Chapter 2

Orbit had been achieved and they were moving into position to engage the main engines for the burn to head towards the moon. Although Jessica had received a shot against 'drop sickness' she was still looking a little pale. General Cavendish, or Bob, as he wished to be known by, was doing his best to take her mind away from her stomach when he received a call.

"3 Star 1 this is ground control, over." A voice said over the radio.

"That will be me, Steve. I am 3 Star 1." Bob said quietly.

"Come on up then." Steve replied.

Bob gently pushed off and floated into the flight cabin through the hatch that separated the flight deck from the crew cabin. He floated up to Steve's chair and asked for the Mike.

"Don't have one, just push that button on the console, and talk in a normal voice. It's very sensitive." Steve told him.

"Ground Control, this is 3 Star 1, over."

"3 Star 1, stand by for transfer to Cheyenne control. Cheyenne will be mission control from this point."

"Roger, Standing by.''

"3 Star 1 this is Flight control Cheyenne mountain. We now assume all mission ground control responsibility. New designation for your craft is call sign Wonder Star.

Repeat, craft now designated as Wonder Star, do you copy?" A bored voice said coming through the radio.

"I copy we are now Wonder Star, Over." Bob replied in the same sort of monotone.

"Jump Start requests you go to alternate freq. 5 on the military radio as prearranged. Copy that Wonder Star?"

"Wonder Star copies, going to Alternate Freq. 5. Switching now." Bob said.

"Wonder Star on 5." Bob said after a short time.

"Bob, this is General Avery. We have a situation developing. We have moved the Hubble telescope's orbit, and we have discovered another one. It's almost four times as big as target one. Your new mission parameters are to take this new target out with all nukes if you have to. I can't tell you how big it is. The science boys down here estimate if it were to hit earth, that would be it for us. It's really big."

"Sam! How on earth did we miss something that big?" Bob exclaimed.

"It was behind the asteroid we think. Stand by for mission update. We are going to give you a faster ride to the firing point. Also, we are updating the firing data to your computer. Uploading now."

Three minutes later the ship had its updates. For the next 15 minutes General Cavendish and General Avery basically shot the shit until they were given the 5 minute warning to ignition of main engines burn.

Once again Steve assured himself that Jessica was firmly belted in. Steve glanced at Bob and noticed he had again belted himself in.

"See you both after the burn." Steve said with a grin, and disappeared into the flight deck hatch.

"Uh, Bob? Can I ask you something?" Jessica asked hesitantly.

"Sure thing. If I know the answer I will give it a whirl." Bob answered, grinning at Jessica.

"Well, what's this sling shot thing everyone is talking about? We have a sling shot up here? I know that can't be, but still..." Jessica blushed as she asked.

"Don't they teach you kids anything anymore? Sorry. I am not mad at you, but this dumbing down of our kids is a stupid idea. Have you ever swung something on the end of a string say, and then let it fly?" Bob asked. Jessica nodded.

"Well, what we are going to do is the same principal really. Our string is the earth's gravitational pull. After we build up to a specific speed, our string will be let go. To do that, we sort of head into our gravity well a bit, then sort of slide past. The earths gravity grabs us, pulls us around, but as our speed passes a certain point, we escape the earths pull, and we are on our way. String let go, headed in the right direction, hopefully." Bob chuckled at the expression on Jessica's face.

"Look, we break the earths gravitational pull all the time on earth, just on a smaller scale. Baseball pitchers do it, a batter does it, a football quarterback does it. When a little boy or girl skips or jumps, they are breaking the gravity pull, but very briefly. Every step you take is breaking, briefly, the earth's gravitational pull. Anytime you lift something, you have just broken its pull. To do that, we need momentum. Our momentum is provided by the power this ships engines produce and we are also using the earth itself.

"When you drink a glass of water, you lift your glass to your lips. Your muscles are providing the momentum needed to break the pull of gravity. Other than that, I just cross my fingers, and wish for luck." Bob said seriously.

Jessica snorted a laugh. "Seems simple the way you describe it."

"Actually, I was doing a very simple description. For example, gravity still affects those balls thrown. When a football quarterback throws the bomb, have you noticed he throws out as well as up? Well, that's because he is doing the geometry in his head.

He knows that the ball will go X distance if thrown at such an angle. Gravity is pulling on his 'bomb' you see. He probably does not even know that he is doing that math either." Bob paused, musing the vagaries of over priced sports players.

"30 second warning till engines burn. Everyone ok back there?"

"Sure! Let her rip uncle Steve! Lets conquer the gravity monster!" Jessica exclaimed.

Bob chuckled. "I have created a monster back here."

With a muted roar, everyone was pressed back in their seats as the engines ignited and they had a sense of gravity once more. This lasted long enough to build up to an incredible 7.25 miles per second. It required a speed of 7 miles per second to break the pull of earth's gravity. They were on their way! More speed would be added at later points during the flight.

Doug and the rest of the Bracken team cheered as the representation of the ship carrying Steve, the general, and Jessica changed course and assumed a new heading, right in the groove according to all the numbers flashing on the boards. Flight time to first missile release was a little over 40 hours according to the projections. Now it was sit back, wait and pray.

Greg Baron had called a few soldiers into his office. All in all he had assembled 14 men and woman in his command that had the skills and abilities he wanted. Greg waited until everyone was settled with a drink of their choice and quieted down. They did this quickly as they were all professionals and had been for years.

"Thank you for coming. I can't reiterate the need for this to remain confidential.

Three days ago the government grounded all air travel. It said this was done because of terrorist possibilities. That's not true. It has to do with the stray pieces splintered off the asteroid that was moved into a new orbit recently.

My brother just called me with his satellite phone. He is on a ship that is on it's way back from the moon. Before you ask, he was able to piggyback a signal from the ship to local space, where he then called me. It lasted long enough for him to tell me to head for the hills."

"What's that mean?" Asked a Specialist 4.

"I will answer all questions, but please hold them until I finish. You all know the recent leave cancellation order, all national guard is called back to active duty and to report to their assigned units.

"My brother said that he was tasked to fly a military mission out to the vicinity of the asteroid splinters which are still, or were still beyond the moon's orbit at the time he took off. He says while some were destroyed, not all were, and one calved. We have three pieces of heavy rock measured in the tons coming our way at a very high rate of speed. Impact will be today or tonight, at the speeds these objects are traveling, That's all I know. We have to be ready. Our government is not going to tell the citizens about the coming impacts. Hell, they aren't even telling us, and we are the ones who have to respond.

"Now, here is what I plan. If things go south as badly as I think they will, there won't be a central governmental organization left. The country will most likely fall into chaos as will most of the surviving world. I have a home that would be perfect for surviving the initial impact and the subsequent aftermath of the strikes.

Observe."

Greg then activated the tape he had placed earlier in the VCR attached to the television in the conference room. It showed the home he and his brother had had constructed. It showed the outlying buildings. It showed the lake, and a segment of his brother reeling in a fish. It showed the dam. It showed the wind mill.

For 20 minutes, Greg answered a myriad of questions. When it was over they were all given a chance to voice their opinions. All in all they were impressed with his home and its capabilities.

"Sir, why us. I mean, you could go up there by yourself, and live through what ever happens here, but, why us?" Asked SFC Allen Ballerton.

"Each of you are from several states away. Your either single, divorced, or have no vested interest in trying to get back to where your from if things go to shit. You're all highly trained men and woman in more than one field.

"Sfc Ballerton, take you for example. You were Special Forces for 3 years before getting wounded and had to re-classify and wound up going National Guard. Active duty military dropped you like a hot potato. Your record is simply exemplary. You would be a credit to any active duty unit, if you did not have a slight permanent medical problem. Nothing that you have not been able to overcome, except the active duty army says no. So you went NG and they took you, and here you are at a military depot wasting your knowledge.

"Each one of you has at one time or another had a combat related MOS (military occupational specialty) or have a special technical skill. I went through the personnel records of all military here at this base, and you people in this room are my choice of people I want to survive with. You bring abilities that will be needed. Each of you survived a military survival school course. Almost all of you have seen combat in the last 5 years.

"1Lt. Catherine Preston. You are in charge of electronic maintenance and there is not an electrical item that you can't fix if it's fixable. Military electronics is your specialty. Computers and radios are your meat and potatoes and your GOOD!"

He rose, and took with him a small stack of folders and passed them out to each person in the room. They spent a few minutes reading them. Some nodded, some looked confused or troubled.