Eagle Station

Tian put his hands back on the two controllers at his command pilot’s station, waiting for the rocket motor’s ignition. Seconds later, explosive bolts detonated and the engine lit. Cut free from its four-legged lower half, Chang’e-13’s ascent stage climbed into the black, starlit sky.

Not far above the surface, he reduced the ascent engine’s thrust and triggered a succession of attitude control thrusters. Obeying his command inputs, the lander pitched over ninety degrees. Soundlessly, Chang’e-13 flew out over the crater rim and down along Engel’gardt’s long, eastern slope — slanting east-southeast at high speed across a desolate plain pockmarked by smaller hollows.

Shadow Bravo One, over the Far Side of the Moon

A Short Time Later

“We’re crossing the northwestern rim of Vavilov crater,” Craig reported. “That puts us four hundred and fifteen miles out from the primary target. We’ll be in range of the enemy’s plasma rail gun in less than two minutes.”

With the S-29 rolled upside down again, Miller looked “up” through the cockpit canopy at the relatively sharp edges of the crater they were flying over. It was new, by the standards of the moon — probably no more than a few hundred million years old. Much of the ring-walled, four-mile-deep depression overlaid the remains of an older, far more eroded crater dating back billions of years. Solid black, impenetrable shadows stretched westward across Vavilov’s terraced floor. “Weapons status?” he asked.

“All systems are green,” she assured him. “Our attack program is ready to run.” Once they popped up into view of the Sino-Russian base, a single command would set their orchestrated attack in motion — with the S-29B’s two-megawatt laser destroying targets according to a preselected sequence, starting with the plasma gun and its fire control radars and ending with the enemy’s habitat module. The gas dynamic laser had enough fuel to fire up to twenty five-second bursts, more than enough to reduce the enemy base to ruins.

“Solid copy on that,” Miller said in satisfaction. He kept his eyes riveted on his HUD. They were closing in on their chosen attack position at more than a mile per second. The moment they reached it, he planned to fire the spaceplane’s thrusters and “pop” them up several thousand feet — just high enough to bring them over the visual horizon of the Russian plasma gun. “Stand by.”

Below the Vavilov Crater Rim

That Same Time

Deep within the dark shadows cast by the crater’s steep west wall, a small spacecraft, Chang’e-13, hovered motionless. It was almost invisible to the naked eye. Tiny reaction control thrusters flared around its boxy fuselage — holding it aloft against the pull of the moon’s gravity.

Inside the lunar lander’s cramped cabin, Tian watched his thruster fuel readouts closely. The numbers were decreasing fast. His mouth tightened. The Chang’e’s fuel reserves wouldn’t last much longer. At most, he would be able to maintain this position only for another minute or so.

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP.

Drawn by the insistent alarm, his eyes flicked to Chang’e-13’s lidar system display. He’d set its low-powered navigation lasers to continuous pulse — but instead of scanning the rough crater floor six thousand meters below, they were aimed at the sky above him. And now, those reflected laser pulses painted the blurred image of a winged vehicle, the American S-29B, as it flew past high overhead.

Tian reacted instantly. His right hand stabbed at a touch-screen display, activating the lander’s hastily modified docking and rendezvous program. Using the control in his left hand, he rotated the spacecraft — tilting it to aim at the fast-moving enemy spaceplane. With a muted whummp, Chang’e-13’s ascent rocket motor reignited at full power. Now guided by the navigation lasers locked on the S-29, the Chinese lunar lander streaked higher, accelerating rapidly.

“Warning, warning. Low-power laser impacts on the aft fuselage,” the spaceplane’s computer said suddenly. “New warning. Thermal detection at six o’clock low. Range close. Continuous low-power laser impacts.”

Miller’s eyes widened in surprise. “What the hell—?” Instinctively, he fired thrusters and spun the S-29 through a half circle, turning to face the oncoming threat. To his astonishment, he saw the gleaming white shape of another spacecraft climbing toward them out of the shadowed Vavilov crater. Brief, bright puffs of glowing gas appeared around the Chinese lander as it matched their maneuvers.

“Christ, Dusty, that guy’s a kamikaze!” Craig exclaimed.