Salvador Mercer - Lunar Discovery

“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.