“We’re leveling off here, Dai. Want me to run the weapons checklist?” asked copilot Chung.
Dai was busy calculating his entry point into the range, which was larger than of the state of Rhode Island. For him to turn around the jet at nearly six hundred knots would take miles. It was important for them to enter the range at the correct location so as to not waste time.
“Yes, let’s run it. I’ll slow us down to 250 knots. Maintain twenty thousand feet, so we can squirt the laser. We need to stay in the range here,” Dai said, pointing at the glass screen where the range had a box displayed on a moving map.
He reached his hand up to the autopilot in front of him and twisted a round, black dial for the altitude. He then moved his right hand to the throttles and set a power setting, which was reduced from the climb setting to cruise.
“All set, Chung. Go ahead with the checklists.”
During the laser testing last week, Chen was impressed at the precision accuracy and its ability to pull off low collateral damage. It could easily hit buildings, communication nodes, and even power towers holding thick cables. He also liked that they could be used defensively against other aircraft or even enemy missiles. What Chen loved as a strategist was that Black Scorpion only required bursts of onboard electricity, which she could easily produce and handle to push out a beam. The laser power would be extracted from multiple batteries that stored the energy, and would be constantly recharged by Black Scorpion’s powerful engines via invertors and generators.
“Checklists complete, Dai. Range is clear; no other aircraft around.”
“Roger. State battery setting,” Dai asked.
Chung looked at his array of numbers on gauges displayed in the cockpit. There were hundreds of switches, levers, screens, buttons, circuit breakers, and handles, and both pilots had to know where all of them where. It took Chung just a moment to locate the weapons section of the screen, then drill down to the laser battery power levels. “Fully charged, 100 percent.”
“Got it. OK, we’re ready to conduct mission. Speed, 250 knots. In the green range.”
“Yes, OK. We are in position. I can see the target. If you are ready, I am ready. Target’s in sight; my crosshairs are aligned on the display screen. Go ahead, pull the trigger, Dai.”
From the left seat, Dai pulled the trigger with his right index finger on the control stick between his legs. The batteries, already charged from the magnets in the engine’s generators, produced enough power to shoot the laser all night long. The electrical current flowed from the batteries through the miles of tin-plated copper conductor wires, covered with PVC insulation and a nylon jacket, hidden inside her fuselage body, and over to the electrical switch in the stick. By closing the circuit, this allowed the electrons and protons to travel to their destination in the laser turret in the nose.
“Trigger is pulled.”
PART 7
OPTIONS
The unidentified air force aircraft was airborne, with her high-bypass turbofan engines pushing out thousands of pounds of thrust. She could fly unrefueled for long distances with a heavy takeoff weight and cruise pretty well, but the two pilots up front would not need to fly that long tonight.
The flight crew was busy doing their mission at thirty-four thousand feet mean sea level, heading southbound near the Jeju Straight. They used their GPS for navigation on airway Y711 to waypoint KIDOS, then over to waypoint TOLIS to the west, and their mission was scheduled for about six hours.
Over the UHF radio, a call was broadcast on the crew’s black Bose-brand headsets. “HAMMER 88, Incheon Center.”
The aircrew up front in the cockpit were from a US air base and were lost in conversation about music, movies, girls, and Major League Baseball, not paying a lick of attention to the radios. The night sky was bright with starlight, and there were no other aircraft that they could see. The lit ships way down below on the ocean surface stood out on the dark water, but they did not interfere with the argument taking place in the cockpit over the intercom.
“You are wrong, brother. No way. Mall Cop was a much better movie than…”
The radio broke into their conversation. “HAMMER 88, HAMMER 88, Incheon Center, how do you read?”
“Damn. We must have missed their call,” the aircraft commander said, glancing down at the radios to ensure the volume was OK.
“HAMMER 88, come in,” the center controller announced again, searching for the aircraft.
“HAMMER 88 here, go ahead center. Read you loud and clear.”
“Copy, HAMMER 88. Thought I lost you for a second. Present position cleared direct to TOLIS; climb and maintain flight level 360.”
“Roger, HAMMER 88 cleared direct to TOLIS, departing three-four-zero for three-six zero.”
Over the intercom: “Nah, I’m telling you, Gus, The Big Lebowski is number one. Way better. The cult-like following is epic…” The flight crew made the turn to the west, still well within the Korean airspace, and sipped on coffee. The pilots couldn’t give a crap that radio calls were missed, and got back to the movie-ranking business.
In the rear of the jet sat a variety of talented airmen, conducting their airborne sweeps. As soon as the jet turned to the west, the sensors began tracking a single aircraft out on the horizon
“This is weird,” said Airman First Class Jennifer Harris over the intercom to some of her crewmates.
“What is?” replied Sergeant Nate Thomas, a communications expert.
“Well, are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Jennifer announced.
“Yup, just got it now. I’m on it,” Nate replied.
“Very unusual. I’ve not seen this before.” She paused, then asked. “So. Hey. How’d he do that?” she said, staring at her avionics equipment.
“I don’t know what to make of this. Some type of new aircraft?” Nate asked.
“From what I can tell. Never seen this before.”
“Yup. He’s moving from here to here,” Nate replied after looking on his screens, giving Jennifer a nod with his head.
After hearing the chatter on the intercom between Jennifer and Nate, First Lieutenant Jake Greentree stood up and walked over to their consoles. “What do you guys have brewing?”
“Hi, Lieutenant. Um, we’re both looking at something… unusual. He’s about twenty thousand feet, in an oval pattern and holding. His behavior and flying is just… weird,” Jennifer explained.
First Lieutenant Jake Greentree, US Air Force, was relatively new to the mission, and he, too, had not seen this before. It did not come up at school last year during his training, so he thought to ask one of the senior enlisted aircrew for help. He leaned over their shoulders and stood looking at the avionics. What the hell is this? he thought. Before Jake could approach anyone, over the headset came another aircrew member from another crew station console even further in the back of the jet.
“Hey, sir, Garner here, in the back. I’m following your conversation on that jet and have something to add to your weirdness.”
“Go ahead; what do you have, Garner?” replied Jake.
“Martinez and I are following your jet, and it’s nothing we’ve ever seen before either,” Garner commented.
Garner and Martinez were some of the smartest aircrew guys Greentree knew, so it puzzled him even more. “Crazy. All right then… make some notes for later, and we’ll send it to the boys in DC,” Jake replied.