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Chapter 53

Low Earth Orbit

International Space Station

Tuesday

9:58 a.m. Eastern Time


“You have seven orbits, Major. There will be no debate or negotiations. Good day.” Vladimir flipped the comm panel switch, closing the channel.

“You actually think that will work, V?” Michael didn’t seem very optimistic.

“Of course not. But it will keep her from reentering the atmosphere and letting the warheads burn up. Now, she will stay right where she is until the overly politicized military leaders, or Major Simms herself, decides to do something,” Vladimir explained. “Either way, it buys us some time.”

“Time for what, V?”

“You saw M’s message. First priority is to launch to target number one and that is in two and a half orbits. Then target number two is a few orbits beyond that. I do not intend to waste one of our nukes on some hostage negotiation tactic, but they don’t know that. So, we have a bit more than two hours to make certain that we are ready for the first launch. That is all done here and is now on K to finish the software loads,” Vladimir said. “And…”

“I knew there was an ‘and’ in there.” Michael smiled then said using his fingers to make air quotes. “What is the ‘and’?”

“And, while he prepares for the first launch, we go get our nuclear warheads back!”

“How? We have to leave the Vyrezka attached to run the launch.” Michael did his best to shrug while still in the suit.

“In case you didn’t notice on the way in, there are two other vessels still attached to the ISS that can fly, my friend.” Vladimir raised an eyebrow as if he were surprised Michael hadn’t known this?

“What vessels?”

“Michael, just because the Progress modules are for cargo, that doesn’t mean humans cannot fly in space in or on them. They just can’t reenter the atmosphere while doing so. If we push three meters in that direction, we will be inside one of them and flying in space in it here in the ISS. We will undock it. We will fly it to the Soyuz. And while Major Simms and the generals and politicians are paralyzed in debate, we will take our warheads back.”

“Sounds good. Do you have more of a plan than that?”

“Yes. Have you ever seen the old American Cold War movie Dr. Strangelove?” Vladimir grinned wildly. “We’ll just need the Progress, our space suits, firearms, and perhaps a few hand tools.”

“Shoot.” Michael grinned knowingly in return. “A fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.”

* * *

The Progress module on the end of the Russian Service Module had taken no damage from the DSIHM high-voltage discharge attack and was in perfect functioning order. Vladimir had long studied all things Russian and American space. He had done everything within his power for decades to become a Soyuz pilot and cosmonaut. Internal politics of the Russian Federation and various other aspects of his life had managed to keep him from it. But not any longer. Vladimir was in charge of the International Space Station and all it had to offer. He would do any damned thing he wanted to and the Russian Federation could be damned.

“Okay, I have disconnected the Luch Russian relay system and ground station navigation components. Roscosmos cannot take control of it,” Vladimir said over their communications link. “GNSS autonomous navigation patch is uploaded. K, can you patch in a code so I can control it through my virtual view?”

“Yes, V. Already done that. You should see a new icon on your desktop that looks like a Progress Module,” Keenan said from his island refuge. “And note that I am twenty-three minutes from being able to deploy to the primary target.”

“Understood, K. As soon as the system is ready and we enter the launch window, fire at will. Do not wait for us to be done with this mission. Understand?”

“Understood. Firing in twenty-three minutes, then. I have started a virtual clock for us.”

“I see the clock.”

“Copy on the clock,” Michael said.

“I have the code up and running to control the Progress. Looks good. Great work,” Vladimir said.

“Of course, comrade,” Keenan said. “Now, while you fellas go forth and conquer, I have work to do.”

“Right. Get to it, then,” Vladimir said.

“Good luck.”

“Progress is ready for undocking, M,” he said over their commlink. “My view shows that you are in place?”

“Yes. I’m ready to go.”

“Very well. Releasing the docking clamps now.” Vladimir worked the various controls of the Service Module docking system and released the Progress. He would fly the Progress from there while Michael rode on the outside of the vehicle. There was definitely a Dr. Strangelove vibe to the moment.

“Keep your forward view on the Soyuz and your rear view on as well, M. I will use your camera views as my guidance system,” Vladimir told him as he backed the Progress slowly away from the station with its first couple of retro-rocket burns.

“Copy that.”

The code that Keenan had supplied him was simple and appeared to be almost identical to the code that ran the jets on their space suits and used the auto control application they already had. The only difference was the location of the jets and how the system got the state vectors to feedback into the control algorithm. The Progress typically took that data from GNSS and could fly from point A to point B autonomously, much like modern-day drones. It worked well and that was all that Vladimir cared about.

“On our way, comrade. Ready yourself. All Progress reporting telemetry to Earth has been shut down and we are quiet. Unless Space Command is giving her radar updates, which I doubt, she’ll have no idea we are near her. Perhaps we can sneak up on her and pick her pocket.”

* * *

Michael waited for several minutes as the Progress finally began moving upward away from the ISS and toward the bright spot in the sky above them. The spacecraft slowly closed the gap between them and the bright spot grew much larger until he could make out details of the Soyuz spacecraft. As he approached, Vladimir began slowing him down to a near relative stop about fifty meters away.

Michael disconnected his tether and pushed hard off the front of the spacecraft, propelling him forward. He used the thrusters in his suit to maintain his attitude and to keep the Soyuz locked on target. A moment later he was slowing to a quiet relative stop near the Orbital Module of the Soyuz spacecraft. On the large ball-shaped section of the vehicle were the four nuclear warhead glide bodies tethered to a handhold emplacement. They had been too big to wrangle through the hatch, apparently.

Michael studied the tether attachment and carefully worked it loose. He didn’t want to make any undue clanks against the hull to alert the Space Force major that he was out there. A few seconds more and they were free. He carefully jetted backward while tugging the tether with him. About that time the countdown timer in his virtual view counted down to zero. He looked back downward to the ISS and suddenly there was a bright flash and a rocket streaked downward and against the direction of their orbital motion. A new clock appeared, counting down from twenty-nine minutes to detonation.

“Launch one is good!” Vladimir said.

“Looks great from here,” Michael added. “Note that I have four packages and I am headed back to the Progress.”

“Copy.”


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