manifest, the remaining contingent began a bow-to-stern search of the
ship. With the dogs leading the way, the search crew wedged through
the ship's holds, checking the container seals and examining several
loose crated shipments of running shoes and apparel manufactured in
Taiwan. A gritty Malaysian crew looked on with bored amusement as the
yellow Labs sniffed their way through the dimly lit crew's quarters.
Dirk stood on the bridge of the Deep Endeavor, studying the Japanese
cargo ship. A pair of the freighter's crew stood on the deck looking
back at the NUMA vessel. Dirk tossed a friendly wave as the two
men leaned against a railing in disheveled clothes, smoking cigarettes
and cracking jokes in an obviously relaxed manner.
"There is no threat from this ship," he turned and said with certainty
to Captain Burch.
"How can you be so sure?"
"The crew is too lax. The men on Kang's ship were no-nonsense
professionals, not the ragtag jovial sort on this tub. There would be
a slew of paranoid undercover security types running around as well,"
he added, recalling the image of Tongju and his men.
"Be worth noting to Aimes when he gets back. If nothing else, it's
still a good practice exercise for the boys. And, heck, I got Dahlgren
off the bridge for a few minutes at least," the captain smiled.
"We've still got to find them first. There's just too many places to
hide at sea," Dirk muttered.
As the search team appeared above decks for a moment, Captain Burch
picked up a pair of binoculars and scanned the horizon. He noted a
pair of dots far to the southwest, then scanned to the north, taking in
the Narwhal as she started to pull away from the container-ship. Burch
started to drop the binoculars when a sudden glint caught his eye.
Raising the glasses and adjusting the focus, he smiled broadly, then
spoke to Dirk.
"I guess there will be a few less places to hide on the sea now that
our illustrious leaders of the deep are checking things out from the
balcony."
Two thousand feet above the calmly rolling swells of the Pacific, the
silver Icarus floated gracefully across the sky at thirty-five miles
per hour. While the elder Pitt handled the blimp's flight controls,
Giordino adjusted a row of dials at the base of a flat-panel color
monitor. A WE SCAM long-distance camera mounted to the side of the
gondola, a supplement to the LASH imaging system, fed into the
monitor, providing a zoom image of objects located hundreds of yards
away. Pitt glanced from the flight controls to the monitor, which
displayed a close-up picture of the stern of a small boat where two
bikini-clad women were stretched out sunbathing.
"I hope your girlfriend doesn't catch wind of your voyeuristic
tendencies," Pitt laughed.
"Just testing the resolution," Giordino replied in a serious tone while
prankishly zooming the image in and out on one of the women's
behinds.
"Ansel Adams you're not. Let's see what that setup will read with a
real target," Pitt said, turning the airship west toward an outbound
vessel a few miles away. Dropping down a few hundred feet, Pitt nosed
the Icarus to starboard and increased the throttle, gradually gaining
ground on the departing ship. While still nearly a half mile away,
Giordino zoomed the camera lens onto the stern of the black-hulled
freighter, easily reading the name: "Jasmine Star... Madras." He
raised the camera along the ship's deck, noting a stacked array of
containers, before settling on the bridge mast, where the monitor
revealed a flag of India snapping crisply in the breeze. "Works like a
champ," Al said proudly.
Pitt looked at the LASH screen on the laptop, which showed an empty
swath of sea in advance of the Indian freighter. "Nothing coming up on
the main shipping channel for the time being. Let's keep going south,
where it looks like there's a little more activity," he said, noting
several images on the left edge of the screen.
Maneuvering the blimp south, they soon passed over the Narwhal and the
containership she just searched, then they cruised over a portion of
Catalina Island. Passing back over the water, Giordino pointed out the
windshield toward a turquoise ship in the distance.
"There's the Deep Endeavor. Looks like she has gotten into the act as
well," he said, noting the red freighter idling nearby.
Pitt guided the blimp toward the NUMA ship, calling it up on the radio
as they approached.
"Icarus to Deep Endeavor. How's the fishing down there?"
"Nary a nibble," Burch's voice replied. "How are you gentlemen
enjoying your sightseeing flight?"
"Delightful, except for Al's incessant crunching at the caviar table,
which is interrupting my enjoyment of the in-flight movie. We'll see
if we can't rustle you up some more business."
"Roger, we'd be much obliged."
Giordino adjusted the blimp's LASH system, examining it for targets.
"Looks like we've got an inbound vessel in the main shipping channel
about twenty-two miles to the northwest and what looks like a couple of
stationary targets eighteen miles to the west of us," he said, pointing
to some gray-and-white patches on the monitor that contrasted with the
blue ocean background.
Pitt looked at the laptop, then glanced at his watch. "We ought to be
able to catch the northwest ship on the fly. Let's go see what's
parked out here first," he replied, aiming the blimp to the west and
toward the two large smudges on the screen that were oddly sitting
still.
Firing A rocket off the Sea Launch platform is traditionally preceded
by a seventy-two-hour launch countdown. During the three-day
preparation, dozens of tests are performed to ensure that all support
systems are operational and all mechanical and computer systems aboard
the rocket are ready to withstand the violent rigors of launch. At
T-15 hours before launch, the engineers and all but a handful of
crewmen are evacuated from the platform as the final stages of the
countdown progresses. The assembly and command ship is then moved to a
safe operating area four miles up range of the platform.
At T-5 hours, the last of the crewmen are evacuated from the platform
aboard a helicopter and the remaining countdown procedures are handled
remotely from the support ship. With less than three hours to go, the
hazardous operation of fueling the launch vehicle is performed
automatically, the kerosene and oxygen combustibles remotely pumped
into the rocket from the large storage tanks housed on the platform.
Once fueled, the decision is then left to the launch engineers aboard
the support ship to proceed with the launch and fire the rocket when
ready.
Absent the luxury of time, Ling's team of launch engineers consolidated
the Sea Launch firing procedures into a bare-minimum schedule.
Redundant and nonessential tests were scrapped, built-in launch holds
were eliminated, and the fueling time reduced on account of the
shortened flight
plan. By their accord, they could launch the Zenit in
just eight hours from the time the Odyssey was ballasted and
stabilized.
Tongju stood on the platform near the base of the launch tower and
gazed at a large digital clock mounted on the roofline of the hangar.
The red illuminated numbers read 03:32:17, with the digits clicking
backward a second at a time. Three hours and thirty-two minutes until
liftoff. Barring a major technical difficulty, there would be no
halting the launch now. In Tongju's eyes, it would soon come down to
the simple task of fueling the rocket and lighting it off.
But before the button could be pushed, the Koguryo had to obtain total
control of the launch process. Ling and his engineers first
established a radio link to the automated launch control system, which
was tested and verified through the Koguryo's launch control center.
Then there was the transfer of the Odyssey's own command system. A
wireless marine positioning system allowed the launch platform to be
remotely controlled after all personnel were evacuated for launch. like
a radio-controlled toy, the platform could be raised, lowered, or moved
by the touch of a keypad aboard the Koguryo. Once the controls had
been passed to the support ship, Ling approached Tongju on the deck.
"My work here is complete. Full system control now lies on the
Koguryo. My team and I must return to the support ship to resume
launch countdown activities."
Tongju glanced again at the countdown clock. "My compliments.
You are ahead of schedule. I will call for the Koguryo's tender and
you may take your men off the platform at once."
"You will not be joining us now?" Ling asked.
"I must secure the prisoners first, then my assault team will follow
along. It is my desire to be the last man off the platform before
launch," Tongju said. "That is, except for the men who will not be
coming off at all," he added with a sinister smile.
"There's not supposed to be an oil platform located here."
Giordino's eyes shifted from the large square object on the water ahead
of them to an oversized navigational chart he'd folded on his lap. "No
man-made hazards are indicated in this region at all. I don't think
the Sierra Club is going to take kindly to some stealth drilling this
close to the coast."
"They might be even more perturbed when you tell them the oil platform
has a rocket aboard," Pitt replied.
Giordino squinted out the airship's windshield toward the approaching
platform. "I'll be. Give that man with the eagle eye a cookie."
Pitt turned the blimp as they approached, making a wide loop around the
platform and adjacent support ship, careful to avoid its airspace.
"Sea Launch?" Giordino asked.
"Must be. I didn't think they'd move it around with the rocket
standing upright, though."
"I think they're parked," Giordino replied, noting there was no wake
from the nearby support ship. "You don't suppose they would be
launching from here?"
"No way. They are supposed to fire those things off from the equator.
They would at least be up north off the Vandenberg range if they were
going to try a live launch around here. Probably some sort of test,
but let's find out."
Pitt punched a switch on a marine band radio and hailed the platform
through his headset.
"Airship Icarus to Sea Launch platform. Over."
An empty pause ensued and then Pitt repeated the call. After another
lengthy lull, an accented voice finally replied.
"This is Sea Launch platform Odyssey. Over."
"Odyssey, what is the nature of your position? Do you require
assistance? Over."
Another long pause. "Negative."
"I repeat, what is the nature of your position?"
A pause again. "Who is requesting inquiry?"
"Friendly sorts, aren't they?" Giordino said to Pitt.
Pitt shook his head slightly and spoke again into the radio. "This is
airship Icarus, supporting Coast Guard border security. Please
identify current state. Over."
"This is Odyssey. We are conducting system tests. Please stay clear.
Over and out."
"The guy's a regular Gabby Hayes," Giordino said. "Do you want to
stick around? We need to roll back north if we want to intercept that
incoming vessel," he said, pointing to the radar screen.
"I guess there's not much we can do from up here. Okay, we'll do our
job and play tag with the next inbound vessel. But let's have one of
the boys downstairs check this out," Pitt said, turning the airship
around to the north.
Giordino took to the radio as Pitt laid in an intercept course toward
the inbound commercial ship. "The Deep Endeavor and the Narwhal are
working this region. Deep Endeavor is still searching a Japanese
freighter, but the Narwhal is freed up at the moment. She says the
platform is outside their twelve-mile operating limit, however."
"We're not asking for an interdiction boarding. Just request a remote
visual survey and verification with Sea Launch authorities."
Giordino spoke into the radio again, then turned to Pitt. "Narwhal
agrees and is on her way."
"Good," Pitt replied, watching the platform fade away in the distance
behind them. But he didn't feel good. A nagging sensation told him
they had missed something on their flyover. Something important.
Kim stood with Tongju on the bridge of the Odyssey watching the blimp
circle away to the north.
"They did not loiter for very long. Do you think they suspect
anything?" Kim asked.
"I do not know," Tongju replied, his eyes moving from the blimp to a
chronometer mounted on the bulwark. "The launch will take place in
just over two hours. There is no room for interference now. Return to
the Koguryo, Ki-Ri, and stand by with Captain Lee. If there is any
attempted outside hindrance, deal with it decisively. Do you
understand?"
Kim looked his commander squarely in the eye and nodded. "I understand completely."
Dirk and Captain Burch listened in on the Deep Endeavor's Coast Guard
radio as Giordino asked the Narwhal to survey the Sea Launch platform
and support ship. Minutes later, the Narwhal called up the NUMA
vessel.
"Deep Endeavor, we have completed inspection of the containership
Andaman Star and are proceeding to the offshore platform for a visual
inspection. No incoming traffic in our quadrant is presently in range,
so you may accompany us at your convenience if desired. Over."
"Shall we take a look?" Captain Burch asked of Dirk.
"Why not? Business is slow. We can follow along once we're finished
here."
Burch glanced at the Japanese freighter, noting that Aimes and the
search crew were beginning to assemble at the rail, their inspection
nearly complete.
"Affirmative, Narwhal" Burch radioed to the Coast Guard vessel.
"We'll shadow you upon completion of our current inspection, in another
five or ten minutes. Out."
"Wonder what piqued the old man's interest," Dirk asked rhetorically as
&nb
sp; he and Burch peered across the horizon trying to make out the image of
the floating platform.
Three miles away, the Narwhalhzd stoked up its twin diesel motors and
was skimming across the waves at its top speed of 25 knots. The
eighty-seven-foot cutter was one of the newer Barracuda-class patrol
boats employed by the Coast Guard, designed to work out of smaller
ports and harbors. With their mission focused primarily on inspection
and sea rescue, the boat's crew of ten was only lightly armed with a
pair of 12.7mm machine guns mounted on the bow deck.
Lieutenant Bruce Carr Smith braced himself against a bulkhead in the
cramped bridge as the white-and-orange-trimmed boat lurched over a
swell, her bow slapping the sea with a spray of foam.
"Lieutenant, I've radioed command headquarters. Dispatch is going to
contact the Sea Launch port office to determine what's up with their
platform," the Narwhal's red-haired communications officer stated from
the corner.
Smith nodded in reply, then spoke to a boyish-looking helmsman manning
the wheel. "Steady as she goes," he said firmly.
The two dots they chased on the horizon gradually grew larger until the
distinct shapes of an oil platform and a utility ship drew into focus.
The support ship was no longer aside the platform and Smith could see
that it was in fact moving away from the stationary platform. Smith
Dirk Pitt18-Black Wind Page 46