Rogue Forces

The aircraft, initially built by McDonnell Douglas Aircraft before that company was purchased by Boeing, was highly modified for many purposes, including aerial refueling and instrument tests, but its major modification gave it the ability to launch satellite boosters into space. The booster, called ALARM or Air Launched Alert Response Missile, resembled a large cruise missile. It had three solid rocket motors and folding wings to give it lift while in the atmosphere. ALARM, in effect, used the DC-10 as its first stage engine.

The ALARM boosters carried four satellites internally. The satellites, called NIRTSats, or Need It Right This Second Satellites, were washing-machine-size multipurpose reconnaissance satellites designed to stay in orbit for less than a month; they carried very little maneuvering fuel and were meant to stay in one set orbit, with only a few minor orbit changes or realignments allowed. These satellites were being placed into orbit to serve field commanders in Afghanistan.

“Pretty friggin’ amazing,” the mission commander, a U.S. Air Force major from the Thirtieth Space Wing at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, said. “Less than twelve hours ago I got the call to launch this constellation. Now, we’re about to do it. Normally it takes the Air Force a week to do something like this.”

“That’s why you should just call on us from now on,” the aircraft commander, a civilian working for Sky Masters Inc., said proudly.

“Yeah, but you guys are too expensive.”

“You want the job done fast and right, you gotta pay for the best,” the pilot said. “Besides, it’s not your money, it’s the Air Force’s.”

“Well, however you guys do it and however much we’re paying you, it’s worth it,” the mission commander said.

“We aim to please,” the pilot said. He flipped a page on his multifunction display when he received a blinking message annunciation, read the incoming satellite message, cleared it back to the main navigation page, switched his intercom to “private,” and spoke.

“What was that?” the mission commander asked.

“Nothing, just a fast request to the release crews,” the pilot said. The Air Force major didn’t notice him, but the flight engineer sitting behind him was suddenly pulling out charts and typing on his mission planning computer. “How much longer to release?” the pilot asked.

“Sixty seconds…now,” the mission commander said. He checked his own multifunction display, where he had the mission data displayed. They were flying to a precise location and a particular heading that would put the ALARM booster on the perfect trajectory for a successful insertion. Because the NIRTSats carried so little fuel, the closer they could shoot the booster into the perfect orbit, the better.

“Stand by, flight crew,” the pilot said. “Report checklists complete to the MC.”

“Flight deck configured and ready to go, MC,” the flight engineer said.

“Cabin deck ready, MC,” the civilian in charge of the cabin reported after getting a thumbs-up from his Air Force counterpart observing the release. The cabin of the modified DC-10 was split into pressurized and unpressurized compartments. In the pressurized compartment was a second ALARM booster, suspended on loading cables; the compartment could hold two ALARMs, plus one in the unpressurized compartment.

The first ALARM booster was already loaded into the unpressurized launch compartment, where it would be ejected into the slipstream underneath the DC-10. After release, its first solid rocket motor would fire, and it would fly under, then ahead of the DC-10, then start a sharp climb. Its second and third stage motors would fire in turn until the booster had accelerated to orbital speed and was at the proper altitude in space—in this case, eighty-eight miles above Earth—and then it would begin releasing the NIRTSats.

“Stand by,” the MC said. “Five…four…three…two…one…drop.” He waited for the brief pitch-down caused by the ALARM booster dropping free of the DC-10 before the fuel and trim systems could rebalance the plane. That was always the trickiest part of these releases; if the aircraft didn’t rebalance itself and the plane started rapid pitch motions, and if the ALARM booster was caught up in the disrupted slipstream, it could fly off course or out of control. That was a rare occurrence, but…

Then the MC realized he didn’t feel the pitch movement. He looked at his multifunction display…and saw that the ALARM booster hadn’t released! “Hey, what happened?” He checked his indicators…and saw that the pilot’s launch override was engaged. “Hey, you stopped the launch! You overrode the release! What’s going on?”

“We got orders,” the pilot said. “We’re going to get refueled, and then we’re going to change to a different launch axis.”

“Orders? Different launch? You can’t do this! This is an Air Force mission! Who told you to do this?”

“The boss.”

“What boss? Who? Masters? He can’t change this mission! I’m going to advise my command post.”