She had five seconds to spare. Locked in, the ship’s motors burned and would do so for the next fourteen minutes. She calculated that the burn may be altered in order to change their trajectory and she was waiting to see how Yao would effect that. In the meantime, no one was going to move on the ship while under the high g-forces that the motors exerted.
Xia spoke. “Yin, I’m scared.”
The sergeant’s voice was comforting. “Do not worry, little flower. I am with you.”
There was no more discussion and the red planet continued to grow in Mingyu’s main monitor. It was a feed from above the cupola, since she was now facing back to Earth. She noted with both excitement and fear as the missile rose on its launch-well from its insulated storage bay aft of the observation port where Yao was directing it.
Suddenly, her monitor came alive again with another feed, and she heard Xia’s voice explain, “Commander, second video feed coming from American satellite 129, located to our starboard, 10,000 kilometers.”
Xia had patched it through without authorization, and as soon as Mingyu saw the man on her screen, she knew why.
“Peace be upon you, Divine Dragon.”
It was Commander Sun of the now destroyed Roaring Tiger. The man was waiting patiently, and it dawned on Mingyu that he was nearby. Obviously, he had to be; he had arrived in Mars’ orbit two weeks prior—where else could he be?
Wait, he was supposed to be dead.
Mingyu’s head felt light and she hit her transmit button. “Xia, can he hear me?”
Instead of getting a reply from her Chief Engineer, Commander Sun responded, “I hear you loud and clear, Commander Shen. It has been a long journey, has it not?”
The man waited patiently at a time that Mingyu knew was urgent. Here was her mentor, a father figure for her, and he was alive. Her heart leapt with joy until she heard the voice of Captain Yao.
“You betrayed your country, Commander Sun, by turning your ship over to the Americans and allowing it to be destroyed. Now you will reap what you sow, and that is a personal message given by General Wang for me to relay to you.”
Commander Sun nodded and showed no emotion other than his slight smile. “Greetings, Captain Yao. I’m most appreciative that you honored your position and performed your duty. I have received the general’s message and I have one of my own to relay to you.”
“You are dishonored and have no right to speak to me,” Yao said.
“Fine,” Commander Sun said. “I will give my message, then, to your shipmates. The alien transmitter, our primary target, has gone active and has damaged both the Soviet and American ships. Neither ship can leave Mars’ orbit and we will all die here unless the device is destroyed. If you enter orbit, you will be attacked and disabled as well. Do you understand?”
“This is a trick,” Yao said.
“You’re no longer a part of this conversation,” Mingyu said, disabling the center module of the ship’s radio and intercom system with the press of two buttons, muting the cries of protest by the captain. “Boqin Sun, I am so pleased to see you alive.”
Her mentor took no offense at Mingyu calling him by his full name in the informal manner. The man smiled and returned the gesture. “Mingyu Shen, the pleasure is all mine.”
“We were told that you were dead,” she said.
Commander Sun brought a hand to his mouth to stifle a cough then replied, “I can assure you that I am alive, though you can see that for yourself. What you don’t know is that I contracted an illness and the Americans took me to their ship for medical treatment. They saved my life.”
“What happened to the crew and the Tiger? Were those lies, too?” Mingyu asked, anger rising in her voice.
“I’m not sure what you’ve been told or by whom,” Sun said. “What I can tell you is that we initiated hostilities first and the Americans responded. I did lose my ship, but I’d hardly call it my duty to defend it. Colonel Tsu did indeed destroy the Roaring Tiger in an attempt to do the same to the American ship. I’ve been informed that he had an explosives detail integrated into his space suit. I fear you and your ship are also in danger, as Captain Yao may very well be equipped in the same manner, considering that he is the only other officer remaining.”
Mingyu enabled the Captain’s comm set. “Is that true, Captain? Do you have, or do you intend to blow up our ship?”
There was a pause, as if the captain was weighing the pros and cons of disclosure, but he was a proud man and bragging was one of his weaknesses. “I can destroy our ship at will, so you must obey my orders. That is your duty, and I will launch our missile when we are in range. Nothing can stop that now, not even you.”
Mingyu knew he was correct. Their course was determined by ballistics, and no matter what she did with the vector and thrust of the ship, it was going to sail right by Mars. Even if she attempted to plow into the planet that would not take the missile out of range. Mission profiles for all three countries were determined so far in advance, and so accurately, that the exact orbital entry points and time of arrival were calculated to a T. They would arrive over the alien targets in a matter of minutes.
“Can the Americans shoot the missile down?” Mingyu asked, not caring if the captain heard her or not.
Commander Sun shook his head. “We are coming around the planet now and are well outside your current altitude. I’m afraid what happens next is up to you and the crew of the Divine Dragon.”
“Is there anyone at the secondary site?” Mingyu asked.
“Yes, the Soviets are trapped there, and the Americans, along with me, are trapped up here.”
“So, any strike would kill the Russians.”
“Yes,” Sun said, nodding. “Now you know why it must be the transmitter and not the base.”
“Captain Yao intends to destroy the base,” Mingyu said, matter-of-factly.
“Then if he succeeds, he kills not only the men in the base directly and immediately, but he also kills all of us in orbit indirectly and slowly.”
“Slowly?” Mingyu asked, not understanding.
“We can’t leave orbit, nor can we reach our supply ships when they arrive. We will die when our supplies give out,” her old mentor explained.
“That cannot happen,” she said.
“Sorry, but I’m being told that you’ll soon be out of our line-of-sight. I hope to hear from you again on the other side. Farewell, my little bright jade in the heavens.” The screen cut out, and the last thing she saw was Sun’s hand raised in farewell. Mingyu meant Bright Jade in Chinese, and this brought a surge of emotion within her.
The red planet was quickly growing and taking up more and more of her monitor as they hurtled towards its outer atmosphere. Mingyu looked at their timer for motor cutout. They only had a couple of minutes left. “Will you not listen to reason, Captain?”
Yao ignored her. “Sergeant Yin, prepare for combat once the burn ceases. Meet me at the cockpit cabin door.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You don’t have to do this, either of you,” Engineer Xia said to the soldiers, a hint of panic in her voice.
“You’re wasting your time, Xia,” Mingyu said. “Let them do their duty.”
“Commander?” Xia asked, confusion evident. “You’re not going to allow this, are you?”
“Prepare for blackout,” Mingyu said, hitting the radio mute button ship-wide and hoping that her engineer would understand the need for her to hit her intercom button. From the cockpit, any intercom broadcast initiated would go ship-wide. From inside the ship, it would be unit to unit only. She didn’t have long to wait.
“Commander Shen, what are you doing? You’re not going to destroy our ship, are you?”
Mingyu breathed a sigh of relief. “Don’t leave or shut the comms down, Xia. We need to keep this channel open, and to answer your question, no, I’m not going to ram another ship, but we need to stop that missile.”
“That’s impossible; you heard what Commander Sun said.”
> “Yes, that it would be up to us.”
“Commander, the captain has the only arming and firing command unit on this ship. We can’t stop him.”
“No, Xia, we can’t stop him, but we can alter the missile.”
“How?”
“What is the firing range for that?” Mingyu asked.
“It’s classified; I don’t know.”
“Take a guess then, Xia. You’re an engineer—how close do you think we need to be, based on its size and propellent load, before he can launch? Hurry, we may not have more time.”
Xia thought quickly, saying, “We’d literally need to be at periapsis with Mars.”
Mingyu looked at her timer, then said, “Less than three minutes.”
“What does that have to do with stopping his missile launch?”
“It doesn’t, Xia. He’s going to launch, but right before he does, we’re going to cut the external power feed to the launch bay.”
“So what? It will simply switch over to battery power,”
“Not before it resets itself. It is low voltage and we’ll run a surge first, before cutting power.”
“Commander, that will reset the missile to its default targeting, but Captain Yao will simply use his command pad to re-task it in flight.”
“Only if he has a direct radio link to it.”
There was a long pause as her engineer calculated the variables. “That may work, but the missile would have to be in flight ... otherwise, the RF range of his pad is a good one hundred meters. He could reset the coordinates while it was still on board the ship. How will you time this?
Mingyu racked her head for several seconds, then had an idea. “Standby, Xia. This may take a minute or more.”
“Understood, Commander.”
Mingyu punched in the commands for their CCTV system, bringing up a list of their 16K cameras. It couldn’t be this easy, could it? she asked herself.
She selected the observation cupola and was rewarded with a view of Captain Yao and, since the camera was pointed towards the front of the ship which was facing away from the planet, the inky black of space all around him. Oddly enough, from the positioning of the camera at the rear of the cupola, she was literally looking over his shoulder. She hit her radio button to release the blackout. “You still planning on killing all of us, Captain?”
“I have nothing to say to a traitor,” he said, hitting a command on his pad.
She could see past him as the missile mount began to turn to their right and face the planet in preparation for launch. Whoever designed, or ordered the design of, the ship probably was not space certified as everything was pointed towards the front. Planetary approaches demanded a rearward orientation. Maybe the designers thought there’d be time to turn the ship around before launching or were fine with having the launch rail capable of rotating 360 degrees.
She resisted the urge to roll the ship to port, putting it between the weapon and the planet. She knew the missile had a strong vectored thrust and would easily correct its flight path in order to achieve its goal.
Mingyu needed to stall for time. She could clearly see on the high-def monitor the tablet that Captain Yao held. It had an upward percentage number that reflected the degree of confidence in the missiles targeting accuracy. If she knew the captain at all, he would launch as soon as it hit one hundred percent, which, while not statistically accurate, was the human equivalent of a countdown timer.
“You will be known in history as the man who killed his fellow explorers, not as a man who served his country.”
“Your ruse won’t work, Commander. Your time’s almost up.”
Mingyu didn’t want to engage with him further, so she blacked out the comms again and asked, “Do you hear me, Xia?”
“Yes, Commander. I never closed our link.”
“Good. Are you at the electrical panel?”
“I am, and I can initiate a spike on your command.”
“Can you lock the door to the engineering section?”
“It’s already locked, Commander, but they can override it easily.”
“Not if there’s a vacuum behind it. Now, be ready on my mark.”
Mingyu watched in anticipation as the percentage passed the ninety percent mark and rose exponentially with the approach of the planet. The motors finally cut out and the change in ambient noise level was most noticeable. Yao tried to say something and Mingyu hit the comms button again.
“—You will see,” he was saying.
She missed the first part of his sentence but replied, “Time will tell.”
The captain moved his finger to hover over the execute button and said, “It most certainly will.”
“Now, Xia!”
The spike was almost instantaneous, and everything on the ship flared briefly, then died back down. Captain Yao looked around and said, “Nice try, Commander, but you have failed.”
Mingyu asked. “Have we?”
Yao hesitated, and the percentage reached one hundred. “You have.”
The man hit the execute button and the rockets ignited, sending the missile in towards Mars at nearly one hundred Gs. It would take no time for the missile to be beyond the range of the command pad.
Mingyu hit the disable button on their main and secondary external transmitters. They could receive but no longer broadcast on any frequency. Now, she had to hope the reset worked.
It took nearly a minute before Captain Yao confirmed her hope. “Your trick won’t work, Commander. I’m setting new coordinates now.”
Mingyu watched in silence as the man kept hitting the inputs on his command pad with no effect. He slammed it once against the cupola and then repeated the effort. In frustration, he looked out the observation window as the rocket’s exhaust disappeared and the entire planet blotted out half the stars of their galaxy.
Mingyu asked, “Did I fail?”
Captain Yao allowed the tablet to float and started to move down the cupola and into the main body of the ship. His words chilled her to the bone: “Now you die, Commander.”
FOR THE SECOND TIME in twice as many years, the Chinese nuclear weapon descended upon the alien technology. The terminal velocity was calculated in the near six figure range as the warhead used its internal guidance and radar mounted in its nose-cone to track its target and alter in minute detail the vectored thrust of its powerful rocket motors.
The entire trip took only four minutes, and the same type of electrical trigger found itself in a positive state after querying the main navigation chip. Within one hundred meters of the target, it detonated in an immense fireball that lit up the Martian sky.
This day, as the nuclear fires burned both the surface and atmosphere of Mars, the red planet lived up to its name as the God of War.
“Yin, you promised!” Xia screamed over the intercom. The system was now ship-wide and the two men were at the cockpit door.
“Open the door, Commander,” Yao ordered.
Mingyu watched as the planet altered their trajectory into one of a low orbit. The missile had detonated before the alien device could disable their ship. Now, she was seriously thinking of engaging the motors to either enter the atmosphere, or escape orbit in such a trajectory that it would unrecoverable. This would doom all four of them, but ensure the safety of her mentor as well as the other two ships.
“Go away,” she said.
Yao had covered the cameras in the corridor, leaving her to guess at his actions. It didn’t take long before there was the sound of drilling and hammering on the door. “I’ll open the door for you, then.” Yao said.
“No!” Xia half screamed, half sobbed.
Mingyu grabbed the small utility knife that was part of her toolset and held it in front of her. There was a massive blow to the door and then another sound of the drill as the controls were destroyed from the outside. The door started to open, the tip of a crowbar barely visible as it peeked from between the closed doors.
“Stay in engineering, Xia.”
“No, Commander, I’m coming to you.”
It was too late. The doors burst open and the massive frame of Sergeant Yin blocked the light streaming from the stronger lighting outside the cockpit. The man held a crowbar in both hands and slowly entered.
“Stay back, Sergeant, or I will hurt you.”
The man looked at her intently and then, gripping the bar firmly in one hand, he put the other one out and opened it saying, “I don’t think you can, Commander, but Captain Yao needs medical attention.”
Mingyu looked at him and realized he was offering to pull her into the interior corridor. She eyed him warily and then took his hand
He pulled her gently, and she left the cockpit and found herself looking at Captain Yao as he floated upside down, twirling slightly, unconscious. Before she could ask what had happened, the doorway into the command hall opened and Engineer Xia pulled herself on the hand rails as she floated forward and into the arms of the sergeant.
“Don’t you ever do that to me again,” she scolded him.
He embraced her, then looked at her and said, “I told you, my little flower, that I was always with you.”
Mingyu interrupted the pair, finding it difficult to maintain orientation with the captain floating around like a top and the other two embraced in a slightly-horizontal position that gave her pause. “I’m sorry, Sergeant, but I must agree with my engineer—don’t you ever do that to us again.”
Chapter 15
Not So Fast
ALIEN COMMAND & CONTROL Station
Great Red Spot, 22° South, 116° West
Jupiter, Terran Solar System
In the near future, Year 4, Day 189
THE LACK OF THE SUB-atomic messenger signal being relayed on a neutrino wave was the first sign for the alien command and control station that its reaper station’s demise four years earlier had been no accident. In time spans that were very different from the indigenous inhabitants of the third planet of this particular solar system, the programming script calculated the odds of failure of its processing, arming, and training facility located on the fourth planet. It exceeded its allotted threshold.
Black Infinity Page 21
