capability.
The chime sounded again in his earpiece, followed by a second more urgent note. Before he’d had a chance to even look at the radar screen the glass of his visor lit up with telemetry. It took him a full three seconds to accommodate the information imparted and he knew it must be incorrect.
“Computer, re-verify data and cross check.” He mentally visualised the satellite currently tracking him and immediately the computer relayed the information he’d received to the orbiting vehicle to confirm the telemetry.
“Onboard systems confirm data, satellite tracking verifies,” said the unflappable woman.
Chester barked into his microphone.
“Dreamland, this is Bullseye, we have an indicated bogie, inbound at…inbound at...it’s an error...inbound bogie at 450,000 feet at mach 4, decelerating. Definitely an error. It’s higher than me and slowing down.
His earpiece crackled into life.
“Bullseye, Dreamland, your contact confirmed. Move to intercept. Treat with extreme prejudice.”
Stunned, Chester replied. “What? Say Again?”
There was a short silence. This time the CO’s voice came on the line, urgent and insistent.
“Chester, no debate, this is a confirmed threat, bring that sucker down.”
The Colonel’s training took over. He hit the scramjets and felt himself pushed back in his seat as the aircraft leapt forwards. Keeping his left eye on the radar contact and his right eye on the aircraft status he thought, ‘Jesus, it’s still slowing down.’ Anticipating his thoughts the aircraft spoke to him. “Weapons systems online, target range 38 miles, closing velocity mach twelve.” Doing the mental maths he realised he had seconds to make a decision. “Acquire target and snapshot one through four,” he said softly.
One point three seconds later the aircraft shuddered as four missiles streaked from their rails. The moment their tailpipes ignited the target stopped abruptly. Chester blinked. The intruder had gone from mach four to a total standstill, a physical impossibility. Two seconds later it started to accelerate upwards at an unbelievable rate. Not quickly enough however. A moment later the sky lit up as the sleek metallic predators found their target.
It was a de-briefing to remember.
The moment his aircraft gently edged to a halt, it was surrounded by armed personal wearing an insignia he’d never seen before. With some alarm, he climbed down from the cockpit to face his CO who was looking faintly embarrassed.
Some six hours later a livid Colonel sat in front of the men from Washington. The Naval admiral again lit a cigarette and leaned forward, preparing to speak. Chester cut him off. “You can put that fucking thing out for a start,” he shouted. “I don’t care who the flying fuck you are. You’ve kept me prisoner here for hours, no ones told me anything and I’ve just had to shoot something down and presumably killed everyone on board on the say so of my CO with about four seconds warning. What the hell was it anyway? Jesus, the thing was above me and slowing down for Christ’s sakes! It stopped completely before I hit it. That’s just not possible.”
“Be quiet Colonel,” snapped the Admiral, “Or I’ll have you locked down for twenty four hours until you get a civil lip.” Shocked at his tone, Chester took a deep breath. The admiral sucked on his cigarette and continued, “I’m genuinely sorry you’ve been kept incommunicado. It’s taken a while to get us all here. I’m also sorry for the experience that you had today. You weren’t ready. Our intelligence was faulty. No incursions were expected in this area for a while. Your training wasn’t complete. Now tell us exactly what happened. Leave out no detail. Once that’s done we’ll give you the answers you want.”
Three gruelling hours later, the pilot sat back exhausted from the barrage of questions that he’d fielded. “That’s it,” he snapped. “I want chapter and verse.”
“We’re
The chime sounded again in his earpiece, followed by a second more urgent note. Before he’d had a chance to even look at the radar screen the glass of his visor lit up with telemetry. It took him a full three seconds to accommodate the information imparted and he knew it must be incorrect.
“Computer, re-verify data and cross check.” He mentally visualised the satellite currently tracking him and immediately the computer relayed the information he’d received to the orbiting vehicle to confirm the telemetry.
“Onboard systems confirm data, satellite tracking verifies,” said the unflappable woman.
Chester barked into his microphone.
“Dreamland, this is Bullseye, we have an indicated bogie, inbound at…inbound at...it’s an error...inbound bogie at 450,000 feet at mach 4, decelerating. Definitely an error. It’s higher than me and slowing down.
His earpiece crackled into life.
“Bullseye, Dreamland, your contact confirmed. Move to intercept. Treat with extreme prejudice.”
Stunned, Chester replied. “What? Say Again?”
There was a short silence. This time the CO’s voice came on the line, urgent and insistent.
“Chester, no debate, this is a confirmed threat, bring that sucker down.”
The Colonel’s training took over. He hit the scramjets and felt himself pushed back in his seat as the aircraft leapt forwards. Keeping his left eye on the radar contact and his right eye on the aircraft status he thought, ‘Jesus, it’s still slowing down.’ Anticipating his thoughts the aircraft spoke to him. “Weapons systems online, target range 38 miles, closing velocity mach twelve.” Doing the mental maths he realised he had seconds to make a decision. “Acquire target and snapshot one through four,” he said softly.
One point three seconds later the aircraft shuddered as four missiles streaked from their rails. The moment their tailpipes ignited the target stopped abruptly. Chester blinked. The intruder had gone from mach four to a total standstill, a physical impossibility. Two seconds later it started to accelerate upwards at an unbelievable rate. Not quickly enough however. A moment later the sky lit up as the sleek metallic predators found their target.
It was a de-briefing to remember.
The moment his aircraft gently edged to a halt, it was surrounded by armed personal wearing an insignia he’d never seen before. With some alarm, he climbed down from the cockpit to face his CO who was looking faintly embarrassed.
Some six hours later a livid Colonel sat in front of the men from Washington. The Naval admiral again lit a cigarette and leaned forward, preparing to speak. Chester cut him off. “You can put that fucking thing out for a start,” he shouted. “I don’t care who the flying fuck you are. You’ve kept me prisoner here for hours, no ones told me anything and I’ve just had to shoot something down and presumably killed everyone on board on the say so of my CO with about four seconds warning. What the hell was it anyway? Jesus, the thing was above me and slowing down for Christ’s sakes! It stopped completely before I hit it. That’s just not possible.”
“Be quiet Colonel,” snapped the Admiral, “Or I’ll have you locked down for twenty four hours until you get a civil lip.” Shocked at his tone, Chester took a deep breath. The admiral sucked on his cigarette and continued, “I’m genuinely sorry you’ve been kept incommunicado. It’s taken a while to get us all here. I’m also sorry for the experience that you had today. You weren’t ready. Our intelligence was faulty. No incursions were expected in this area for a while. Your training wasn’t complete. Now tell us exactly what happened. Leave out no detail. Once that’s done we’ll give you the answers you want.”
Three gruelling hours later, the pilot sat back exhausted from the barrage of questions that he’d fielded. “That’s it,” he snapped. “I want chapter and verse.”
“We’re
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