Starcorp 1: Escape from Sol

Eric Pettorino had no idea why Joshua summoned for him with such short notice. This question gave him cause to be a little concerned. He had been summoned to meetings by Joshua on previous occasions but a future time and date accompanied these. This summons demanded his immediate appearance. Never before had he been ordered to drop everything and come to his office. Normally, Joshua would call or come to him when he was in a hurry. The more Eric thought about this the more convinced he became that there was something important about this meeting.

Eric Pettorino was Joshua’s Director of Human Systems for the mows. He was chosen for this position because people in this industry considered him to be the foremost authority on human/machine interface technology. He and his team had accomplished much in defining the mow’s overall cockpit design and its operating system. The only thing that was preventing him from putting the stamp of completion on this task was the ongoing development of the mow. The space-fighter was an unproven work of science speculation, for the most part. There were many components that had to be engineered to work seamlessly with other components. The mow was a twenty-second-century version of a skunkworks project, with one difference. It needed to work on its first trip out of the factory. Eric had never worked on a project where the overall mechanics was not already designed and proven. But it was this aspect of it, coupled with the secrecy, which made it so exciting for him.

“They’re in the conference room,” the receptionist instructed with a point.

Eric was well aware of the location of the conference room. He immediately turned himself towards it and took off at a quick pace. As he did this, his mind gave thought the fact that the receptionist said that they were in the conference room. At this moment, he concluded that this meeting was not about him specifically or the task he was performing. The presence of others reinforced his suspicion that something big had occurred.

All the other Division Heads of the Titan Project were in the conference room when Eric entered. He was the last to arrive, minus Joshua. All of them were seated and questioning each other about the reason behind this meeting. They had heard rumors about political changes on Earth. But no one knew for sure if these changes were the cause of this meeting.

Eric took a seat at the table and joined in on the discussion. His contribution was more inquiry than knowledge. The events happening on Earth was something he knew little about. His knowledge of computers and robotics was almost second nature for him. Eric had little interest in serious matters.

“Hello everyone,” Joshua announced as he stormed into the room.

The division heads murmured their hellos back as Joshua hurried to the head of the conference table and took a stance. He then went into his address without pausing to scan the faces seated in front of him

“There have been some new developments on Earth,” Joshua began with a stern expression. “As some of you may already know, the Prime Minister of Thames resigned from office and relocated to MPT01E2153. That was seven days-ago.”

Joshua took a pause after this statement to give time for the magnitude of his words to sink in. After several seconds, Linda, the division head of space-plane development, spoke up with a confused expression.

“There’s nothing new with that. Earth politicians have been relocating into Starcorps for decades.”

“This is not some long forgotten retired politician,” Joshua asserted an instant behind. “This is—was—the sitting Prime Minister of Thames. Nothing smacks of betrayal like a sitting Earth politician taking favors from the enemy. And in the eyes of most Earthers, we are the enemy.”

There was silence for several seconds as everyone considered Joshua’s words. At the end of this Dan, the division head of support vehicles development asked a direct question in a soft tone of voice.

“So, what does this mean?”

Joshua wasted little time in responding to this. After a brief scan of the faces in front of him, he commenced with his response.

“Five days-ago the Prime Minister of the Alberta Alliance made a televised call for all Earth States to sign onto his United Front Pact. Within twenty-four hours almost half of the Independent States of Earth had signed on. As of now, more than two-thirds of the Independent States of Earth are signatories to that pact.”

Joshua hesitated briefly to emphasize this remark and then he began to speak again with a somber delivery. All others in the room were confused by this silence. None of them knew what to make of this event. After noting their bewilderment Joshua continued with his report.

“The United Front Pact states are drafting a resolution that will demand that we, the starcorps, compensate Earth monetarily for more than one-hundred years of use and development of equipment and resources that they say belong to them.”

Immediately after this report a murmur of voices resonated out from Joshua’s audience. All of them were expressing their shock that this was actually happening. Several seconds into this, a voice spoke over the din of the crowd with a question.

“How much compensation do they want?” Barbara, the division head of project integration management, queried with an inflection of concern.

“We don’t know that yet,” Joshua gently explained with a shake of his head. “But it’s bound to be too much.”

“How do you know that?” Chris, the division head of hull systems, boomed out.

“Because Eckhart doesn’t want compensation,” Joshua answered back an instant behind. “Eckhart wants a war.”

“Who’s Eckhart?” Barbara sharply questioned with a puzzled expression.

“Edward Eckhart,” Joshua reported with a quick focus on Barbara. “The Prime Minister of the Alberta Alliance.”

The fact that Barbara did not know who Eckhart was caught Joshua by surprise. He assumed that everyone present knew of him and this was true of all except her. Nonetheless, it was Barbara’s ignorance of him that caused Joshua to think that the others were not aware of Eckhart’s significance in these events. After the two seconds it took for him to come to this reasoning, Joshua began to explain just that.

“Edward Eckhart is now the most powerful political figure on Earth, and he is also our greatest enemy. He hates starcorps with a passion. This action by Hagerman and this United Front Pact has given him unparalleled influence over Earth’s relationship with the starcorps. He is the force behind this compensation resolution. And I can guarantee you that whatever figure he comes up with, it’s going to be more than we’re willing to pay.”

“So, what you’re saying is that this war is really going to happen,” Eric annunciated in a plain tone of voice.

Joshua focused his attention on to Eric for a moment as he pondered his question. He then turned his eyes to the room in general as he spoke his reply.

“I have received orders to get this war machine up and running now.”

Joshua hesitated to give weight to this statement. When he spoke again, he did so with a far greater emphasis in his expression.

“I need all of you to bring your projects to a completion within the next three months.”

There were gasps and murmurs of shock in response to this. Before anyone could think to question it, Joshua spoke again.

“I want to commence full-scale production on the mows within six months. I want the basestar operational within a year’s time. If you can’t get something to work the way you want it to, then figure out a compromise.”

Joshua paused again and scanned the faces in front of him to give weight to his words. At the end of this, he continued with his instructions with the same gravitas as before.

“Time has run out people. Get it done.”

It took the heads of the divisions a moment to comprehend that Joshua was done talking. When this became plain to them, they all got up from their chairs and set off for the exit without delay. Just before Eric could reach the door, he heard Joshua called out to him. He turned back and stopped in front of the Director of the Titan Project.

“Yes,” Eric responded with a questioning look.

“We need to start pilot training,” Joshua instructed with an inflection of urgency. “How many trainers do you have?”

“The trainers that are in operation don’t have the latest upgrades installed,” Eric reported with a slight shake of his head. “I was planning to start building those in another couple of weeks.”

Joshua was not fazed by this report. He took it in quickly and responded to it with just as much expediency.

“How many?”

“Twenty,” Eric answered in a word.

Once again Joshua showed no reaction to the answer to his query. He simply took it in with a fixed stare and spat out a terse reply an instant behind.

“Make one-hundred more.”