Alpha One - Chris Burton [33]
She was capable of SD6 via one of two twin matter/antimatter reformatting drives. She had an additional ‘fast jump’ ion drive and two sub-light auxiliary drives. Her thrusters and space launch capability gave her seven propulsion drives in total, making her one of the most flexible cruisers in Alpha’s expansive fleet. The three hundred crew plus a complement of one hundred marines were located in comparative luxury in two of her fourteen decks. She contained three hangars to accommodate thirty jump ships, and four smaller hangars to house her Eagles, a variety of shuttles and her probes.
The Halo’s armament and defensive capabilities were impressive, too, with plasma weapons, ten laser cannons, fourteen teutonic torpedo tubes and an oval-shaped flux capacitor PBA. Her shields were upgraded Battleship-strength with vertical wave shields, and virtual stealth capability, to boot. Hoskins was much impressed when he researched his new vessel and even more amazed when he saw her.
The crew transferred from the Aurora 5, but with natural wastage, transfers and promotions, only one hundred seventy five of the two hundred ninety-seven available crew transferred across. This meant Hoskins must find a further one hundred twenty-five crew, including fifteen officers, two new Rapier Pilots and three senior officers. A new Chief Engineer was already allocated. Tom Royce was promoted from an assistant chief engineer post on another Duke Class vessel and ranked Lieutenant Commander. A Bridge Commander and a new Chief Medical Officer were also needed. The marines and the NCO crew would be recruited via Hoskins’s CPO in the course of the next two weeks leading up to the official launch date of October 17th.
Jonathan Hoskin advised Commander Jean–Luc Jacques of his promotion, twenty-four hours after Hoskins met Admiral Martin. Jacques was happy to accept, and Hoskins’s relationship with his new Number One was developing well. Their mutual respect for each other continued to grow.
Today was the 16th of October, just one day before launch. All crew were appointed and the ship ready for launch. Hoskins sat in his study and opened a comm link to Earth; he planned to have a meaningful conversation with his wife. Sarah Hoskins’s face appeared on the comm link display and Jonathan smiled and said hello.
Sarah replied, “Is she aboard yet?”
“Yes,” was Hoskins reply. He didn’t want to get involved in discussions about Obeya, but thought his best response was to be truthful and brief and hope that this would illicit the right response from Sarah.
“Do you really think I want to talk to you when you have told me you are no longer seeing her and yet you have still sanctioned her posting to your new ship?”
Jonathan realized this wouldn’t be easy. “Sweetheart, it is all over. I transferred her to this ship as part of my new commission. There was no military reason for not doing so and she is a good jump pilot.”
He hated lying, but he wanted the best of both worlds. He knew it was wrong, but he just could not stop himself.
“I have your word?”
“Yes.”
“Then you need to make a promise to me, two promises in fact. You need to stay faithful from on, and you need to make sure you are back home by March.”
“Why March?”
“Because I am pregnant and I am not doing this on my own.”
“Pregnant. Oh fuck, I mean, oh my God, that’s fantastic. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I think that’s obvious, isn’t it. Call me in a couple of days and we can talk further. Do I have your promises?”
“Yes.”
The comm link went dead. It all made perfect sense. Sarah accepted his indiscretions a bit too easily and now he knew why.
She didn’t look pregnant, but had he really looked that closely? No. Then again they had been trying for a child, albeit few opportunities presented themselves,