Stephen Coonts - Combat

“All right, Cliff. Send this on to the Chairman’s office with my respects. And my apologies,” Warner muttered.

“Sir, I’ve been looking at Defender, ” Ames offered. “One of my friends in the ABL Program Office passed it to me with his analysis. I think we should consider it.”

Warner had heard about Defender , of course, but hadn’t had time to do more than dismiss it as a distraction. “Are we that desperate?” the chief asked.

General Shen Xuesen stood nervously in the launch center. It was hard to maintain the unruffled demeanor his troops needed to see. He needed all of his experience to look calm and relaxed.

Visitors at such a time would make anyone nervous, and worse, distract the launch team. A television crew was unthinkable, but there they were. It was a State-run crew, of course, and they were being carefully supervised, but they brought lights and confusion and, worst of all, exposure.

Now they were filming an actual launch. Beijing had even asked if they could film the intercept, but Shen had refused absolutely, on security grounds. He understood the propaganda value of the Dragon launch, and offered to supply tapes of previous shots. They all looked alike. Who would know?

But the piece needed shots of activity in the launch center, and the reporter would add his narration. At least the general had been able to avoid an interview, again citing security reasons.

The oval opening erupted in flame, and a dark blur shot upward. Mark Markin’s voice accompanied the video. “Released less than two hours ago, this dramatic footage from Gongga Shan Mountain in China shows the launch of a T’ien Lung , or Celestial Dragon.” Markin’s voice continued as the scene shifted to a more distant shot. The mountaintop, a rugged texture of browns, was capped by a small white cloud of smoke that lingered in the still morning air.

“That is their name for the spacecraft, or ‘ASAT vehicle,’ as U.S. officials describe the weapon. They also confirmed the destruction of another GPS satellite just a short time ago, the time of loss consistent with the launch shown here.

“This footage was released through Xinhua, the Chinese official news agency. The narrator claimed that China had now demonstrated military superiority over the United States, and that their superiority had halted American aggression in the region.”

The mountaintop and its fading smoke were replaced by a computer-drawn representation of the gun, angled upward inside a transparent mountain.

“Intelligence officials here believe that the gun is based on the work of Dr. Gerald Bull, who designed a smaller weapon for Iraq. That weapon had a barrel of almost a hundred feet and a bore of nearly a meter. It was capable of launching a projectile several hundred kilometers, and although it was fired successfully in tests, it was never put into service. The Chinese would have no problem obtaining this technical knowledge from the Iraqis, probably in exchange for weapons.”

Computer animation showed the process of loading the projectile, the launch, and sabots falling away from the projectile before a rocket booster fired.

“Before he was killed, possibly by foreign agents, Bull wrote of using such guns to launch spacecraft. Sources have hinted that a smaller gun, believed capable of firing across the straits of Taiwan, was built and tested. They now speculate that gun may never have been made fully operational, and have just served as a test bed for this much larger weapon.”

The animation disappeared, replaced with Markin, with an image of a GPS satellite behind him. “This brings to four the number of GPS satellites known to have been destroyed by China. While American officials have wondered publicly about how many T’ien Lung vehicles the Chinese can build, China threatened during the broadcast to destroy the entire GPS constellation unless ‘America abandoned its plans for Pacific hegemony.’”

Ray McConnell turned off the screen and put his head back against the seat. He hated being right, and he knew those “American officials” were indulging in wishful thinking. China’s space program had a good base of design experience. The kill vehicle, the T’ien Lung , was not trivial, but it was well within their capabilities. The GPS satellites were unarmored and had only the most limited ability to maneuver. Technically, it wasn’t a problem.

And logically, if they’d committed themselves to this premeditated confrontation, would they only have four or five bullets for their gun? I’d have two dozen stockpiled, and a factory making more , Ray mused.

It was bad news, although it helped strengthen his case.

He said it again. His case. Schultz had called him from Washington last night, telling him to come out ASAP, on Navy orders.

Sitting in his apartment, still depressed about his meeting with Carson, Schultz’s call had struck like lightning. McConnell hadn’t known what to think or hope.

He’d called Jenny to thank her, then frantically packed. He’d spent most of the night trying to organize the jumble of material that had supported the Defender design effort. McConnell hadn’t even phoned work, just sending an e-mail asking for leave.

Ray glanced at his watch, still on California time. By rights, Rudy only got the e-mail at seven, about the same time the plane had taken off. Ray would be on the ground in another few hours, and hopefully by the time the brass heard anything, he’d know one way or the other.

McConnell decided he did feel hopeful, but he couldn’t tell whether it was for Defender or his own personal success. Ray hadn’t even realized that he personally had anything at stake until his meeting with Carson yesterday. He’d thought of Defender as just an engineering project. His personal stake in it was greater than he’d realized, but that was all right. Other people, like Jenny, were committed to it as well, and that spurred him on.

He hooked his data pad up to the screen built into the chair back and started opening files. Defender still needed a lot of work. He’d seen enough Pentagon briefings to know what was expected. He couldn’t make her perfect, but he could at least hit the high points.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the pilot. We’ve just received word that Air Traffic Control has rescheduled our arrival into Dulles to fourfifteen instead of three-ten this afternoon. There’s no problem with the weather, but because of the recent problems with the GPS system, they’ve just announced they’ll be spacing aircraft farther apart near the airports, as a precaution.

“United apologizes for the delay. Passengers with connecting flights …”

McConnell smiled. For once, he was glad for the extra time in the air.

Captain “Biff” Barnes tapped his data pad and the file collapsed down into a small spaceship icon. His presentation had condensed McConnell’s hundred-page design document down to fifteen minutes. It had been a long fifteen minutes, with Warner, his deputy, General Ames, and a flock of colonels watching intently. They’d all asked a lot of questions. Barnes had been able to answer many of them, especially about the laser installation, but not all. Defender was definitely a work in progress.

General Warner opened the discussion. “Captain, you’ve told General Ames that you think Defender will fly.”