Rogue Stars

by C Gockel et al.

  Lin returned then, looking excited. “The Army already plotted the Russian track, sir, but they left something off that I found interesting.”

  “Go ahead,” Hun said, leaning forward now in his chair.

  “If they vector in at about the same altitude as their orbiter, their trajectories will be opposite each other,” Lin said, excitement in her voice as she looked to Chon and then back to her boss.

  “What exactly do you mean?” Chon asked, not quite following.

  “She means they will always have one of their two crafts on the far side of the moon,” Hun explained for Lin, who simply nodded and smiled.

  “Things are going to get uglier before they get better, aren’t they, sir?” Chon said, defeat in his voice.

  “I’m afraid so. There is no way to detach the lander without destroying the mating collar. Even if Sing could land and come back to the orbiter, he would have no way to return to earth.” Hun and his team knew that the lander doubled as Sing’s life support module and transport vehicle. The energy module could return to earth, but without its astronaut. Hun’s team had come to that very conclusion after only a day’s work of effort, but kept the fact secret.

  “The old man is going to figure it out, isn’t he?” Chon asked, looking over his shoulder at the empty monitor that was streaming a live feed from Wenchang.

  “Yes. He may be slow, but he’s thorough. I think he’ll figure it out in the next work session or two,” Hun said.

  “Oh no . . .” Lin said, her face turning pale. “You don’t think . . .” She left the rest of her sentence unspoken.

  Hun sighed. “If I know the general, then I think Sing’s medal will be awarded posthumously. He’ll order it for sure.”

  Gordust Space Station

  Intrastellar Space

  In the near future, Day 46

  * * *

  Yuri watched through the large view window as the Gordust rocketed toward the moon. It was still mostly a full moon, and the features of the plains, darker grey blotches around areas of taller mounds, were incredibly beautiful. The star field was still pale as they were looking into the bright reflected sunlight from the lunar surface, making the pale starlight beyond nearly invisible.

  “Can you see the Chinese spaceship?” Gregori asked from behind.

  Yuri looked over his shoulder at the cosmonaut as he floated horizontally behind them, feet sticking back into the open corridor. “They’re still too small, and even if we spot them, they’ll be coming at us at a high rate of speed. We’d be lucky to see blur, if anything at all,” Yuri answered.

  “Don’t be so pessimistic, Yuri,” Olga said from her seat beside him as she dialed a few radio control knobs into new positions. “We can track them on radar and triangulate their location from their radio transmissions.”

  “Fine,” Yuri said. “Get a read on them when you can and track their trajectory closely. I want to make sure we are a few clicks above them when we commence reentry burn. Let’s keep them between us and the moon.”

  “Yes, will do, Commander,” Olga answered, focusing her efforts on her new mission orders, though she had already started the work an hour earlier.

  “Gregori, have you decided on which team members will go to the surface?” Yuri asked.

  “That was decided before we launched, and nothing has changed. Ivan and I will pilot the lander to the device and retrieve the transmitter,” Gregori replied.

  “Who will transfer the fuel, then?” Yuri asked.

  “Viktor will perform the EVA while Nikolai mans the control console. You and Olga will provide signals and communications support as agreed, da?” the man said, floating a bit too close for Yuri’s comfort, and Yuri returned his attention to the main window forward.

  “Sounds exactly as we planned,” Yuri said, his tone flat.

  “Good. We’ll turn in for six hours and then run through the checklists before we arrive in orbit. Let me know if Moscow sends any commands contrary to our mission profile. Wake me if you have to. Understood?”

  “Da, understood. Have a good rest. We’ll take turns up here and be ready when you are,” Yuri said, not looking back.

  Gregori had been Spetsnaz and airborne special ops before joining Ruscosmos as a command and control leader. Yuri knew that Ivan would do the actual piloting since his background had been in the Russian Air Forces where he primarily piloted a MiG-49 for most his career.

  Yuri had grunted in the affirmative and allowed the man to return to the crew pods for a short rest session. An unusual name for sleep, he thought to himself. He and Olga would only leave the command pod to use the facilities and to get something to eat, and one of them had to man it at all times.

  In the meantime, they would monitor communications for updates from Moscow and obtain whatever intel they could on the Chinese. At least the Americans weren’t here. Yuri feared them more than the Communists.

  Vostochny Cosmodrome

  Siberia, Russia

  In the near future, Day 46

  * * *

  “Irina, are you sure these reports came in this morning?” Vlad asked, perusing the latest printed reports from Moscow and noticing the dates were from yesterday evening.

  “Yes, Vladimir,” she said, walking over to his desk to look at them. “You know Moscow time is earlier than our time here.”

  Vlad looked up and noticed her smiling at him nervously. Damn, she is beautiful, he thought to himself. No time for that now, such a distraction. He needed to focus. “All right, but not by more than twelve hours. Check our connection with the IT people and make sure we are receiving our feeds from Central Space Command in real time.”

  “I’ll do that right now,” Irina said, walking to the door and stopping to adjust one of her high-heeled shoes, looking back seductively at Vlad. She isn’t even trying to be discreet, Vlad thought as she finished and left their office complex. He could still hear her hard heels clicking on the marble floor in the hallway.

  Something felt odd, a little off in the way Irina was interacting with him lately. On a hunch, Vlad picked up his phone and dialed the switchboard operator. “Get me Minister Osnokov,” he said, and then patiently waited for the call to go through.

  “Allo?” the familiar-sounding voice came though the line.

  “Dmitry, this is Vlad. Did I call at a bad time?”

  “Nyet, good to hear from you. I just arrived at the command center to oversee the lunar operation personally. I expect you’ll be joining us in a few hours on the video connection. It will have to be a long day for you, my old friend,” Dmitry said, his voice optimistic.

  Vlad hated to even voice his suspicion, but he had to know. “The data from the Gordust that was sent yesterday evening, what time did you authorize its release?”

  Dmitry’s tone changed a bit to one of confusion. “I don’t know, Vladimir. I’ve authorized you and your team for complete access once a proper update is submitted. I’d have to check with my logistics manager, but I was sure it was before we left for the evening. I wanted to make sure you had it first thing this morning. Why do you ask?”

  “I just received it this afternoon. I thought due to our conversation a few weeks ago that perhaps we were only authorized for certain information, need to know . . . that type of clearance,” Vlad said.

  “No, no, the FSB cleared you and your crew over a week ago. That was why we included you in the mission control operations instead of just using your services with the orbital insertions. The Kremlin felt it important enough to have a backup involved, and logically I recommended you and your staff.” Vlad could hear Dmitry breathing heavier as he spoke.

  “Well, these reports state that, with a high degree of probability, it appears the Chinese cosmonaut hasn’t landed on the moon’s surface yet. This would be important information, and I don’t understand the reason for delaying its dissemination to us for several hours,” Vlad stated.

  “Correct, but you should have had it first thing this morning. I’ll look in
to it—” Vlad heard a commotion coming from the other end of his line.

  “What’s going on there, Dmitry?” he asked.

  “Hang on a second,” Dmitry said.

  Vlad could hear noises and then screaming followed by a series of loud popping sounds. “What is that?” Vlad asked.

  “I think I hear gunshots,” Dmitry said, not into the handset, his voice fainter.

  Suddenly there was a loud booming sound followed by the static of a dead line. Vlad pressed down in quick succession on the handset clicker. Despite the advances in cellular technology, the telephones were the same as they were decades ago.

  “Dmitry, can you hear me?” Vlad knew the line was dead, and this was confirmed when he heard the warning beeps coming from his handset indicating it had been off its hook for more than thirty seconds.

  Vlad returned the phone and sat back down. He didn’t even realize that during the frantic end of their conversation he had stood, leaning over the desk to reach the phone cradle easier.

  It didn’t take long before he heard a commotion coming from his own hallway. Vlad got up and walked out of his office, past Irina’s desk, opening the door and looking down the long corridor that led to the main lobby. He got a quick glimpse of Aleksey as the man ran across the hallway toward the staff break room.

  Vlad hurried down, finding the doors open and several of his staff watching a television monitor mounted on the wall. A few uneaten lunches were sitting on various tables as everyone’s attention was fixated on the monitor.

  Aleksey made eye contact with his boss and motioned him closer. “Vlad, you won’t believe it,” his chief engineer said, his face ashen, jaw dropped open slightly, and a glazed look over his eyes.

  Vlad heard a cry stifled and saw Irina and another female technician holding each other. Tears were welling in their eyes. Vlad turned his attention to the newscast where a large, very familiar-looking building was half demolished. Large plumes of black smoke were streaming from it at several locations and combining into a large one that slowly billowed out from the building.

  “Bozhe moi!” Vlad said, bringing his hand to his mouth and watching the destruction as it was panned out in front of the screen. “Is that what I think it is?”

  “Yes, Vladimir,” Alex said. “Someone blew up the Ruscosmos control center.”

  Vlad could only watch the devastation, and this thoughts were on his old friend and mentor, Dmitry. “God help us,” he mumbled.

  21 BlackJack

  White House

  Washington D.C.

  In the near future, Day 46

  * * *

  “Bring us to Defcon Two,” President Powers ordered, sitting in her seat in the bunker of the White House command and control room.

  Vice President John Lee looked at her with his brows raised. “You know the new protocols mean that one of us will have to leave, Gloria,” he said.

  “I know, John. I intend to stay here. You go airborne, fly to Houston, and oversee our space operations personally.”

  “That’s your baby, Gloria. I can man the bunker, if you’d prefer, John said, ignoring the rest of her staff as they had a private conversation that wasn’t so private.

  President Powers looked him in the eye. Her face was serious, the scar creasing along the side of her head a reminder of the assassination attempt on her life not yet a year ago. Her hands gripped the arms of her chair intensely, and John Lee could see the leather fabric strain under the force. Finally she took a deep breath, and her words came out calm and measured. “My duty is here, to stop a world war. I trust you to keep me apprised of our progress. Can you do this for me?”

  John stood up before addressing her. “Yes, Madam President,” he said more formerly now, a show of respect for her despite them being friends for a very long time. “You’ll handle the initial launch, then, today?”

  “Yes, I’ll take care of that over the secure teleconference line. Call me when you arrive.”

  Vice President John Lee grabbed his folders and nodded to the Director of National Security as he left the room toward the east lawn where the presidential marine helicopter would be standing by.

  “David, are we ready for the launch?” Powers asked her Director of National Security.

  “We are, Madam President. I wasn’t going to pull them up onscreen quite yet till we finished with the debriefing, but we can if that’s what you want,” he said, looking at her.

  “I think the NASA team should know. Bring them up and let’s get this started.”

  David Rose nodded and motioned to one of the Air Force officers who was manning the communication’s console. Within a minute, there was a split screen on the primary display showing the Cape Canaveral launch pad on the right side with a large view of the main control center in Houston on the other.

  President Powers noticed Richard Crandon with Director Lui immediately, and nodded to them. “Director, Mission Leader . . . Are we ready for the launch this morning?”

  Director Lui spoke. “Yes, Madam President. The tower control has the countdown at T-minus thirty-three minutes, so we’re still a bit early. The Saturn has just been fueled, and the astronauts are heading up the lift even now.”

  “Good, we’ll go ahead and keep our connection open for now. I wanted to discuss a few things with your team before the launch, though I know they’re busy,” Powers said.

  Rock smiled and then nodded. “Good morning, Madam President.”

  “Good morning, Mr. Crandon,” she responded.

  “We decided that due to the last failure, we would be securing our astronauts, Craig Alders and Julie Monroe, till the last minute just to be safe,” Rock said.

  “That doesn’t exude confidence, Mr. Crandon. Are we worried about something?” she asked.

  “We are always concerned, Madam President. This is just a safety precaution, nothing more, and no reason to read anything into it that’s not there.”

  Fortunately the president couldn’t see Rock’s team, who had their mouths open, jaws dropped at the glib manner in which he had just addressed her.

  “Mission Lead Crandon is basically indicating that we here at NASA are prepared for any eventuality, Madam President,” Director Lui said, more diplomatically than Rock had just done.

  “I understand, Director Lui. Have you and your people seen the news?”

  “We have. It was rather disturbing considering the ramifications.” He nodded.

  “Well, we have reason to believe it may have been the Chinese. Even if it wasn’t, the Russians are mobilizing their entire Far East Military District even as we speak,” Powers said.

  “News reports were that it was separatists from their southern regions near Turkey and Iran,” Lui said.

  Powers nodded and then looked at one of her notes before responding. “Yes, Chechin- or Kurdish-supporting separatists are what we have in our National Security Report.” Rock could see the Director of National Security just to her side scowl at the revelation.

  “Will this affect our mission?” Lui asked, the consummate professional, staying on topic.

  “No, but you may want to take the latest current events into calculation when, and if, you do anything near the Chinese or Russians. Do you understand me?” Powers said, her tone serious.

  “We will, and as usual, we’ll report anything noteworthy to Mr. Smith who can relay this up the chain of command. Will you be observing the launch today, Madam President?” Lui asked.

  “I will.”

  “I hope you know that Canaveral Tower has control until the Saturn clears the launch tower, then we’ll take over from there,” Lui said, his tone matter of fact, all business-like.

  “Understood, Director. See to your team. Washington out.” The connection was severed and the screen went dark.

  “Did she just say ‘over and out’?” Tom asked from his nearby console.

  Rock ignored his impudent mechanical engineer and focused on the task at hand. “Let’s get ready, folks. World crisis
or not, we’re finally going to the moon today.”

  “You sure about that, boss?” Jack asked.

  “As sure as I’m ever going to be. Now let’s roll.” The group broke up and returned to their consoles, awaiting the countdown.

  Rock watched as Julie and Craig were strapped in again, the second time in three days, and he listened in as their chief physiologist talked to them in a therapeutic way. Rock could see their vital signs on one of his side screens as they monitored the health and welfare and even brainwave patterns of their astronauts.

  “All systems check, integration complete,” he heard Lisa stating over their com system. Rock tugged at the wired headset and wondered when, if ever, they would get the latest in Wi-Fi technology. He still had to “plug in” if he wanted to hear what was going on. There had to be a better way.

  During the wait, several Secret Service agents filed into the room and a canine unit swept the area as well. Rock just looked at Mr. Smith, who mouthed the words “vice prez” to explain the activity. At least the president would be watching remotely, and that brought a small level of comfort as the team seemed to be unusually sensitive when they were being observed by the most powerful person on the planet.

  Rock knew that the connection with the White House was active from the monitor light displayed on his console, but the reverse feed continued to be shut down. The president would watch them, but they would not see her. Again, probably for the best.

  Finally, after what seemed an eternity, the countdown timer rolled to zero, and Rock watched as the bright light of the rocket was automatically dimmed by the high def camera as the first of four million pounds of propellant began to burn. I’d hate to see that fuel bill, he thought to himself.

  “Get ready, people,” Rock said. Director Lui had left the center, and Rock could see his boss sitting calmly in the observation room high above the control center. He wasn’t sure who everyone was in the room at this very moment, but it didn’t matter. It was his time to command.