Executive Intent

“Blew the hell out of the target. Direct hit.”

“Mil, I gotta admit: The space stuff is cool, and I’m sure the Air Force’s recruiting numbers are going through the roof, but there’s not any money in the budget for Rods from God or any more space stuff,” Carlyle said dismissively. “The president wanted aircraft carriers, Congress said yes, so there’s going to be aircraft carriers.”

“I know, Conrad, I know,” Turner said. “Building four more carrier battle groups has sucked up every available dollar out of the next ten defense budgets. But I’m already getting queries from Congress about the space stuff. When the word gets out about this incident in the South China Sea and then the success of this space-weapon test, the obvious questions will arise: Why are we building carriers that are so vulnerable?”

“We, especially the president, have the answer: The carriers are the ultimate in power projection,” Carlyle said. “You park an aircraft carrier battle group off someone’s coastline, and the negotiations start soon afterward. And they’re far more versatile than space-based assets. The space guys watched the incident in the South China Sea, but what could they do about it? Even if they had the Rods from God, or even that big laser they used to have up there, would they have sunk the Chinese carrier in response? The president is making the right decision, Mil.”

“The Air Force undersecretary in charge of space, Ann Page, is really pushing this new Space Defense Force thing,” Turner said. “Now that the Thor’s Hammer project is unclassified and apparently successful, she’ll be pressing a military presence in space even harder.”

“That’s her job,” Carlyle said. “But she was brought into the Pentagon so we could monitor and control her public comments. She can talk all she wants, but she still has to support the president and the administration as long as she’s in that post. If she doesn’t toe the line, we’ll make sure she’s disgraced as well as dismissed. It’s your job to make sure she stays on the right side.”

“I know that, Conrad. I’m just giving you a heads-up. We may be building carriers like crazy, but space is not going away.”

ARMSTRONG SPACE STATION

THE NEXT DAY

“Attention on the station, hostile spacecraft detected, all personnel to emergency posts!” Senior Master Sergeant Valerie Lukas announced on the PA system. “Time to possible collision, seven minutes! All posts, report when configured for station defense and damage control!”

Kai Raydon was on his way from the latrine cubicle when the alert came, and he propelled himself across the large command module faster than he had ever done before. “Why do these things always happen when I’m in the latrine?” he muttered. “Report.”

“Pirinclik has detected liftoff of a large rocket from an unknown launch site in southern Russia, designated E-1,” Lukas said, referring to the U.S. Air Force’s AN/FPS/79 space tracking radar facility in Turkey. “Confirmed by DSP and SBIRS-High. E-1 does not appear to be going into orbit, but is on a very high-altitude, very high-speed ballistic path.”

“Aimed at us?”

“Yes, sir,” Lukas said. “Time to impact, six minutes.”

“No announced launches of any kind?”

“No, sir.”

“Then it’s a bad guy,” Kai said. “Designate E-1 as hostile. Are we tracking it yet?”

“Negative, sir. Our tracking radar and Doppler are off-line.”

“Perfect. Pirinclik still have it?”

“They’ll lose it in ninety seconds,” Lukas responded. “Globus-2 and Diego Garcia aren’t tracking. Shemya might pick it up about sixty seconds before impact.”

“They attacked at the perfect moment-right where our space surveillance coverage is the worst,” Kai said. “Okay, we’re down to our own infrared and optical sensors. Let’s have a look. We’ll have Pirinclik aim the sensors for acquisition.”

The large multifunction display between Raydon and Lukas changed from a radar graphic of the launch to a split-screen view of Earth. The left split showed Earth as a cool gray mass in the background, with flashes of light here and there from lightning and reflected sunlight, which computers were attempting to tune out as much as possible. The right split showed Earth through a telescope, set for wide field of view as it searched for the incoming missile.

“Four minutes to impact,” Lukas reported.

“C’mon, guys, find the sucker,” Raydon said.

“Too much background clutter…”

“Try manually tuning,” Raydon said. “The computers are tuning out the background clutter-tune for the target.”

Lukas switched the infrared sensor’s tuning to manual, and the left side of the monitor flared almost to complete white as the energy being radiated by the Earth washed out the heat-sensitive sensor. Seeker carefully adjusted several controls until the background faded, then began tuning even more carefully. “The sensor slaved to Pirinclik’s radar-it’s gotta be right in front of us, and hotter than hell,” she murmured. “Anything on the camera?”

“Nothing yet.”

“You’ll find it, Seeker,” Raydon said. “Countermeasures?”