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.
"Are you wanting us to procure these items for you sir? Some of this will be difficult to get"
"No. Actually, I already have these items. This represents items I have requisitioned and have already been shipped here. They are even now being stored in various parts of this base.
Your task is now to go and assemble these items. All should still be crated or boxed from shipment. We just need to gather them and place them all in our vehicles.
I want a Deuce and a half, ( a 2 and a half ton truck with 6 wheel drive) driven over to the ammunition holding area, and those items listed on it loaded and tied down in the back. That's your job Sergeant Ballerton. You will notice appropriate documentation contained in the back of your folder. Draw your weapon from the arms room, and take your truck once it's been loaded and drive it to warehouse 80.
"Everyone else, look at your folders, you will see each of you is responsible for certain items for the convoy. All items are here on this base. The last item we needed was shipped in here in bulk just last week. With the exception of the deuce and half, everything else can be loaded on an extended bed truck. When you have your items, take them to warehouse 80 and park them inside. As soon as your task is complete, inform my secretary. All he knows is that I am assembling a convoy for a special delivery.
"Each of you have cell phones. Use those to keep in touch with me. I have all your numbers from your contact lists. You will see my number printed on the inside of the left side of your folders.
"Finally, if it turns out things are not as bad as I think, then don't worry about them.
If you are questioned about what you did or why, just show them your requisition forms, they are legitimate and should cover you asses. I will take any heat that comes down. Any questions? No? Then we need to get moving.
Along the Russian and Chinese border, China had assembled over 2 Divisions of soldiers in preparation of an invasion. The Chinese Government knew that a piece of the asteroid was coming and it was trying to make a land grab while it was still able too. China had passed along what it knew to North Korea and they too had been mobilizing along its border with South Korea. They were going to take advantage of the coming confusion to reunify with its southern neighbor, whether it wanted to or not. Both China and North Korea realized this was the golden opportunity to get what they wanted without having to worry about the Americans and their allies.
In the Middle East, Egypt, Iran, Syria, and Jordan decided now was the perfect time to rid themselves of the presence of Israel. Israel, not wanting to be dealt with in this manner unleashed one of its nuclear missiles at the massed tanks Egypt had parked on it's border. When the demand for Israel to surrender or be exterminated had gone out, Israel responded with one 10 Megaton Nuclear bomb.
Since it was an air burst, the massed might of 1 division of tanks was destroyed totally, along with all the men munitions and equipment associated with them. Nothing remained but a glass plain from the initial site of the blast. A 3.5 kilometer glass circle. 20 miles to the west another division of tanks had been getting into place, as a second wave and to provide support to the first wave. With the forward element totally destroyed, Egypt rethought its priority. With one bomb, which they now knew Israel possessed, they knew they could not fight and win.
Iran wanted to keep going, but once the bomb had been used, that country too knew it stood no chance if the technically superior Israel threw a bomb their way. They too backed down. When they backed down, the rest of the coalition for Israel's destruction collapsed and that was the extant of the middle east war. Total elapsed time from Israel's point of view, 47 minutes.
In space, the first asteroid splinter, now a meteor entered earth's atmosphere and blazed its way through in a matter of 19 seconds. None of the missiles sent up by the US even got close to it. In that 19 seconds it burned away over 60 tons of itself, converting it to gases and finally ended in a spectacular impact and explosion just north of a town called Woodland. Woodland ceased to exist from the initial blast.
The resulting explosion was felt for several miles in every direction. It also triggered the biggest quake in the history of the state of California. The San Andreas Fault let loose with a quake that could not be registered on the Richter Scale.
Highway over passes collapsed, killing people by the dozens. Drivers lost control of their vehicles. Over 3 million traffic accidents occurred in California due to the impact of the meteor. Gas lines ruptured, and fires flared from the quake all up and down California.
Millions of people died as homes, business offices, high rises collapsed on them.
Gas station storage tanks ruptured and blew up in cities and towns along the fault line.
Los Angeles and San Francisco burned, emergency services were totally inundated.
Millions more died from being trapped or hurt, unable to get to help, or have help get to them. Dams were damaged and failed as they dealt with stresses they were never designed to deal with. The Aquifer collapsed causing it to back up and flood surrounding areas. Huge chasms opened in the ground for hundreds of miles along the fault line, which kept releasing its long pent up pressure. This was the first strike and it had happened at rush hour, the worst possible time. From space it appeared to those who could see, that California was on fire.
Shortly after the California strike, the second meteor slashed through the atmosphere and then through the Atlantic Ocean and drilled its way through the earths crust until it hit magma. The resulting wound to the earth at this impact was unbelievable. A huge column of steam rose into the air, quickly forming clouds. Under the ocean, water poured into the hole made in the earths' crust and magma rose from the earth trying to fill the hole.
Water met molten rock and the resulting continuing explosion was causing quakes and the beginning of a volcano. Heaving and shaking, the earth at the impact point started to rise. A wave had formed and was racing at just under the speed of sound, getting larger and larger as it left the point of impact. Steam still rose into the sky at a prodigious rate. Millions of tons of water was being converted into water vapor.
Under the ocean, 6 miles of land was slowly starting to rise from its ancient resting place. More and more water was trying to quench the burning rock as it spewed from the hole torn into it by the meteor/meteorite. As the huge land mass rose little by little, huge volumes of water were being displaced.
The first ship to fall victim was a freighter. It went under the first advancing wave which towered over it by 25 feet. The second group of ships were part of an American naval group that was steaming its way to Africa. They were overtaken by the wave and all 13 ships that comprised the battle group sunk 17 minutes after impact in the Atlantic Ocean. The wave was over 1000 feet tall at this point.
The wave continued on to Africa, reaching it only minutes after sinking the American ships. It swallowed all in its path. Ships were swept up and disappeared never to be seen again. The wave hit Africa at its western most edge. Dakar, Gambia, Port Guinea, Guinea. Further south were Conakry, Freetown, Monrovia, whereupon the wave continued on until it reached a length of over 1000 miles, and hit the rest of the African coast.
Further north, another piece of the tidal wave took out the northern coastal African cities, also Morocco, a portion entered the Straits of Gibraltar, and entered the Mediterranean sea. Still going north, Lisbon, Coimbra, Vigo and Finally it rolled onto France then England and Ireland.
From space, Steve, Bob, and Jessica were watching in horror from the crew cabin on the wall monitor as events unfolded. They could actually see the huge cloud forming in the Atlantic Ocean without the aid of any electronic device. They had also seen the results of the Tidal wave as it had crashed over the Eastern seaboard. Yes, that too was visible from space, but with the feed from the intelligence satellites, they had a very good view of the Cities being swallowed whole. It was numbing to watch, as all cities along the American Eastern coast died, with their teeming millions. Men, woman, children, pets.
Further south, Mexico was also taken, and Central America, the eastern portion of the Panama Canal was destroyed. Further over to the west, they could see flashes of very bright light. Control told them that was a nuclear exchange between Russia and China. A very large flare of light was the impact of the third and final piece of rock they had been unable to destroy. They watched unbelieving as a huge dirty cloud formed over the impact site and blocked their view of china and the surrounding area.
Clouds were still forming, now darkening over the Atlantic, spreading almost to fast to believe. Lightning flashes could be seen, even with the unaided eye. On the western edge of the US dark clouds from fires that were burning out of control showed clearly.
Where the Atlantic strike had occurred, steam was still pouring into the air, hours later as water still tried to damp the magma that was spewing forth from the hole created by the meteorite. However, the sea floor was still rising, opening more vents for magma to poor through, causing water to boil, killing fish by the thousands. Still the seabed slowly rose. The opening where the strike had occurred was now over 2 miles in diameter.
Clouds still formed and blocked the view of those watching from space. It was fascinating to watch, and dreadful too, the destruction of civilization as they knew it.
Because that was what it was.
For hours they watched as slowly but surely the earth was swallowed in a huge cloud. Finally, just as they achieved orbit, the entire earth, everywhere, was covered with a massive cloud.
Prior to the US being covered, mission control had given them
another mission to perform. They were to use the Laser onboard, and
destroy every French, Chinese, and Russian satellite listed in the
latest target update. It was going to be years, if that soon, before
anyone was going to be able to launch any more satellites.