Starfire (57 page)

“Crew, report to Command on damage or injuries,” Trevor said on intercom. “Casey?”

“I just got my test computer back up,” Casey said from the Skybolt module. “Another forty minutes.”

“That's too much time,” Kai said. “Casey, go on oxygen, put a space suit on, and report to your assigned lifeboat.”

“No! I can do it in time!” Casey shot back. “I'll hurry. I can do it!”

Kai punched the air in front of himself. “Hurry, Casey,” he said finally.

“Coming up on intercept on the third Wasp,” Henry said. “Trinities away on the S-500 missiles—we're launching against everything on the screen, including what might be decoys. Wasp intercept in three . . . two . . . one . . .” Again, the lights flared brightly, then most of the lights and displays in the Command module went dark . . .

. . . but this time, not all of the computer monitors began rebooting automatically. “The Trinity fire-control computer didn't reboot,” Henry shouted to the others in the Command module. “I've got to do a hard reset.”

“Starfire fire control is rebooting,” Christine said. “I have to do a hard reset on Hydra.”

“Command, Engineering, hard reset under way on environmental and station attitude-control computers,” the engineering officer reported. “Switching to backup environmental controls, but I can't monitor if they came up yet. I'll get a report in—”

At that moment there was a tremendous shudder throughout the entire station, and the crewmembers could feel a slight adverse spin. “Did we get hit?” Kai asked.

“All readouts still blank,” Trevor said. “Pass the word through the other modules to look out the windows for evidence of damage.” Seconds later they felt another shudder, and the station started a spinning motion in a different direction. “Do we have anything, Valerie? We're definitely getting hit by something.”

“I should get the Hydra fire control back in a few seconds,” Valerie replied. At that moment most of the module lights and intercom came back.

“. . . hear me, Armstrong,” they heard on the radio. “This is Shadow, how do you hear me? Over.”

“Loud and clear now, Boomer,” Kai said. “Go ahead.”

“The number seven solar cell and the truss just inboard of number two solar cell were hit,” Boomer said. “Station has started a slight adverse roll. Are your positioning systems working?”

“We're doing a hard reset,” Trevor said. “We don't know the status yet.”

“Radar is back up,” Christine reported. “Scope is clear. No contacts. We're down to three engagements on the Kingfishers on the truss.”

“I got another fault indication on Hydra,” Henry reported. “I'm doing another hard reset.” Kai looked at Trevor and Valerie, and their expressions wordlessly sent the same message: we're running out of defensive weapons, and we haven't reached the most deadly part of the orbit.

“Gonzo? How do you hear?”

“Loud and clear, General,” Gonzo replied, her voice sounding almost normal. “We were getting oxygen and data from station, but that's cut off now.”

“We'll get it back for you as soon as we can, Gonzo,” Kai said. “Stay strapped in. Those attacks put a slight spin on station, and our attitude-control systems are down right now, but we'll get them back soon.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Update on those spaceplanes?”

“First Elektron is in a matching orbit to ours, about a thousand miles away,” Christine reported. “No contact on four and five. Two and three seem to be in the same orbit and the same altitude as ours, but the orbit is different than ours. They'll make their closest approach to us in about an hour . . .” She turned to Kai and added, “About five minutes before we overfly DB-One.”

“The Russians timed those spaceplane launches down to the nanosecond,” Valerie exclaimed.

“Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll shoot down their own spaceplanes,” Kai said. On intercom he spoke: “Attention on station. I want all off-duty personnel in space suits. Rehearse the lifeboat evacuation procedures and make sure you're ready to board the lifeboats as soon as I give the warning. We're down to just a few engagements with our defensive weapons, and the Hydra still hasn't come back up. Casey, time's up. I want you in a space suit right away. Someone in Life Support give her a hand.”

“Thirty minutes to DB-One,” Christine reported.

“Status of the Hydra?” Kai asked.

“Still down,” Henry said. “I'll do another hard reset. Trinity fire control is back up, but the station's spin might be a problem launching interceptors.”

“Command, this is Jessop in Life Support,” came a call a few minutes later.

“Go ahead, Larry,” Trevor responded.

“I can't open the hatch to the Skybolt module. It appears to be locked from inside.”

Kai's eyes flared in surprise. “Casey,
what are you doing
?” he thundered on intercom.

“I can fix it!” Casey radioed. “I almost had it before the last brownout! Just a few more minutes!”

“Negative! Get out of that module
right now
!”

“I can fix it, sir! It's almost ready! Just a few more—”

“Radar contact, spacecraft,” Christine interjected. “Same altitude, different orbit, range four hundred fifty miles! It will pass by at fifty miles!”

“Status of the Trinities and Hydra?” Kai asked.

“Hydra looks like it's coming up now,” Henry said. “About ten minutes until ready. Trinities are ready, but with the station spin, they might have to expend extra fuel to steer an intercept—”

“Second radar contact, spacecraft,” Christine reported. “Intersecting orbit, range four hundred eighty miles, passing approximately thirty miles!”

“Launch commit the Trinities, Valerie,” Kai ordered.

“Trinities are ready, showing launch commit,” Valerie said. “The computers should adjust the launch for the station spin.”

“Three hundred miles on first spacecraft.”

“Trinity one away . . . Trinity two away,” Henry said. A moment later: “Trinities off course . . . wait, regaining course . . . back on course, good track . . . Trinities three and four away . . . good tr—” And suddenly there was a loud
BANG!
The station shuddered, and several alarms sounded. “Trinity four hit a solar panel!” Henry shouted. “Trinity five away!”

“Batteries not fully charging,” Alice Hamilton in the Engineering module reported. “Discharge rate is slow, but the other solar panels can't compensate.”

“Shut down nonessential equipment,” Kai said. “Casey, get out of that module
now
! I'm going to power it down!”

“Hydra is reporting ready!” Henry said.

“Radar contact spacecraft!” Christine said. “Same orbit, four hundred miles and closing slowly.”

“Lost contact with Trinities one and two!”
Henry shouted. “May have been downed with a laser from that Elektron!”

“Two hundred miles and closing on spaceplane one.”

“Engage with Hydra,” Kai ordered.

“Roger, Combat, clear to engage with Hydra!” Valerie said.

“Combat copies,” Henry said. “Hydra firing!”

“Missile launch detection!”
Christine reported. “Multiple S-500 launches from near Chkalovsky Air Base!”

“Direct hit on spaceplane one!” Henry reported. “Nailed him! Shifting track to target two!”

“Command, Engineering, battery power down to seventy-five percent,” the technician said. “You can fire Hydra two, maybe three more shots! Our solar panels are charging the batteries at only half rate—it'll take hours to fully recharge them even if you don't fire any more weapons!”

Kai thought quickly; then: “Take out that second spaceplane with the Hydra, and use any Trinities we have left on the third spaceplane,” he said.

Just then they heard Casey shout, “It's ready! It's ready!”

“Casey? I told you to get out of that module!”

“It's ready!” she repeated. “Try it!”

“Hydra engaging second spaceplane!” Henry reported. This time the lights significantly dimmed in the command module.

“Hydra powered down!” Valerie said. “It drained the batteries below forty percent and shut itself down!”

“Second spaceplane still inbound.”

“Try it, General!” Casey said on intercom.

“Valerie?”

“Starfire has full continuity,” Valerie said. She looked over at Kai, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. “Permission to spin up the MHD, General.”

“Go,” Kai said. On intercom he said, “Engineering, Command, permission to spin up the MHD.”

“Engineering copies,” Alice acknowledged. A moment later the lights dimmed again. “Batteries down to twenty-five percent.”

“Too bad we can't plug the MHD generator into station,” Kai said. “We'd have all the power we'd ever need.”

“Next time, we will,” Trevor said.

“MHD at twenty-five percent,” Alice said.

“Spaceplane two closing to one hundred miles,” Christine said. “I'm picking up a target-tracking radar from that spaceplane—he's locked on to us with something. Spaceplane three closing to two hundred miles. Multiple S-500 missiles still inbound.”

“High hull temperature warning on the Galaxy module!”
Alice reported. “Temperature still rising!”

“Everyone in the Galaxy module,
get into your lifeboats
!” Kai shouted. “
Move!
Engineering, make sure the Galaxy module is—”

“Hull temperature at limits!” Alice reported about thirty seconds later.

“Lifeboat one sealed,” Trevor reported.

“Lifeboat two, seal it up
now
! Lifeboat two, do you—”

Suddenly alarms went off throughout the command module. “Galaxy module hull breached,” Alice said. Kai looked at Trevor, who shook his head—lifeboat two was still not sealed up. “Module pressure down to zero.”

“Spaceplane two is headed away from us,” Christine reported. “Spaceplane three closing to one hundred miles.”

“Hobnail is locked on to target,” Colonel Galtin reported to his command post. “Request permission to engage.”

“Permission granted,” the controller said. “Elektron Two had a successful attack. Good luck.”

I need no luck, Galtin thought—I have Elektron and Hobnail. Seconds later, the radar reported in range and Galtin hit the switch to commit the Hobnail laser.

“Warning, hull temperature in command module rising!”
Alice shouted. “It'll hit the limit in twenty seconds!”

“Lifeboats!”
Kai shouted.
“Move!”
But no one moved. Everyone stayed at their stations . . . because Kai did not unstrap himself from his seat, they were not going to do so either.

“MHD is at one hundred percent!” Alice reported.

“Valerie,
go
!”

“Combat, Starfire commit! Shoot!”

The first indication that something had happened was the acidy smell of burning electronics, even though Galtin was sealed up in his space suit. The second was the astounding scene of his instrument panel sparking, arcing, and finally setting itself afire, all in the blink of an eye. The third was a warning tone in his headphones indicating a complete system failure, although he could no longer see the status of any of his systems. The last thing he encountered was his space suit filling with smoke, then he briefly felt the oxygen in his suit explode . . .

. . . seconds before his Elektron spaceplane exploded into a billion pieces and spread across space in a fiery spear; then the oxidizer was consumed and the fire blanked itself out.

“Spaceplane three eliminated,” Christine said. “Still multiple S-500 missiles inbound, about sixty seconds.”

“Hull temperature stabilizing,” Alice reported. “MHD and Starfire are in the green. Batteries are down to ten percent. At five percent the station will shut down to allow the remaining battery power to drive lifeboat release mechanisms, air pumps, emergency lights and alarms, and rescue beacons.”

“Can we get the rest of those S-500s with the power we have left?” Trevor asked.

“We got no choice but to try,” Valerie said.

“No, not the missiles—the S-500 radar and control truck,” Kai said. “Maybe that will take out the missiles.”

Valerie hurriedly called up the last-known S-500 site at Chkalovsky Air Base northeast of Moscow and used Armstrong Space Station's powerful radar and optronic sensors to scan the area. The S-500 transporter-erector-launchers had moved to the south side of the airport in three widely separated emplacements, but the radar truck, command vehicle, and power and hydraulic generator truck were in the same location as previously cataloged. The trucks were located in a vacant area of the large aircraft parking ramp, where long lines of Antonov-72, Ilyushin-76, and -86 transport planes were lined up; farther down the ramp were two rows of five MiG-31D antisatellite-missile launch planes, each with a 9K720 antisatellite missile waiting to be loaded aboard. “Target acquired!” Christine shouted.

“Combat,
shoot
!” Valerie ordered.

“Starfire engaged!” Henry shouted . . .

. . . and just seconds later, all power in the command module went completely out, leaving only emergency exit lights. Kai hit a button on his console, and an alarm bell sounded, along with the computerized words,
“All personnel, report to lifeboats immediately! All personnel, report to lifeboats immediately!”

The maser beam from Armstrong Space Station fired for less than two seconds . . . but traveling at five miles every second, the beam was able to sweep across almost the entire length of Chkalovsky Air Base before extinguishing.