[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Jake already checked that Joanne’s parents were in.He made an excuse that he was in the area and thought he would pop into to see them.His three-year relationship with Joanne brought him close to her parents and, to be honest, he did miss them.He didn’t cherish the prospect of seeing them, for the first time in over a year to tell them that their daughter was dead.Ten minutes later, the PTV landed on the spare charging bay on the roof of Admiral William Black’s substantial property.Jake carried out the ‘official’ task and left the Black’s home ten minutes later.Jake felt awful and had an inclination as to why Joanne never listed her parents as next of kin.Admiral Black disapproved of Joanne’s jump ship specialty, largely because of the danger.It seemed his anxieties proved correct.The retired Admiral cried out, “Why the hell did she not listen to me?”Jake comforted them both as best he could, then said his goodbyes and left promptly.He fired up his PTV and reset the AFN for a return to the Academy.He then opened a comm link to his tutor, who confirmed that his place at the Top Gun event had not been jeopardized.He would not fly until mid-afternoon.Jake headed back to the Academy at half-cruising velocity.The AFN controlling the vessel allowed Jake to make contact via comm link to the other parties on his hastily drafted contact list, including Steve, Carla and his own parents—the latter being a call long overdue.The events of the morning brought his own relationship with his parents to the fore and, although the conversation with his father was brief, he took the first step.* * * *The Hunter lifted briefly, then plunged downwards, spiraling out of control and heading for the moon below.The inexperienced pilot faced his own mortality.He stared transfixed at the looming crater—his final resting place.He tried to pull the craft up again, but there was no movement.The moon’s gravitational pull was strong and the powerless Hunter had no answer.The pilot pulled the manual canopy release lever once again, but this was futile.The lever stuck.He was going to die.The Sabre 4 was on its second phase Alpha test run.The test pilot came to grips with the new set up all morning, and finally felt comfortable enough to engage the SD and head out beyond the Kuiper Belt.Satisfied, he engaged the ship’s NAVCOM, which assumed complete control and allowed him to observe and make notes on his lap pad as he returned to Earth.The distress call from the Hunter and from the ensuing Academy Top Gun ships was barely audible, but he caught a glimpse of the small moon as he passed Jupiter.He noticed a hive of activity, and realized something was going on.The Sabre 4 was an incredibly adaptable craft.As soon as the pilot realized the Hunter was in trouble, he assumed immediate control and was able to loop the Sabre backwards at high velocity, putting it firmly on an intercept course with the Hunter, which spun out of control, falling to its inevitable demise.The test pilot knew he could prevent this.The Sabre accelerated briskly into a low moon orbit, and he brought the Sabre to a halt below the Hunter.He then waited.The Hunter appeared from here but the test pilot was ready.He fired up his afterburners at maximum thrust, kicking up enough energy to force the Sabre to shoot forward, and, at the same time, created a vortex into which the Hunter would fall and hopefully stop the spin.The vortex worked and created a negative force in the direction the Hunter was spinning, reversing and stopping the spin almost instantly.The Sabre had done enough.The Hunter leveled off and the Top Gun pilot was able to gain partial control, sufficient to lift the ship from a head-on impact with the moon’s surface.The Hunter pilot had control but he would still crash land.There was no time left to pick up momentum so he clenched his teeth and pulled back on the yaw control, yanking the thrusters forward.The action saved his life and allowed the craft to bed down in a clearing, skidding and spinning across 500 meters of flat terrain
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]