Chapter 2

“Aye aye sir. Here comes number one.” Lieutenant Anders watched as, one by one, the gauges on his instrument panel showed the engines coming online. When each of the most powerful atmosphere rated spacecraft engines ever built came online, the noise and shaking quadrupled. The only clue that Captain Scarlett was aware of what was going on was that he put the mission folder in the map slot next to him and rested his hands on the handgrips.

The U-700 began shaking as it strained against the magnetic clamps that held it in place. It gave a banshee howl that was the calling card of the feisty orbital shuttle. The shaking was so bad that Lt. Anders could barely read his instruments. “NSS Glenn space boss, this is Greyhound Zero One.” Anders shouted so he could hear himself over the noise. “All engines are at one hundred percent. We are A-OK for launch. I repeat, A-OK for launch.”

Behind the NSS Glenn, the four air-breathing engines of the U-700 were churning and boiling the ocean, steam and sprayed water shot high into the sky. The massive United Reaction series J-74 engines were powerful enough to push the NSS Glenn forward. To counter that, the ship’s six turboshaft driven screws were spinning in full reverse to hold the NSS Glenn in position for launch.

Captain Bluford, the space boss, also known as the supervisor of flying, answered the Lieutenant. “Greyhound Zero One, you are number one on the runway. Have a pleasant flight.”

“Roger Glenn.” Lieutenant Anders gave his instruments one last check, then said, “head, hands, and feet.” Magnetic clamps locked onto the steel pieces in the three men’s helmets, gloves, and boots, holding them secure so they don’t accidentally hit or kick a switch or lever during the launch. Lieutenant Anders’ only free appendage was his right thumb. He flicked up a switch cover at the end of his magnetic hand grip and pushed down a button. As he did that, the magnetic catapult grabbed the U-700 and the wheel locks released. They were suddenly pulling eight G’s rocketing skyward as the catapult slung them off the ship.

“Ok, let’s level her up,” said Captain Bluford as Greyhound Zero One roared away into the cloudless sky. Ballast tanks in the stern of the NSS Glenn transferred water to the bow ballast tanks and blew excess water into the ocean. Soon, the bow of the ship settled down into the ocean and the flight deck returned to level. “Ok, let’s get Greyhound zero four up on deck, it launches in two hours.”

On the rapidly climbing Greyhound zero one, as soon as the wings stopped producing lift, they were retracted, and the nose came up. The magnetic holds released, and the occupant’s hands were freed, and Captain Scarlett opened the mission brief again. The noise was tremendous from those four United Reaction series J-74 engines. At forty miles up they hit Max Q, and it felt like a dog had grabbed the ship and was shaking it like a rat, but that abated after a few moments. As the atmosphere thinned, the main booster engine, a United Reactions series N-50, lit with a bang and Master Chief White throttled up the engine to 110% while the air breathing J-74 engines shut down and closed their intakes.

Four minutes after launch and one thousand miles up, the main engine shutdown. The release of G forces almost felt like crashing into a brick wall, but in a moment they were weightless. Lieutenant Anders extended the VHF antenna and made a call. “Navy control, this is Greyhound Zero One. All indications are nominal. We have reached planned altitude.”

“Roger Greyhound Zero One, you are go for two orbits before Trans Lagrange Interface. Millenium hand and Shrimp. Navy Out.”

“Crap,” muttered Lt. Anders. Millenium hand was a coded order to secure all conversations, give nothing away about the mission. Shrimp was the code word for SSM, Surface to Space Missiles. And that wasn’t all. “We were scheduled for four orbits, can you get this thing ready to go in two orbits, Master Chief White?” asked Lieutenant Anders. After launch, the navigational equipment is double and triple checked, then the mission parameters are programmed into the navigation computer.

“Not a problem sir, let’s not top off the batteries as planned until we break orbit. Extending the solar panels increases our radar cross section two hundred percent.”

Anders glanced over at Captain Scarlett, who didn’t look up from his mission brief. “The Eastern Bloc. They don’t want us up here,” said Alan Scarlett as he turned a page.

“Why not?” asked Anders.

The answer to that question is classified, so Scarlett said. “I don’t know, it must have been something you said to your Hawaiian girlfriend last week.”

“Wait, what? How do you know about her...?” Lanh couldn’t be an Eastern Block spy, could she? But Captain Scarlett answered with a raised finger as he went back to reading.

Soon they were passing over the southern portion of the Eastern Bloc. The Electronic counter measure equipment lit up, long range radar waves washed over Greyhound zero one. “They’re painting us sir,” said Chief White.

Captain Scarlett looked up from his reading and pointed to a switch. “Hit that.”

“That just calibrates our cameras, sir,” said Lt. Anders.

“Yep, if they’re listening to us It will make us look like a weather satellite,” said Master Chief White. “Will it fool them?”

“It can’t hurt to try,” said Captain Scarlett. “It won’t cost us anything either.”

Lieutenant Anders calibrated the U-700’s landing camera system and the radar probing eventually stopped. “It worked once, will it work again?” asked Chief White.

“Probably not,” said Scarlett, and he turned back to his mission data. “We’re on an equatorial Low Earth Orbit, there’s no satellites on this route.” He casually put his mission outline back in the map pocket. “They know that and will be waiting for us to pass over them again. We have ninety minutes.”

Time passed as Chief White and Lieutenant Anders verified systems and configured the ship for space flight. Captain Scarlett released his magnetic seat restraints and floated up and then headed aft through the upper cockpit. It felt so good to be away from the gravity well of Earth. He loves the place, so much water! But his new joints ache in 1 G or higher gravity. He drifted back and saw that five of the passenger seats were filled with cargo. He drifted back to the galley; it was merely a small oven and coffeemaker, it also had toilet facilities and a fold-down seat for an extra passenger. But the floor of the galley slid to the side, revealing a hatch allowing him to drop to the engineers’ and navigator’s stations. On these short hop shuttles, the navigating was done by the pilot working with the navigator. The co-navigator’s seat was normally empty, but occasionally a passenger would ride here. There was also a seat for an instructor navigator allowing the U-700 to carry up to ten passengers.