Stephen Coonts - Combat

Markin’s face was replaced by a bright red streak moving against a black background. Jerky camera motion gave the impression of great distance. The end of the streak flickered and wavered. It seemed to be going very fast.

“Less than a minute ago, a red flash appeared in a part of the base used by the Defender program. The flash shot up into the sky at terrific speed, and is now fading at high altitude.

“Without any announcement, and presumably to protect the American GPS constellation, Defender has launched.

“I say again …”

General Norman watched INN’s transmission, grinning. “That’s what you get for peeping over fences,” he joked at Markin’s image. The INN reporter was rehashing the recent event yet again.

Schultz was listening on his headset, and watching Jenny move among the launch controllers. Instead of watching their screens, they read from a paper script. Normally used for training, it drilled the controllers in what they were supposed to say at each point as they guided Defender during its launch. They’d practiced the procedure dozens of times, but this time their transmissions were being broadcast. Nobody was sure who would be listening in, but if anyone did, they would hear what sounded like the real thing.

From the look on the controller’s face, Shen knew it was an urgent call. He took the headset and heard Dong Zhi’s voice. “They’ve launched. It’s all over INN.”

“What did they show?” he asked, motioning to one of the technicians. Although they had access to the Internet, they were not allowed to link INN except in “special circumstances.” Shen thought this would qualify. Along with the launch staff, he watched the launch and heard Markin’s commentary.

“Time of launch was 5:30 local, about ten minutes ago,” reported Dong. “We’ve picked up increased radio traffic from Miramar, as well. We’re calculating the intercept basket now.”

“We’re still seventeen minutes from launch here,” said Shen, checking the time. He could feel a prebattle excitement build in him. The Americans had moved.

“I recommend holding your launch until we finish the intercept,” the scientist replied. “I don’t want my staff having to deal with two vehicles at once. Without worldwide tracking, we’ll have to move fast once the American appears.”

“All right.” Shen was reluctant to hold the launch, but agreed with Dong. He knew the staff’s capabilities. “I’ll wait for word from you.”

Dong reassured him, “Preparations for the booster have started and are on schedule. It should launch in ten minutes.”

Shen broke the connection and turned to find his launch crew suddenly busy at their posts. He should be worried about the American spacecraft, but felt relieved instead. He really hadn’t expected them to launch so soon. It would have a short life.

Wrapped up in the launch sequence, Ray was almost irritated when Schultz’s voice came over the comm circuit. “SITREP, people,” Schultz announced. Conversation stopped immediately, and the admiral continued, speaking quickly. “We’ve got a launch.”

The crew all looked at their displays, expecting to see a line over Gongga Shan. Ray cursed his luck. Intel had firmly assured him that they would be able to launch before the Chinese sent up another ASAT vehicle — maybe by less than an hour, but they needed that time to get into position.

Then Ray saw it was from Jinan, farther to the north. The thin red line grew slowly, angling east and steadily climbing in a graceful curve. He heard a controller announce, “It’s faster than a T’ien Lung.”

“A bigger gun?” wondered Ray amazedly.

“No, that’s their manned space center,” replied Barnes. “It has to be a standard booster. But what’s on top?”

“We can’t wait to figure that out,” Schultz said. “We’ll continue with launch preparations while Intelligence tries to sort it out.”

It was less than five minutes later when Schultz interrupted their preparations again. With only a few minutes until ignition, Ray knew it would be important news.

“The launch was from their Jinan space complex, and the telemetry is consistent with a Long March 2F booster. That’s the vehicle they use for manned launches, but it’s moving too fast for a manned spacecraft. We think it has a much smaller payload.”

“Aimed at us, no doubt,” Barnes remarked. “An orbital SAM.”

“Aimed at what they thought was us,” Schultz replied. “That fireworks display was more useful than we thought.”

“With that much energy, they may still be able to engage us,” Ray countered.

“And with what?” asked Barnes.

“Probably another T’ien Lung,” guessed Ray. “But it could be modified.”

“Nukes?” Barnes didn’t look worried, but some of the other crew did.

“Anything’s possible.”

Schultz asked, “Are we go or no-go? We can hold on the pad.”

“With that thing waiting in orbit for us? No way,” Ray responded. Suddenly he remembered he was out of line. Barnes should be the one answering. He looked at the major. “I recommend we go, sir.”

Biff nodded, then looked at the rest of the crew. All were silent, but they all nodded yes.

“They’re still aiming at something that isn’t there. Let’s go now, before they get a chance to regroup. We’re go,” Biff answered firmly.

General Shen had left the INN webcast on, in the hopes that some additional information might be added, but after running out of ways to repeat themselves, they’d just started speculating. While amusing, it wasn’t very useful.

He was in an unusual, in fact unique, situation. The projectile was ready, it had been for almost ten minutes, but they were not firing. Technicians sat idle, the gun crews crouched in their launch bunkers, and they waited. Xichuan was still waiting for Defender to appear on their tracking radars, while the interceptor raced to their best guess of its future position.

Shen found himself drawn to the INN show. Much of the material shown was coverage of the war. Most was propaganda, but the coverage was extensive. He learned a few things Beijing would certainly forbid them to discuss …

“FLASH. This is Mark Markin, in Miramar, California.” Markin’s familiar image replaced the physics professor who had been explaining Defender ’s engines.

“We are receiving many, many reports of a spacecraft launch from inside the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.” Markin looked and acted rattled and confused.

“Our reporters at the scene and numerous civilian sources have reported another launch just a few minutes ago. They described the noise as ‘shattering,’ much, much louder than the event earlier this morning. What?”

Markin looked off to the side, then answered, “Good, put it up.” “Here is an image of the launch taken by a local resident who grabbed his camera when he heard the noise.” The picture showed a blue sky with an angled white pillar, almost a cone, across two-thirds of the frame. A small arrowhead sat on top of the pillar.

Markin’s voice said, “We’re going to enhance the picture.” A box appeared around the arrowhead, and Shen watched as it expanded, then rippled, and finally sharpened. Individual pixels gave it a jagged look, but he could see swept-back wings, and make out clusters of flame at the base.

“Get me Dong!” he shouted to the communications chief, then stared at the image on the screen. “Somebody print that out,” he ordered, as the chief handed him a headset.