Stephen Coonts - Combat

Schultz grunted and selected the 3-D diagram. It was replaced by a schematic of the cylindrical tank, not as neat and showing signs of being hurriedly drawn. The date on the drawing showed it was a month old. The multilayered tanks were built up in sections, then the end caps were attached.

“Reduce the number of sections in each tank,” remarked the admiral. “That reduces the number of welds to be made.”

“We can’t make the sections larger,” answered Dawson. “They come prefabricated from the subcontractor, and they’re limited by the size of the jig.”

“Then we reduce the number of shots,” Schultz replied. “What if we cut the number of shots in half, six sections per tank instead of three?”

Ray heard an inrush of breath in the room. The laser was Defender ’s main battery. Halving its firepower was a drastic step.

Schultz said, “Better any laser on time than a laser too late. We can replace the small tanks with larger as soon as they’ve been built.”

McConnell nodded and started working. He ticked off points as he worked. “We’ll save weight by carrying less laser fuel, but we’ll need more structure surrounding the tanks. It’s less weight overall, but it throws off all the center-of-gravity calculations.” He paused. “And we only get enough ammunition for two engagements.”

While Ray worked on the design, he saw Dawson recalculating the fabrication times. The executive finished first, and Ray watched him send the figures to the main display.

The chart shifted again, shrinking, but not enough. They were still a week late.

Ray spoke up this time. “We need more time. If we can’t raise the dam, let’s lower the water. Launch another satellite. That gets us a week.” That was the decision he couldn’t make. Would Admiral Schultz?

“At $300 million a bird, that’s a pretty expensive week,” Biff Barnes remarked.

Schultz nodded, agreeing with Barnes. “There are political costs as well. The public won’t know why. Even the people launching the satellite won’t know they’re buying time for us.”

Ray persisted. “There aren’t any more corners to cut.”

The admiral sat silently for a minute. Ray prayed for everyone to be silent. Schultz knew the situation as well as anyone in the room. He didn’t look pleased, but it wasn’t a pleasant situation.

“This is where I start earning my pay, I guess,” Schultz announced.

“All right. I’ll pass this up the line.” He looked over the assembled group. “And I’ll make it happen. But you should all understand the political capital that will be spent here. We can’t do this twice.

“You’ve got another week. Don’t waste it.”

“The addition of a name, one word, has caused the security dam around Defender to burst.”

Holly Moore, INN’s White House correspondent, reported this piece, rather than Markin, since it covered the political implications more than the military ones. She stood on the wind-whipped U.S. Capitol steps. The image lasted only seconds, though, before being replaced by the cover of the Defender design document.

“INN has obtained a copy of this detailed design for an armed spacecraft designed to attack targets in space and on the ground. According to our source, it was widely distributed in classified defense circles.

“Based on the civilian VentureStar spacecraft, soon to be entering commercial service, the design equips it with radar and laser sensors, guided ground-attack weapons, and a laser from the Air Force’s Airborne Laser program.

“No one in the Defense Department would comment on the document, and everyone referred us to the Aerospace Defense Organization. We also tried to contact Mr. Ray McConnell, listed on the cover as the designer, but attempts to locate him have failed. There is another list of names on the inside, all described as contributors to the document. The few INN have located have either denied knowledge of Defender or refused to comment.

“Sources have linked Defender with the mysterious activity at Miramar. Since the initial reports about this Marine air base, security has been tightened to extraordinary lengths, with a recent notice banning all flights within ten miles of the base.

“Opposition to Defender has appeared just since reports of its existence were aired earlier today. Some are opposed to the militarization of space. Others don’t believe the spaceship can be built in time to do any good, and are asking for an accounting of the cost. Links to websites opposing Defender , as well as the original document, are available on our website.

“Tom Rutledge, Democratic Senator from Kentucky, spoke on the Capitol steps moments ago.”

The image changed to show a tall, photogenic man with a cloud of salt-and-pepper hair fluttering in the fall wind. “As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I intend to find out why we were not consulted on this wasteful and extremely risky project. The investigation will also deal with the administration’s continued inability to cope with this crisis. In less than three weeks, our expensive and valuable GPS satellites will be unable to provide even a basic fix.”

Moore reappeared. “Here, with a related piece, is INN’s defense correspondent, Mark Markin.”

Markin appeared in front of the animated Dragon Gun again. “I interviewed Mr. Michael Baldwin, a well-known expert on the NAV-STAR GPS system. I asked him how long the system would be able to function under continued Chinese attacks.”

Baldwin was a slim, long-faced man in his fifties with a short gray haircut. He sat against a backdrop of jumbled electronic equipment and computer screens. He spoke with ease, secure in his knowledge. “The constellation’s been severely affected. There are few places on earth now where the military can get the kind of accurate fix it needs for missile guidance or precision navigation. There are a lot of places worldwide where civilian users can’t get a basic fix. This has affected not only airline travel, but also more basic functions like rail and truck shipping. We’ve come to expect that GPS will always be there, like the telephone or electricity.”

“How long before it ceases to be any use at all?”

“If the Chinese continue shooting down satellites at the rate of one a week, on November 25 it will be completely unusable.”

The reporter asked, “Some people are saying that if we can’t destroy the gun with Tomahawk missiles or air strikes, we should use nuclear weapons. What do you think of that?”

Baldwin seemed surprised by the question, but answered it quickly. “Nobody’s died yet, but they’re hurting the economy, and the military’s ability to fight. It’s too deep inside Chinese territory for anything but a ballistic missile, but I don’t want us to use nuclear weapons. I don’t know anyone who does.” He grinned. “I’m hoping this Defender is real.”

Markin asked, “Can we do anything to repair the constellation?”

Baldwin shook his head. “Not until they can protect the satellites somehow.”

“So we shouldn’t launch any replacement satellites right now?”

The expert shook his head. “That would be lunacy.”

“Be glad you’re such a bad typist.” The Security director’s face was grim, but his tone was triumphant. He stood before McConnell’s wall display, which held a diagram. It repeated the same symbol, an icon-sized image of the Defender document file. Starting at the left, it was labeled McCONNELL. Line segments connected it to other nodes, each labeled with a name and sometimes a date.