Peter called Jesse to his office so he could pick his brain. He wanted to get as much information on the astronauts as possible, and Jesse was the perfect start.
He separated Jesse’s file from the pile and began to study it. If EarthOrbit was involved in any kind of illegal activity or conspiracy, Peter had to consider every employee as a possible informant or threat, even though he was certain Chris was his man. As Peter flipped through the paperwork, he was impressed with Jesse’s background. He would be surprised if a graduate from the Naval Academy who served as a Navy SEAL could be involved with any kind of plot against America.
A knock at the door broke Peter’s attention. He flung his feet off the desk and let them fall to the floor with a loud thump. “Come in.”
As the door opened, in marched a powerful, compactly-built African American man dressed in a casual white polo shirt sporting an EarthOrbit logo. The shirt was neatly tucked into a pair of khaki pants. The young man looked like he had just come off the golf course. “Hello, Mr. Novak.”
Peter stood to greet the man. “You must be Jesse. Welcome. Come on in and have a seat.”
Jesse proudly approached the front of the desk and extended his hand. “Thank you, sir; it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Peter grabbed the hand, pleased with Jesse’s strong grip. “Please call me Peter.”
As they both sat Jesse asked, “I’m not sure if you remember me when you were at NASA?”
Peter realized that he should project the impression that the young man stood out. “I do. Congratulations on getting a ride so early.”
“Thanks, lucky I guess.”
“I doubt that. With so few seats available on the Shuttle, I know NASA only picked their top candidates.”
“But I didn’t go to the moon. That was an amazing flight you piloted. Attaching the booster from the ISS was brilliant. I’ll bet that was some ride.”
“The whole trip was incredible, but I won’t lie to you. Sitting in that capsule before the booster lit was a little nerve wracking.”
“Well it’s an honor to work for the man who successfully completed such a risky flight, and to think you used a commercial rocket to get you into space.” Jesse started shaking his head. “Absolutely remarkable.”
“Thanks, but unfortunately my little stunt shot SpaceQuest to the front of the pack for receiving the NASA contract to deliver astronauts to the ISS. We need to change that. In fact that is one of the reasons why I was brought on board. I’m counting on you to make sure our astronauts will be ready to fly when called upon. We need to get back the momentum that was lost.”
“We have a good group, sir. I know you’ll be pleased.”
“Tell me about them. If we were to fly today, and we only needed a two-man crew, who would you suggest?”
“Not to sound immodest, I would first recommend myself as your commander since I am the only one with flight experience.” Jesse looked past Peter as he curled in his lips. “Mmmm…then I would say the next best candidate is Blake Hamilton. I have no idea why NASA didn’t pick him when he went through their selection process. He made it all the way to the last cut. Though he’s Mr. Funnyman, he’s extremely cool under pressure, and his flight skills are impressive.”
Peter pulled out Blake’s file and skimmed through it. The man graduated top of his class from the Air Force Academy and went on to fly the F-15 and later the F-22. From Peter’s experience flying in the Air Force, he knew getting such choice assignments was a testament to the young man’s flying ability. So far, Peter was impressed with the caliber of EarthOrbit’s astronauts.
KUANG’S PALMS WERE sweating as he sat at the head of the conference table in CNSA headquarters. Sitting to his right was Lin Wu, the assistant director of the MSS. To the left of Kuang was his assistant, Ming. All three men were meeting to discuss the latest on the top secret operation, Tianlong, which would, hopefully, propel China to the position of leader in space exploration and erase their recent humiliating defeat by America.
After China’s lie was exposed to the world by the American astronaut, Kuang had one last chance of sticking it to the United States and saving his career. He was allowed to stay at his post only after convincing his superiors that failure in beating the Americans back to the moon was due to Sie Wang’s miscalculations and eventual betrayal. The disloyal man was now in prison.
A few years earlier, Kuang had given his approval to the MSS to begin the initial stages of Tianlong, which would seriously damage the International Space Station, possibly making the outpost useless. He had hoped to never have to put the plot into action. Tianlong was only in place as a backup plan in case they were unsuccessful with the moon mission. With that failure and the military’s lack of success in capturing the astronaut, Kuang had no choice but to give his acceptance and carry out the operation.
Kuang’s superiors wanted China to rule space for military reasons and did not care how it was done. After the recent success of putting their first space station module into orbit, CNSA was ready to start adding more modules to rival the ISS. However, the military’s goal was for their station to be the only one circling the globe, and that was Kuang’s objective.
Kuang was pleased that the first phase of the operation to test the remote-controlled detonation system on the Soyuz worked, causing an explosion on the ship in space. Though he was disappointed no cosmonauts died. No doubt such deaths would have led to the spacecraft being grounded indefinitely, clearing space of any international-manned flights. The director looked at Lin. “What is the status of your inside man in America?”
“He’s in place with the commercial space company waiting for our orders to proceed with the final phase.”
“Do you feel we are ready to carry out the operation?”
“After the success of our detonating device on the Soyuz, I’ve been assured that all pieces are in place. The only question is if our operative can get EarthOrbit to launch an unauthorized manned-mission to the International Space Station.”
Kuang leaned back in his seat. Lin was implying they had the bomb in place, as well as the automated system capable of firing a set of thrusters. The plan was that when EarthOrbit’s capsule rendezvous with the space station, MSS would remotely fire the thrusters, crashing the spacecraft into the ISS. At impact they would detonate the potent bomb, seriously damaging the station and probably killing astronauts. It was paramount that the explosion be deemed an accident with no chance of China being linked to the incident. Kuang’s hope was that the ISS would be damaged beyond repair and abandoned.
The bomb had been secretly switched with the pyrotechnic device needed to deploy the main parachutes in EarthOrbit’s capsule. The MSS special weapons department designed the powerful mini bomb to look exactly like the parachute’s explosive device. Of course, this made the parachutes inoperable. It didn’t matter since the spacecraft would be destroyed, killing all its occupants.
The MSS selected EarthOrbit as their target since they were the only U.S. commercial space company having key components of their spacecraft manufactured overseas, making them more accessible to the agency. The Parachute Disconnect Assembly was manufactured at a plant in Germany where the MSS had undercover agents deployed to make the switch.
“I want this mission put into its final phase, now! Communicate this immediately. Tell your man that waiting is not an option, and it will be detrimental to him and his family if he doesn’t get a rocket launched soon to the ISS.”