Salvador Mercer - Lunar Discovery

“Communications transfer in one minute,” Lin said.

Hun watched as the Chinese lunar lander continued its butt-first approach to the moon’s surface. The lander was about to be eclipsed by the moon itself, and they would only have another two minutes communications via the transceiver on the secondary module still orbiting the moon before it, too, went out of coms with Beijing control.

“Communications successfully transferred,” Lin said right after the video feed blacked out and then picked back up again.

“Trajectory is going long,” the voice of one of the center’s mission controllers came across the intercom.

Hun watched as the trajectory showed the lander extending higher above its intended track. If this kept up, it would overshoot its target.

“ Crimson Glory , increase thrust by fifty percent,” Hun ordered into the mike. “Chon, what’s the computer doing?”

Chon looked confused for a second until he punched up some additional data. “The burn rate is set, but the fuel isn’t burning as efficiently as it should.”

“Communications black out in thirty seconds,” Lin said, panic creeping into her voice.

The video feed started to deteriorate as the seconds passed. “ Glory , did you copy? Increase thrust by fifty percent,” Hun repeated. “Chon, will he have enough fuel to return?”

“Yes, as long as he commences the burn now.”

“Thrust increasing by fifteen percent,” Sing’s voice came across the channel, static starting to win the communications battle.

“Negative,” Hun said, his voice now booming but calm. He had to make sure the man heard him. “Fifty percent burn for twenty seconds. Follow the readout on your navigation screen. I repeat, fifty percent burn for twenty seconds. Do it now, Colonel Sing, commence burn now.”

“Communications blackout,” Lin said, defeat in her voice.

“Did we get trajectory data on his track?” Hun asked.

“Coming now, sir,” Chon said.

Hun watched as the data fed into his monitor with an overlay of his planned flight path. Sing did indeed increase thrust, but the vector still went long. Unless he heard the command, he would overshoot his landing site by a large margin. It would be a long wait till communications could be reestablished once the orbiter cleared the far side of the moon. Hun just hoped they wouldn’t find Colonel Sing dead from the impact.

Gordust Space Station

Near the moon

In the near future, Day 46

“Look at that signal strength,” Olga said, her eyes never leaving the monitor from where she was strapped in at her console seat.

Yuri glanced over at her main monitor as his screen displayed radar and navigation data from where he was piloting the flying brick. “It matches what our orbiter relayed, but yes, it is quite high considering we are just now approaching the moon.”

“How long do you think we’re going to deal with this lack of communication?” Olga asked.

“Hard to tell,” Yuri pondered, pulling up the short and cryptic text message they had received a few hours earlier. Maintain course and speed. Four words, and despite the clear orders, Gregori had been trying every few minutes to raise Moscow Control to no avail. It was as if they had turned a switch off.

“There it is. I have a track on the Chinese craft now. Our orbiter should be clearing the far side within the next fifteen minutes as well,” Olga said. “Do we self-insert?”

“What other options do we have? We’ll have to commence the orbital deceleration burn within the next hour.” Yuri changed his screen to pull up the display showing the tracks of several objects orbiting the moon. Flying off into deep space would not be advisable. Orbital insertion around the moon was their only option short of simply circling it and returning to the earth.

“I’ve got someone on channel three,” Gregori’s voice came across the intercom system.

“Tune them in, Olga,” Yuri said, continuing to monitor the moon’s artificial satellites.

Olga tuned to channel three and activated the interior speaker so they could both hear the communications in their command module.

“This is Vostochny Control. Confirm acknowledgement of orders,” an unfamiliar voice said.

“This is Ruski Gordust confirming,” Gregori replied. “Identify yourself.”

“Isn’t that what they just did?” Olga asked, her face conveying a look of confusion.

“He’s ex Spetsnaz. He wants to know exactly with whom he is speaking,” Yuri answered.

There was a pause, some static, and then a new voice, calm, authoritative, and assertive came across the frequency. “ Ruski Gordust , this is Director Vladimir Berdenko of the Ruscosmos space base Vostochny. Moscow Central Control is no longer active. Vostochny Control is now primary. Confirmation code alpha two, delta three, one four seven echo. Confirm orders and communications.”

Another pause while Gregori presumably confirmed the authorization codes. The codes were only used when and if a secondary channel was used and any other entity other than Moscow Central Control was directing activities. Normally all communications were encrypted and sent on a central frequency that didn’t require verification, but this new procedure for communicating was different and involved a completely different set of radio protocols.

“Vostonchny Control confirmed. Good to hear from you. We are at minus forty-eight for lunar orbital insertion, and Moscow has been dark,” Gregori came back.

“Understood, Gordust . Proceed with primary mission protocols until orbital stabilization and then switch to protocol bravo three, acknowledge.”

“Bravo three, acknowledged,” Gregori said, clearing the channel.

Yuri wondered what bravo three entailed. All trans-space protocols were designated with the alpha prefix, while the lunar surface team protocols were bravo based. What exactly bravo three referred to was beyond him.

“Gregori, what is bravo three?” Yuri asked nonchalantly, wondering if the man would tell him. He hadn’t been cleared for it and didn’t understand why the secrecy, so he forced the gambit to see what he could glean from the lunar commander.

There was a long pause before the man spoke. “Yuri. The Chinese have made it to the surface before us. Alpha one approach stays the same, but we will be more… aggressive on the surface. Just get us into orbit. We detach after the first orbital confirmation.”

Olga gave Yuri an interesting look. Obviously she didn’t expect to hear that much information either. Yuri keyed his mike. “Copy and understood. Be advised that the readings we’re receiving from the surface are stronger than our reconnaissance satellite has relayed. Recommend we send one of our passive recon probes first to ascertain more data points.”

“Negative, Yuri,” Gregori replied somewhat informally. “Protocol calls for an immediate detachment and landing.”

Yuri didn’t like the new procedures, but if that was what the mission called for, he’d do his duty. “Confirmed. Ready your team, then, Commander Antov, and I’ll call mark at minus ten minutes.”

“Affirmative,” Gregori replied, seeming not to notice the formality from Yuri.

“What’s going on earth-side?” Olga asked after Yuri had cut the com link.

“I have no idea, Olga,” Yuri said, focusing now on their insertion in less than forty-five minutes. “Go to infrared and track all orbital bodies. See if you can get a reading from the surface when we come around, and make sure we can track Commander Antov in the Ruski Zvesda .

“Are you really going to allow them to detach before we confirm orbital trajectory?” she asked.