Orbital

Thirteen Laser Police

“Time out, people. Why the hell are you looking at me? Didn’t Admiral Jessup finally get funding for his little Space Ops group after the whole K1 Incident?”

“Yes, but this is the Federal government we’re talking about. Things take time,” says Saul. “Presently, we have no special operations division capable of handling this. And this is why we brought you here.”

This is nuts. “The Air Force and the Navy have hundreds of astronauts that have been through NASA and training programs at iCosmos and elsewhere. Hell, you’ve probably even got a few SEALS and special forces people that are space-qualified.”

Saul taps her computer. “Yes. We’ve been through lists of them. None of them have the experience you have.”

“Running away and almost getting killed?”

“You’ve been part of two tactical operations in space. That’s two more than any other living astronaut. Yes, we’ve got dozens of military personnel capable of fixing spy satellites, flying spacecraft and conducting other related operations — we’ve been doing that for over 50 years. What we don’t have is anybody with as much as experience as you in improvising and as wide of a knowledge about various equipment and procedures.”

It’s time to let the cat out of the bag. Flavor said I could be fully honest. “Did he tell you that I wasn’t part of the first mission? That I was just a passenger?

Saul nods her head. “Yes. I’ve read the internal report. In our mind, that just means you’re definitely the man for the job.”

“David, this could be good for you,” says Flavor. “There could be a permanent position for you. And you’d get to go back into space.”

“As what? Some contractor doing hazardous dirty work that may not even be legal?”

Victor speaks up. “This isn’t like the K1. The CS626 is an unmanned satellite. Nobody is going to be shooting at you.”

“Then why use me? I’m sure there are plenty of people on your list capable of doing this. What about Admiral Jessup’s Space Ops team? I’m sure he’s got a list of candidates.”

“He does,” says Flavor. “And do you know who he recommended hands down over everyone else? In fact, he wants to make you a part of the staff for Space Ops.”

“Me?”

“You,” replies Saul. “Listen, we’re not going to try to sell you on this. We know you’re capable. We think you have the right experience. If you can’t do it, just say so.”

“Guys as much as…”

Flavor holds up a finger to stop me. “One more thing to consider. This isn’t just a mission to peek inside a Chinese satellite and see if they stole a piece of our technology. Finding out when and how could help us identify who was involved. And that could lead us to Silverback.”

Silverback — the double-agent nobody has been able to identify who made the K1 Incident such a crisis. He’s also the reason Bennet, his son Tyler and Peterson are dead.

Flavor is trying to manipulate me. What he doesn’t get is it’s not necessary. Despite all my verbal protests, I was hoping all along that this was why I was being asked up here.

I can keep playing coy and pretending I wouldn’t do anything to get back up into space, but if this really is what they’re saying, just a high-altitude breaking and entering, then I’m on board.

“Well, David?” asks Saul.

“It’s not my intention to become some fancy private military contractor doing the government’s dirty work, but if you can promise me two things, I’ll do this.”

“And they are?”

“One, that this is what you say it is. Just having a look inside there. No guns. No killing.”

“We’re not hiring you as a soldier, David. You know the DarkStar and the Space Ops gear. You’re an astronaut and that’s what we want you to be.”

“Understood. Am I right to assume the Penumbra Institute, or whatever you are, is actually going to be the strategic arm of Space Ops?”

There’s a lot of staring in the room as nobody leaps in to tell me if I’m right.

“That would be likely,” Saul says finally.

“Then I want you to consider something. Don’t make Space Ops just some dark secret spy operation that only functions to do the dirty work. Somebody needs to be ready to respond if there’s a civilian crisis in space. We’ve already had some near misses. Last month the Japanese science lab had a gas leak and had to wait in their service module for three days to get help.

“We could have had support there in six hours. Everyone offered to help, but nobody was willing to take the same kind of effort we did with the K1 — and that only happened because Admiral Jessup was willing to risk his career to make that operation happen. If he’d done the same for the Japanese crew, he’d probably have been court-martialed.”

“We understand your sentiment, David. But it’s been difficult enough just to get funding for Space Ops just for national security purposes.”

“I can only imagine. I wouldn’t begin to tell you how to convince Congress to fund you, but consider this; why am I here? Because I’m the only one with practical experience. Experience that came from blundering my way through the K1 Incident. I had extreme on-the-job training. Wouldn’t it be better the next time something like the K1 happens, and there will be, that the people you send up have had actual experience in real operations and not just simulations? The Japanese accident would have been a perfect practice run for Space Ops.

“And I get that some of our equipment and methods should be kept secret. We don’t need to send a stealth craft up for civilian emergencies. But I don’t see a problem in letting our enemies know that we can get a spacecraft anywhere we need in orbit or on the ground in an hour.”

Saul is making some notes on a pad. “These are good points, David.” She looks to Flavor. “What does the CIA have to say?”

“Obviously we have to keep certain capabilities secret. I can see a certain optical advantage to what he’s suggesting. We’ll need to run it by Jessup and ONI as well as NASIC. But, yes. I think it makes a certain amount of sense.”

I don’t know if my suggestion is going to leave the room. At least I said it. I’m not sure where it came from. Partially I suspect out of the guilt I still feel for what happened with the K1 Incident.

“So, do we have a yes?” asks Saul.

“I have one more request…”