Bad Chad was a real character, one of the original Cowboys that actually came from Texas. And oh boy did he know it. He had an ego to match the size of his home, and almost always lived up to it in actions. Almost. Sometimes I think I channel him a bit when I’m feeling particularly snarky about something. He died at Alpha Centauri. He was Cowboy Eleven. Cowboy One One by radio. His name was Chad Adelman.
Alpha Centauri has five habitable worlds, and by 2120 we had outposts or full colonies on every single one. We targeted New Earth, the most Earthlike of them, with two major colonies from China and the Western Alliance, and numerous smaller countries supported the colony missions in exchange for their own small holdings. Some failed, but most thrived by cooperating with their neighbors, no matter what country they came from. Our governments didn’t plan that.
As we expanded into the Solar System, colonizing Luna, Mars, and Venus, the new American space navy expanded with us. From one ship, to two, to a dozen, the best and brightest of the submarine service took to space. With them, they took their training, their traditions, and their language. Yes. That language too. But I meant the way they communicate orders and the way they think. For one example, every early warship was actually a boat according to the crews.
Cowboy Ten was a good man. Cowboy One Zero if you wanna be particular. Spud we called him for some reason I can’t even remember when I think back on it. He was always moving to a beat that no one else could hear and I learned a lot of good dance moves from him. The Peloran named him Boar. He died saving the USS Fox from a Shang warship squadron in the Hyades Cluster. She saved me from three frigates the next day. His name was Daniel Freemon.
Alpha Centauri was our first gateway to the stars. A year away via hyperspace, we had to plan very carefully before sending scouts or colony expeditions. If anything broke, they had to be able to do without or fix it on site. Our governments planned scientific and military outposts, where our best and our finest would prove that our nations were strongest. What we got were frontier towns that had more in common with each other than those back home realized.
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