Eagle Station

“They are, Comrade President,” Chen said calmly. He activated a control on the table in front of him. Immediately, high-definition screens around the room lit up, showing the sunlit surface of the South China Sea as seen from orbit. At the touch of another control, the view zoomed in — focusing tightly on the two U.S. Navy destroyers as they steamed northward. “This is a live feed from one of our Jian Bing 9 optical naval reconnaissance satellites. We are also receiving good data from a synthetic aperture radar satellite in the JB-7 constellation. And three of our JB-8 electronic intelligence satellites have successfully triangulated the radio signals and radar emissions emanating from those enemy warships.”

Li nodded in satisfaction. Between the tracking data streaming down from China’s space-based sensors and that acquired by ground- and sea-based radars in the Paracel Islands, his forces now knew, to within a meter or so, precisely where those American ships were at any given moment. They were like flies trapped in an invisible electromagnetic web. “What is the current position of the armed American space station?”

“Eagle Station is currently crossing over South America on its way toward Europe,” Chen answered. “For the next fifty minutes, it will be beyond our visual and radar horizon — unable to intervene with its plasma rail gun.”

“What excellent timing… for us,” Li commented dryly.

There were answering smiles from almost everyone else in the room. Only the high-ranking foreigner the president had specially invited to witness today’s “weapons test” looked unamused. In fact, the man’s broad Slavic face appeared frozen, almost as though it were carved out of ice. Hardly surprising, Li thought.

Marshal Mikhail Ivanovich Leonov had been the mastermind behind the creation of the Mars One space station, its powerful satellite- and spacecraft-killing Thunder plasma weapon, and the breakthrough small fusion generator that powered both of them. Their capture by the Americans had been a disaster for Russia — a disaster magnified when a missile fired from Mars One, either accidentally or deliberately, obliterated the center of the Kremlin… killing Russia’s charismatic, though increasingly unhinged, leader, Gennadiy Gryzlov. Although Leonov himself had emerged unscathed from the political chaos that followed, the reminder that his prized weapons were in enemy hands could not be pleasant.

Li dismissed the new Russian defense minister’s irritation from his mind. For too long, Moscow had taken China for granted, despite the fact that its economy was four times larger and its population almost ten times bigger. If nothing else, what was about to take place in the South China Sea should prove that Beijing was still a power to be reckoned with — whether as an ally… or an enemy.

He turned to the chief of the PLA’s Rocket Force. “Are you ready to carry out our planned missile readiness exercise and flight test?”

Lieutenant General Tao Shidi nodded. For the first time in decades, some of the advanced weapons he had spent his career developing were about to see action in earnest. “Yes, Comrade President,” he confirmed. His raspy voice betrayed the faintest hint of excitement. “My launch crews are prepared. They have received the updated targeting data supplied by General Chen’s satellites.”

“Very well,” Li said flatly. “You have my authorization to fire.”

Three

Scion Special Action Unit, Aboard USS McCampbell

That Same Time

Brad McLanahan stiffened as his central display lit up with a series of red-boxed alerts and then a digital map of China and the South China Sea overlaid with projected missile tracks. “Well, shit. We were right,” he muttered. He turned his head toward Nadia and Vasey. “We’ve got a flash launch warning from Space Command at Cheyenne Mountain.”

“Through SBIRS?” Nadia asked.

He nodded. SBIRS, the Space-Based Infrared System, was a network of five missile launch and tracking satellites positioned more than twenty-two thousand miles above the earth in geosynchronous orbit. From the Mars One space station in low Earth orbit, Russia’s plasma rail gun hadn’t had the range to hit them, so they were some of the few surviving U.S. military spy satellites. That was fortunate since the SBIRS network was a key component in the U.S. early warning system — with sensors able to detect significant heat signatures like rocket launches, large explosions, major wildfires, and even plane crashes anywhere around the globe.

Without waiting any longer, Brad opened his connection to the destroyer’s bridge. “Captain, this is McLanahan. Space Command confirms four separate PRC launches. Missiles are evaluated as DF-26s and they’re heading our way. Estimated time to impact is five minutes, thirty seconds.”