Alpha One - Chris Burton [92]
Jake found it difficult to keep up with him, and even Steve must stretch himself to keep the hybrid at bay. Jake decided he needed to look at this intelligently. Right, now he was almost 1000 meters behind Hilliard. He needed to calculate his mix to ensure he came out of light speed at the last minute and gain perhaps a vital fraction of a second advantage that would take him past him. He knew Hilliard and Steve would concentrate on keeping each other at bay, giving him a potential advantage.
Hey, I might even get in front of Steve, Jake thought.
The race drew to its conclusion. Jake was on his own in third and drifted to almost two thousand meters behind the leaders, but he was ready. They would make their intermix calculations.
Jake waited patiently. The jump ships could now see Earth, and the leaders had less than thirty seconds to take their ships sub-light and engage their auxiliary drives. Five seconds after Ensons Hilliard and Costello, Jake disengaged his stellar drive and his auxiliary drive kicked in. His ship instantly decelerated, causing massive negative G and forcing Jake back tightly in his seat. This was a perfect drive switch and it worked. Steve remained in front, but the hybrid was behind Jake, too far behind to make any impact. The two friends crossed the line almost together. Steve won and consolidated his position as leader. Jake was second with a healthy lead over Hilliard.
“Where the hell did you come from?”
“I was sitting behind you guys waiting for one of you to screw up. I nearly got you as well.”
“Saw it coming, my friend, just in time. It looks like Hilly didn’t. He ended up well back.”
“Yes, but he is getting better. We are going to really have to watch him this weekend.”
“I agree. Perhaps we should negate his threat.”
“What do you mean, negate?”
“He doesn’t like being squeezed. If we work together we can put him under pressure.”
“That’s not exactly in the rules.”
“No one will find out,” said Steve.
By good fortune or not, Jake and Steve were paired together in the next race, each taking turns to be the others wing-man. The objective: to hold as close as possible to each other over the course in the fastest time possible. Penalties were deducted each time the wing-man left the leads’ domain by even a fraction. This was child’s play for Jake and Steve, with Steve assuming the wing-man position first. Jake took the lead and held it. When it came to the changeover, Steve took a wide birth and allowed three other Rapier pairs to overtake. He wants to increase the odds, thought Jake. Talk about confident.
Steve’s intention became clear moments later when he realized Hilliard was Steve’s intended target man. Hilliard was wing-man in his pair and held close, as his lead tried to catch the two pairs in front. Steve began to drawer in on Hilliard and Jake had no choice but to follow. Jake was furious but held on for fear of losing points.
Steve took his Rapier to within five meters of Hilliard’s ship before moving in closer, to within the slipstream of the wingman. This was a perfectly legitimate, if not slightly unorthodox move, given the vast expanse of space surrounding them, but Steve wanted to get his wingman in closer still.
Jake held on. He knew Steve relied on his consistency and ability. There were few happy to fly in formation, passing another vessel where there were centimeters between the four ships. Inevitably, Jake took his ship even closer to his lead, to ensure he had room to pass Hilliard. Steve made this difficult, squeezing Jake’s air space to the narrowest of paths. Then he used the slipstream to pull past Hilliard and his lead.
Jake and Steve shot past and moved in for their next target. Jimenez, the lead ship from Hilliard’s pair, held the line and continued. Steve’s slipstream pulled the Spaniard’s Rapier off line