Alpha One - Chris Burton [30]
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