"Shoot."
"Let's keep the camcorder on the ship and continuously record until we break off and depart."
"You don't want any still photos?"
"If we're dealing with a laser-based weapon, we'd probably miss it with a regular camera, even if you were snapping pictures as fast as possible."
"Makes sense — I've got the camcorder ready."
"Good."
Scott moved farther away from the Phantom while his eyes darted around the cockpit. Convinced that everything was normal, he glanced at the altimeter. They were descending through 8,400 feet. Dalton continued to move away from the drone. Leveling at 8,000 feet and 505 knots, Scott judged his distance from the F-4 at 200 yards.
"Spooky," the controller radioed, "Prime Time."
"Go."
"Come right five degrees, your target is at twelve o'clock, ten miles."
"We're looking."
"Spooky, we have confirmation that the ship is slowing and that it isn't showing any lights."
"Copy." Scott looked for any sign of a ship's wake. "They're probably monitoring all of our frequencies."
"Yeah, for sure," the Hawkeye operator said. "They obviously know something is up."
"But the question is," Scott said to Jackie, "will they show their hand?"
"We won't know until we try."
"Rocky," Scott radioed, "I can't see much from here. Let's take it down to four thousand."
"Down to four." Craine eased the drone's nose down and tweaked the throttles. "Still want five hundred knots?"
"You can leave the power where it is, uh, and come back left a few degrees — need to be in a little closer."
"Rocky Nineteen."
"Six miles," the Hawkeye operator warned.
"Do you have anything yet?" Jackie asked, trying to sound calm. "Not yet."
Seconds later Scott caught a telltale glimpse of a ship's wake. "There, down to the left — see it?"
Jackie surveyed the ocean, and then saw the slowly vanishing wake. "I have it — the video is running."
"Great," Dalton said, then switched to the radio. "Rocky, let's ease it out to the right a little bit, about five degrees of bank."
"Coming right." Craine expertly maneuvered the F-4 Phantom away from the ship.
Hartwell Prost chewed his cigar and watched the remote control panel.
"Three miles," the systems operator said.
"Okay, Rocky, level the wings," Scott said calmly. "I have a tally on the ship, looks like it's almost dead in the water and completely blacked out."
Craine concentrated on flying the Phantom as smoothly as humanly possible. "Just let me know when you want to come left."
"Will do."
Scott concentrated his attention on the Chen Ziyangand leveled off at 4,000 feet. Abeam the ship and a mile away, Dalton keyed the mike. "Okay, Rocky, let's start a shallow, climbing turn to the left."
"Coming up on the power." Craine banked the F-4 to the left. Flying in very loose formation, Scott glanced at the ship and keyed the ICS. "Keep your eyes open."
"Open? I haven't blinked in three minutes."
Passing through ninety degrees of the turn and 9,300 feet, Jackie sharply sucked in her breath. "Nine to ten o'clock high."
"I see it!" Scott focused on the brilliant bluish-white object. It streaked down from high above the jets and made an astonishing turn, then shot directly over the Phantom.
"Prime Time, we have a visitor! Do you have anything on radar?"
"Negative, but our recon folks have the bogey visually."
"Keep the camcorder on the ship."
"I'm trying." Jackie twisted around in her ejection seat. "Tighten the turn to give me a better angle."
Scott glanced at the darkened ship. "Rocky, tighten the turn and bring your nose up about five degrees."
"Copy, what does the object look like?"
"A circular, bluish-white light that's being manipulated by someone. It made a sharp turn and flew over the Phantom, then quickly disappeared, going straight up."
"Here it comes again," Jackie said.
The eerie-looking bogey reappeared and flashed under the drone.
"Rocky, could you give us a nice, lazy barrel roll to the left?"
"Yeah, here goes." He added power and brought the nose up. "Are you out of the way?"
"Affirm, low and to the right."
"Copy."
The F-4 began a roll to the left and completed a revolution about the longitudinal axis while the direction of flight was approximately maintained.
"Nice, very nice," Scott said, moving another fifty yards away from the drone. "How about giving us a five-G loop?"
"Comin' up."
Suddenly the bright object streaked across the star-studded sky and made a slashing move at the Phantom as it was passing the vertical.
"I'll be damned," Scott said over the ICS. "This thing is all over the place. It's coming back."
The F-4 was on its back in afterburner with the nose falling through the horizon when the bluish-white bogey made a sharp turn and headed straight at the Phantom.
"Uh — too close," Dalton said when the frightening object barely missed the drone. "Turn out the lights and come out of burner!"
"Roger."
In an instant, the F-4 was almost invisible.
"I'm going to ease out to the right," Scott said to Jackie. "It'll give us a little extra room if the Phantom gets out of shape."
"Sounds like a great plan."
In the blink of an eye, a bright flash startled Jackie and Scott. "I saw it — I got it!" she said. "A laser beam! It came from the ship!"
"Are you sure?" Scott asked as the bogey shot straight up and disappeared in a mass of stars.
"Yes! It was maybe a half second to a second in duration, but it was definitely a laser beam! We've got it on video!"
Scott was curious. "Rocky, is the Phantom okay?"
"Yeah, I'm just recovering from the loop, level at three thousand."
"Okay, give me the lights for a few seconds so I can join on you."
"You got it."
The drone's lights flashed on.
Scott keyed the radio and tried to sound calm and professional. "The ship, the Chen Ziyang, fired a laser at the drone."
"Did you get it on video?" Hartwell asked.
"We're pretty sure we did."
"Good work."
"Spooky, Prime Time."
"Go."
The Hawkeye systems operator was talking more rapidly than before. "The Ball and the satellites got it."
"Super."
"Spooky, Rocky Nineteen."
"Spooks up."
"Stand by one."
"Copy," Scott said, moving closer to the F-4. "Lights out."
The Phantom became a phantom, an illusory form barely visible against the backdrop of stars.
"Ready to break it off and return to base?" Scott asked. "Negative RTB," Craine said in a hushed voice. "Mr. Prost is on the horn — go ahead, sir."
"Scott, the president and SecDef would like for you to check the other ship, if you have the fuel."
"Jackie?" Scott asked, surveying the fuel.
"As long as we're up here, we might as well."
"Roger that," Scott said to Prost. He instantly calculated the heading to intercept the Kapitan Zhirnovsky. "Rocky, let's come right, say about zero-six-zero, I'm aboard."
"Zero-six-zero."
"Prime Time, how's the heading?" Scott asked.
"Close enough, and your target is sixty-three out."
"Spooky, copy."
Jackie keyed the ICS. "What do you think the odds are that the other ship is equipped with a laser weapon?"
"Given what we've seen, both ships departing around the same time, I'd say they probably have the same technology."
"I'll bet you're right."
"We'll find out in a few minutes."
"What was that thing?" Jackie asked.
"I don't know, but I can assure you that extraterrestrials are not working in unison with the Red Chinese."