Alpha One - Chris Burton [16]
“Go to condition yellow and prepare for emergency jump Number one, what is the state of the sensor sweep?”
“Preliminary results confirm a large Sentinel vessel immediately above us. Shall I launch a Rapier battle group?”
“Negative. Battle stations. Go to jump on my mark and sweep round 180 degrees to port and drop to 220.”
“Prime the PBA and raise forward shields to maximum.”
“Mark.”
The Aurora 5 instantly surged forward at maximum thrust. The power of the emergency stellar jump forced the Sentinel vessel upward and briefly into a downward spiral, but the vast Sentinel ship corrected itself immediately and fired broadside clusters at the Aurora as it steadied itself, scoring direct hits and causing minor damage to the aft decks and again to the auxiliary drive.
“She’s big,” said the Aurora’s first officer.
“I think we may have met our match, Mr. Jacques. This might be our first contact with General Yoshi. Take us to SD5. Brace for hard acceleration. Mark.”
The ship’s stabilizers compensated and the Alpha Battle Cruiser lurched forward, accelerating briskly to SD5. The Sentinel ship started its pursuit but despite her obvious ailments, the Aurora 5’s thrust was too great and she began to pull away.
The Aurora 5 was in some difficulty.
“Stabilizers to maximum,” shouted Jacques.
“Status report.”
“Significant damage to aft decks, no reported casualties as yet, the auxiliary drive is offline and we are venting plasma from the stellar drive,” replied the first officer.
“Effect immediate repairs and maintain velocity. Steady as she goes.” said Hoskins. He decided this day was a long way from being over.
Chapter Seven
The President
President Roslyn was in a bad mood. The news from Beta Five reported Alpha encountered the Sentinel’s Southern Fleet—or part of it—and that the Alpha came off worse. To add to his woes, the news wires were reporting his approval rating at a new low of just twenty-seven percent and the public’s generally-positive perception and support for the war was beginning to lose ground.
This was definitely not the right time for the Defense Secretary to come to him to request additional Alpha funding, but the incompetent fool was doing just that. He was standing there right in front of him and demanding further funding.
Charles De Voort was a diminutive, spectacled man who usually spoke his mind. He was confident, articulate, and generally got what he wanted. He headed up the Defense Department for the last eight years, and had visited President Roslyn for Alpha funding on numerous occasions in the past. He always got what he wanted.
Not today. Roslyn was not in the mood to play party politics. He was not in the mood to create yet another headline about yet another increase in funding and he was not in the mood to see De Voort’ s face, let alone have to listen to him.
However, the case for further funding was clear. Alpha required funds to launch an all out strike on the Sentinels’ Southern Fleet. He was obligated as an APF member to remove the threat from the Sentinels, because he had signed a treaty which pledged to do just that. Not that upsetting the APF was of particular concern, but they did still provide Central APF funding, albeit directly to Alpha. Their ultimate aim was to remove the Sentinels from APF airspace.
The cost was ridiculous, really. Fully twenty-five percent of Earth’s GDP went towards defense, and despite APF’s treaty commitment, to fund their contributions, to date was derisory; a further half of one percent GDP funding was required to fund the new strike. What could he do? Alpha was not yet completely self-funding. They still relied on ECG—Earth’s Central Government—to provide the funds, and if Earth didn’t fund it then Alpha would go short and, inevitably, losses would be greater. Would they be able to find the funds elsewhere?
Roslyn stood and beckoned De Voort to take a seat in front of his vast desk.
“Can you give me a justifiable reason as to why I should authorize, and why the senate should follow suit? The costs are ridiculous. I need you to reduce