Alpha One - Chris Burton [38]
With that, Winterburn stood up and left the room.
Chapter Eighteen
Jake’s Passion
Jake Carter never had any doubt what he wanted to do. Ever since his first off-world experience when he was just six years old, when his father had flown his wife and son to the Alpha base on Mars on a one-day sightseeing trip. Jake had stared first at the moon as it grew closer and closer, and then as they landed he was able to appreciate for the first time the splendor and beauty of Planet Earth. Aged six, he didn’t perceive things in these terms, but he never forgot this first experience in space. In time he would regard it as one of his most special childhood memories.
Today, Jake stared once again at his home planet. He never grew bored of the view in front of him. From here in standard Earth orbit, the spectacle was as magnificent today as it was sixteen years ago.
Jake was on a training reconnaissance mission. The objective was clear: to observe over a four-hour period as many vessels, satellites etc as he possibly could and then report back. A simple but laborious task, which reminded the students they were not just here for combat. The Rapier 6 was about many things, but today the Rapier and its pilot’s task was simple: maintain orbit and observe.
The mission was productive, with over one hundred individual sightings reported. Jake was in his last hour of observation and his mind wandered away from his current task and on to other things: specifically, Carla and Maria. He had strong feelings for Maria but his relationship with Carla was changing. He found himself thinking and worrying about Carla more and more, especially since she started to go on about the Collective. Jake had tried to talk to Steve about it, but Steve had just dismissed it, saying that it would pass. It was clear that Carla had not yet told Steve that she had invited Jake to come with him to Titan.
The Rapier 6 comm system came to life.
“Are you bored yet?” Steve asked.
“This is what it is all about. Not always the glory, my dear chap.”
“Well, by my reckoning, the four hours are nearly up and we can start heading down. What say we do a little satellite chasing?”
“The next Top Gun Trial is at the weekend, Steve. If you screw up you won’t be on it.”
“Ah come on Jakey. Just a quick go. I’ll go first.”
Jake sighed and accepted the inevitable and pulled his ship into line behind Steve for their first run.
Steve lifted his ship first upwards and then into a steep descent. At this altitude, thousands of satellites orbited the Earth. Two hundred fifty years of satellite launches had left its toll, with all manner of satellites, space junk, satellite debris and a whole host of other manmade objects orbited the Earth. Most of the intact satellites were dormant and had either been forgotten about, or were triggered for return but their re-entry mechanisms had failed.
The object of satellite-chasing was to pick a target (preferably a non-functioning one) and blast the satellite into outer space, the only problem being that sometimes the blast impact made the satellites go the wrong way and, instead of their floating safely off into the ether, they would suddenly be drawn into re-entry and be dragged into Earth’s shields, where it would disintegrate on impact. The actual policy on satellite-chasing was that it was somewhat reckless, but if the number of satellites were reduced it was a good thing. The Academy’s stance differed slightly: the activity was barred and, if caught, pilots could expect a good ticking off. Getting caught was unlikely, though, and Steve and Jake knew that, given their proximity to the satellites, they would not be the only trainee pilots today who took their chance in the firing range.
Steve went first but missed his original target. He then blasted an old telecommunications satellite, which split into two, and both parts floated off into space.
Jake then moved in for the kill. He lined up a spherical transmission probe and, having visibly checked its functionality was zero, he turned