wrongdoings, and your pleas for leniency, and we have reached a verdict from which your senior tutor can act upon should he elect to.”
“The Panel considers that your actions placed both your co-pilot, your immediate colleagues and the inhabitants of the substation at considerable risk and for what? You have a track record of disobeying instructions and flouting rules and conventions. You seem to have a complete disregard for the Academy rules, conventions and codes of conduct. My personal opinion is that you should be thrown out of the Academy. However, the collective verdict of the Disciplinary Panel is that you should be allowed to continue your training, including your jump ship training. You will be deducted one whole point from your graduation score and it is recommended that you should not be allowed to compete in the Top Gun competition this year. You are dismissed”
Jake led Steve through the chambers door and out of the main campus building. Steve looked ashen.
“They can’t stop me from taking part in the Top Gun, can they?”
“For God’s sake, Steve. You have just been let off the hook and back on to the training course. Never mind the competition, you can still graduate with an 8.5 if you knuckle down for the rest of this year. Just forget about the Top Gun.”
“I guess so,” said Steve. “There’s no way am I going to forget the Top Gun.”
Chapter Six
Aurora 5
The Sentinels’ Northern Fleet never really got to grips with the Humans’ technical capability, with their cunning and devious battle tactics. The fleet was in terminal decline, morale was low and their remaining ships were old and war-beaten. The humans’ success against the inferior forces of the Northern fleet was inevitable but unfortunate.
General Yoshi didn’t want to be here. He was intent on continuing his destruction of the Partacians and this was an unnecessary distraction. He assumed command of the Northern Fleet and made good what remained of the salvageable ships, and scuttled those left behind.
Earlier he visited his Northern Fleet incumbent. He declared the ‘Kaphflona’ and immediately assumed command as he watched the outgoing General plunge his ceremonial sword up through his abdomen and out through his neck. Death was slow and painful, but the path of the Kaphflona was clear. He was leader and General Timona was dead. He watched as the dead General was taken away for incineration.
The Sentinels were a deeply spiritual people who followed many faiths, but none more so then the teachings of the ‘Betanica Sect’. In essence, the Sect controlled the faith of each of his three thousand crew and that of each and every one of his Fleet Commanders, their crew and the Sentinels that surrounded the Galaxy. The Sect representatives numbered nearly one hundred in his ship alone and, although General Yoshi didn’t count himself to be truly a man of faith, he did respect the Sect and their importance in the greater scheme of things.
Yoshi attended the Katana Ceremony. This four hour ritual involved the blessing of the ship and the fleet prior to battle and the sacrificial slaughter of a representative of the enemy. The human female was nude and muted. She would die painfully and slowly but her death would be the start of many that he, General Yoshi, would inflict on the humans. Despite his lack of faith, this was a good ceremony, he reminded himself.
* * * *
The Aurora 5 hit the dust cloud at maximum cruising velocity. A huge vortex of dust and debris from the Beta five planetary rings swirled into existence as the Battle Cruiser ploughed through the dust cloud on route to its latest destination.
Jonathan Hoskins sat at his desk in his study and attended to his administrative tasks, without even noting the curious special effect that was erupting around his ship. He spent many years in space and the shudder from the impact of a ship