by Dale Brown
Epigraph
“Beautiful, beautiful. Magnificent desolation.”
—Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 astronaut, stepping onto the moon
“. . . for countries that can never win a war with the United States by using the method of tanks and planes, attacking the U.S. space system may be an irresistible and most tempting choice.”
—Wang Hucheng, Chinese military analyst (quoted in CSIS Space Threat 2018: China Assessment)
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Epigraph
Cast of Characters
Real-World News Excerpts
Prologue
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Thirty
Thirty-One
Thirty-Two
Thirty-Three
Thirty-Four
Thirty-Five
Thirty-Six
Thirty-Seven
Thirty-Eight
Thirty-Nine
Forty
Forty-One
Forty-Two
Forty-Three
Forty-Four
Forty-Five
Forty-Six
Forty-Seven
Forty-Eight
Forty-Nine
Fifty
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Glossary: Weapons and Acronyms
About the Author
Also by Dale Brown
Copyright
About the Publisher
Cast of Characters
Americans
john dalton farrell, president of the United States of America
andrew taliaferro, secretary of state
dr. lawrence dawson, Ph.D., White House science adviser
elizabeth hildebrand, CIA director
scott firestone, admiral, U.S. Navy, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
commander amanda dvorsky, U.S. Navy, captain of USS McCampbell (DDG-85)
U.S. Space Force
colonel keith “mal” reynolds, commander, Eagle Orbital Station
captain allison stewart, sensor officer, Eagle Orbital Station
major ike ozawa, Thunderbolt plasma rail gun officer, Eagle Orbital Station
captain william carranza, laser weapons officer, Eagle Orbital Station
colonel scott “dusty” miller, S-29B Shadow armed spaceplane pilot
major hannah “rocky” craig, S-29B Shadow armed spaceplane copilot
lieutenant general daniel mulvaney, commander, U.S. Space Force Missile and Space Launch Warning Center
major general pete hernandez, U.S. Space Force Missile and Space Launch Warning Center
colonel kathleen locke, director, Morrell Operations Center, Space Launch Complex 37B, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
general richard kelleher, chief of staff, U.S. Space Force
brigadier general jill rosenthal, senior watch officer, U.S. Space Force Operations Center, Peterson Air Force Base
Joint Sky Masters Aerospace Inc.–Scion Spaceplane Program
hunter “boomer” noble, Ph.D., chief of aerospace engineering, Sky Masters Aerospace, Inc., lead trainer for U.S. Space Force spaceplane pilots
brad mclanahan, spaceplane pilot trainer and Cybernetic Lunar Activity Device (CLAD) pilot
major nadia rozek, spaceplane pilot trainer and CLAD pilot
peter charles “constable” vasey, former pilot in the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm, spaceplane pilot
jason richter, colonel, U.S. Army (ret.), Ph.D., chief executive officer of Sky Masters Aerospace, creator of the Cybernetic Lunar Activity Device
Scion
kevin martindale, president of Scion, former president of the United States of America
patrick mclanahan, technology and intelligence expert, former lieutenant general, U.S. Air Force (ret.)
ian schofield, Scion deep-penetration expert, former captain in Canada’s Special Operations Regiment
samantha kerr, operative, Scion Intelligence
marcus cartwright, operative, Scion Intelligence
david jones, operative, Scion Intelligence
zach orlov, computer operations specialist, Scion Intelligence
liz gallagher, lieutenant colonel, U.S. Air Force (ret.), copilot, S-29B Shadow spaceplane
paul jacobs, defensive systems officer, S-29B Shadow spaceplane
Russians
marshal mikhail ivanovich leonov, minister of defense, and de facto ruler of the Russian Federation
viktor kazyanov, minister of state security
daria titeneva, foreign minister
major general arkady koshkin, chief of the Federal Security Service’s Q Directorate
colonel general semyon tikhomirov, commander of the Aerospace Forces
major stepan grigoryev, MiG-31 pilot
captain alexey balandin, MiG-31 weapons system officer
captain oleg panov, Mi-8MTV-5 helicopter pilot
major yuri drachev, Ka-52 Alligator gunship pilot
lieutenant general nikolai varshavsky, commander, Central Military District
colonel kirill lavrentyev, Space Forces cosmonaut, co-commander, Korolev Base
captain dimitry yanin, Space Forces cosmonaut, Korolev Base weapons officer
major general oleg panarin, senior staff officer for Marshal Leonov
major andrei bezrukov, Space Forces cosmonaut, Korolev Base, expert KLVM pilot
Chinese
li jun, president of the People’s Republic of China
general chen haifeng, commander of the Strategic Support Force
admiral cao, commander, People’s Liberation Army Navy
lieutenant general tao shidid, commander, People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force
captain yang zhi, People’s Liberation Army Navy, commander, Yŏngxīng Dăo island garrison
peng xia, foreign minister
colonel tian fan, military taikonaut, co-commander, Korolev Base
major liu zhen, military taikonaut, senior sensor officer, Korolev Base
captain shan jinai, military taikonaut, junior watch officer, Korolev Base
Real-World News Excerpts
HELIUM-3 MINING ON THE LUNAR SURFACE, European Space Agency, 2007—. . . Unlike Earth, which is protected by its magnetic field, the Moon has been bombarded with large quantities of Helium-3 by the solar wind. It is thought that this isotope could provide safer nuclear energy in a fusion reactor, since it is not radioactive and would not produce dangerous waste products. . . .
CHINA THREATENS TO FURTHER FORTIFY ITS MAN-MADE ISLANDS IN DISPUTED REGION AS TENSIONS WITH US ESCALATE—The Independent, 9 January 2019—China may seek to further build up its man-made islands in the South China Sea if it feels the outposts are under threat, one of the country’s senior naval officers has said.
The country reserved the right to do as it pleased on the islands it has created in the strategically vital waterway, which it claims virtually in its entirety, according to Senior Captain Zhang Junshe, a naval academy researcher.
“If our on-island personnel and installations come under threat in future, then we n
ecessarily will take measures to boost our defensive capabilities,” he said during a briefing with journalists. . . .
UNITED STATES SPACE FORCE—Military.com, 2018—On June 18, 2018, President Donald Trump directed the Pentagon to begin planning for Space Force: a 6th independent military service branch to undertake missions and operations in the rapidly evolving space domain. The U.S. Space Force would be the first new military service in more than 70 years, following the establishment of the U.S. Air Force in 1947.
Vice President Mike Pence and the Department of Defense released more details about the planned space force on August 9, 2018, citing plans to create a separate combatant command, U.S. Space Command, in addition to an independent service overseen by a civilian secretary. . . .
Prologue
Taurus-Littrow Valley, the Moon
December 14, 1972
For more than three and a half billion years after lava flows and fire fountains marked its birth, the Taurus-Littrow Valley, surrounded by gray hills and massifs, slumbered in airless silence. But over the course of seventy-five hectic hours, two men from Earth, Apollo 17 astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison “Jack” Schmitt, broke in on its age-old isolation. On foot and aboard a four-wheeled rover, they explored the mountain valley’s slopes, impact craters, and boulder fields, carrying out experiments and collecting more than two hundred and fifty pounds of priceless geological samples.
A remotely programmed television camera mounted aboard the abandoned rover vehicle showed their four-legged Lunar Module, Challenger, starkly outlined against the smooth, rounded peaks rising along the western edge of the Taurus-Littrow. For long minutes, radio channels to Earth and to the Command-and-Service Module, America, high overhead in orbit, were full of chatter as the two NASA astronauts ran through their final pre-liftoff checklists. Then, abruptly, it was time to go.
“Ten seconds.”
“Abort Stage pushed. Engine arm is Ascent.”
“Okay, I’m going to get the Pro . . . 99. Proceeded. 3 . . . 2 . . . 1—”
Bright blue, red, and green sparks cascaded away from the midsection of the spacecraft as four explosive bolts detonated, separating its upper ascent stage from the four-legged lower half. Almost simultaneously, its Bell Aerospace rocket engine lit in a flash of searing orange flame. “Ignition.”
Propelled by thirty-five hundred pounds of thrust, Challenger’s ascent stage leapt into the black, star-filled sky. For the next twenty-six seconds, the camera followed the small spacecraft as it climbed rapidly toward its planned orbital rendezvous and docking with America and its pilot, Ron Evans.
And with that, an era came to an end.
In the course of forty months, six separate Apollo missions had successfully landed a total of twelve American astronauts on the desolate surface of the moon. All twelve men returned safely home to Earth. A scattering of footprints, rover tracks, emplaced scientific instruments, and jettisoned gear remained—offering silent testimony to a time when humans had, however briefly, lived and worked on another world.
For more than half a century, there would be no manned presence on the lunar surface.
But that was about to change . . .
One
USS McCampbell (DDG-85), South of Woody Island (Yŏngxīng Dăo), Among the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea
Spring 2022
Sunlight glittered on the azure waters ahead of USS McCampbell’s wide, flaring bow. Except for a patch of low-lying clouds on the distant northern horizon, the sky was clear in all directions. About two thousand yards to the southwest, a flash of white and gray showed where a small, twin-boomed, propeller-driven UAV, a drone, slowly orbited at low altitude—silently tracking the American destroyer as it drew closer to the heart of the Chinese-occupied island group.
“We’re coming up to Point Bravo, Captain,” the quartermaster of the watch announced. The young Navy petty officer kept his eyes resolutely fixed on the glowing integrated navigation display at his station. With the ship’s captain on the bridge acting as officer of the deck, this was no time to slack off. “Steady on course three-four-five. Speed twelve knots.”
“Very well,” Commander Amanda Dvorsky said calmly, keeping a tight rein on her own expression. Point Bravo was a purely notional spot in the sea. But it marked a moment of decision for the two ships under her command today—her own McCampbell and another Arleigh Burke–class destroyer, USS Mustin, trailing along a thousand yards behind. Turning back to the west or southwest would keep them out of waters illegally claimed by the People’s Republic of China, the PRC. Turning north would take a well-deserved poke at Beijing’s puffed-up territorial pretensions. Doing so, however, was sure to set off a diplomatic firestorm . . . or worse, if the communist nation’s notoriously touchy military overreacted.
Inwardly, she shrugged. Her orders to conduct a FONOP, a Freedom of Navigation Operation, were clear. She turned to her conning officer, Lieutenant Philip Scanlan. “All right. Let’s go trail our coat, Phil. Bring her to course zero-zero-zero.”
He swallowed once and nodded. “Aye, Captain.” He raised his voice slightly. “Helm, come right, steer course zero-zero-zero.” Aboard a U.S. Navy ship, only steering orders issued by its conning officer could be obeyed.
The helmsman, a wiry sailor barely old enough to be out of high school, reacted instantly, spinning McCampbell’s small steering wheel with practiced ease. “Come right to course zero-zero-zero, aye, sir,” he repeated loudly. “My rudder is left three degrees, coming to course zero-zero-zero.”
Dvorsky felt the deck under her feet heel only slightly as her destroyer swung north. The wide-beamed Arleigh Burkes were incredibly stable ships, especially when moving so slowly. One corner of her mouth twitched upward in a fleeting smile. McCampbell ordinarily cruised at twenty knots. Steaming straight through the middle of the Chinese-claimed Paracel Islands at just twelve knots was the naval equivalent of moseying onto a rival street gang’s turf with your hands buried deep in your pockets and a smart-ass grin on your face.
Part of her enjoyed imagining the heartburn and indignation this exercise was going to cause her Chinese counterparts and their superiors. But what she didn’t like was going into this situation without better intelligence. Reports claimed that the PRC had significantly beefed up its military forces in this region recently, especially on Woody Island, or Yŏngxīng Dăo as the Chinese called it, the largest of the Paracels. Unfortunately, those same reports contained almost no detail on the new Chinese sensors, combat aircraft, and missiles her ships might face. Equally unfortunately, those fragmentary estimates were the best the U.S. intelligence community could currently provide.
Up to a few months ago, information gathered by America’s network of radar, spectral imaging, and signals intelligence (SIGINT) reconnaissance satellites could have painted a clear picture of the PRC’s current force structure in the Paracel Islands. Now those satellites were gone—systematically destroyed by an armed space station, Mars One, that the Russians had rapidly and secretly deployed into orbit. Although a daring and desperate spaceborne commando attack had succeeded in capturing Mars One, it had come far too late to save any of the U.S., allied, and commercial surveillance satellites in low Earth orbit.
Dvorsky knew replacements were being lofted into space, but that was a slow and extremely expensive process. Spy satellites were essentially handcrafted, painstakingly assembled by specialists with intricate precision. So it would be years before America and her allies regained full global situational awareness. Until then, they were forced to rely almost entirely on whatever imagery could be collected by astronaut crews aboard the captured Russian space platform, now designated Eagle Station. The trouble was Eagle’s orbital track allowed only occasional observation of limited swaths of the world as it swung overhead . . . and its movements were predictable. Hostile powers like Russia and China could easily conceal or camouflage anything they wanted to keep secret before the space station came into view.
Which le
ft old-fashioned reconnaissance by aircraft and ships as the fastest and most efficient means of intelligence-gathering left to the United States. Hence her orders to carry out a “freedom of navigation” operation right past this heavily fortified Chinese island base. Of course, pushing in up-close-and-personal like this could be dangerous, especially against adversaries with itchy trigger fingers. Back during the Cold War, before the advent of satellites, nearly forty U.S. aircraft on intelligence-gathering missions were shot down by Russian and Chinese fighters and antiaircraft weapons. And no one in the U.S. Navy could forget the fate of the USS Liberty, accidentally bombed and strafed by Israeli jets during 1967’s Six-Day War, or the USS Pueblo, attacked and captured by North Korea in 1968.
Well, Dvorsky thought, she sure as hell had no intention of being caught off guard by any level of Chinese reaction to this unannounced intrusion into what they considered their own territory. She turned to the boatswain’s mate standing next to the controls for the ship’s 1MC public address system. “Sound general quarters.”
Shrill warning horns sounded throughout McCampbell. Her crew, briefed thoroughly during the run-up to this operation, rapidly and efficiently donned their protective gear and then headed for their battle stations.
On the bridge, Commander Dvorsky finished putting on her own anti-flash hood and gloves. With a nod of thanks, she took the Kevlar helmet a young sailor offered. “Okay, everyone stay sharp,” she said firmly. “Now let’s go see what our pals from the PRC are up to out here.”
People’s Liberation Army Navy Garrison Command Post, Yŏngxīng Dăo (Eternal Prosperity Island)
That Same Time
Navy Captain Yang Zhi studied the televised pictures of the two American warships as they turned north toward the island under his command. The images came from a small Yinying or Silver Eagle drone flying less than two kilometers from the lead ship, USS McCampbell. It had been shadowing the enemy vessels for more than an hour, ever since the Americans steamed past a floating surveillance platform anchored at Bombay Reef, on the outer edge of the Paracel Islands Defense Perimeter.
