Read Online SODIUM:3 Fusion by Stephen Arseneault - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Stephen Arseneault
Tags: Sci Fi & Fantasy
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effort as we had completed DSim levels one and two without another death. This time they would be going after the one previously damaged alien fighter.
The fighter had taken up position over Japan. Each of the major cities had a massive battery of coil guns run by the United States. We were unwilling to give up the technology, so agreements had been reached where we would provide the manpower and technology.
The soil where the battery was located had been deeded to the US for so long as the battery was to be in operation. It was designed to prevent rogue regimes from trying to claim sovereignty over them and take the technology for themselves.
It was complicated and there were always political complaints, but the peoples of the world were largely happy to have them. It was also the only thing keeping the current set of visitors at bay.
Real mission two began just as the previous one had. The lost crews and fighters had been replaced and a strategy for the mission had been practiced in the DSims for the previous week.
The Defender squad was launched and then raced out to a location 100 million kilometers away... almost to the planet Mars. The squad had taken the heading towards their rendezvous point and turned off their BHDs at the half way mark. It had been determined by our Intelligence Corps that the aliens had no way of tracking a Defender when the BHD was off.
Without the BHD running it was hoped that the Defenders could take up position near Mars and then fire off seven of the active skin nukes in a pattern. The trajectories had been plotted and re-plotted so that the nukes would travel around Mars while using its gravitational pull to slingshot the nukes back towards Earth, and specifically back towards the damaged alien fighter.
Since the aliens had taken up stationary positions, it was hoped that the nukes would round Mars, return to the position of the alien craft and then detonate. It was an ingenious plan if it worked. The timing was critical. The nukes would have to be armed with a timer, their skin activated and then fired at Mars.
Since the launching of the active skin nuke was a detectable event it was hoped that the alien craft would not be able to determine what the Defenders were doing from their distance. It was bold and ambitious and was also the only idea that had been brought to the Battle Planners that did not significantly endanger our crews.
The nukes were fired and if all went well the outcome would be known in precisely 47 minutes. As a diversionary tactic the squad then split with three Defenders going in one direction and the remaining four heading another.
The 47 minutes soon became 25, then five and then one. A timer ticked away on everyone's screen. When the nukes were within the final few seconds of their target the skin would deactivate and the nukes would detonate.
The planners were all on edge because one major drawback to the plan was that if the seven nukes detonated late they would sink through the atmosphere and detonate just off the coast of Japan.
Since no other nation of the world was currently involved in the mission down in the chamber it was feared that it would cause an international incident. But, our Command thought those fears were easily justifiable when it came to war with the alien craft.
No other nation knew of the Defenders or our active skin technologies. When the previous mission had concluded with a nuclear explosion destroying one of the alien fighters the nations of the world had been screaming at us to know what had happened and exactly how it had been done. Our response had been anything but revealing.
When the counter hit ten seconds I could sense the nervousness in the room. Moments later the seven nukes detonated right on target. There was a momentary bright flash in the night skies off of Japan that could be seen from the Philippines to Korea to deep inside mainland China.
The target had been destroyed and the diplomatic phones at the State
The fighter had taken up position over Japan. Each of the major cities had a massive battery of coil guns run by the United States. We were unwilling to give up the technology, so agreements had been reached where we would provide the manpower and technology.
The soil where the battery was located had been deeded to the US for so long as the battery was to be in operation. It was designed to prevent rogue regimes from trying to claim sovereignty over them and take the technology for themselves.
It was complicated and there were always political complaints, but the peoples of the world were largely happy to have them. It was also the only thing keeping the current set of visitors at bay.
Real mission two began just as the previous one had. The lost crews and fighters had been replaced and a strategy for the mission had been practiced in the DSims for the previous week.
The Defender squad was launched and then raced out to a location 100 million kilometers away... almost to the planet Mars. The squad had taken the heading towards their rendezvous point and turned off their BHDs at the half way mark. It had been determined by our Intelligence Corps that the aliens had no way of tracking a Defender when the BHD was off.
Without the BHD running it was hoped that the Defenders could take up position near Mars and then fire off seven of the active skin nukes in a pattern. The trajectories had been plotted and re-plotted so that the nukes would travel around Mars while using its gravitational pull to slingshot the nukes back towards Earth, and specifically back towards the damaged alien fighter.
Since the aliens had taken up stationary positions, it was hoped that the nukes would round Mars, return to the position of the alien craft and then detonate. It was an ingenious plan if it worked. The timing was critical. The nukes would have to be armed with a timer, their skin activated and then fired at Mars.
Since the launching of the active skin nuke was a detectable event it was hoped that the alien craft would not be able to determine what the Defenders were doing from their distance. It was bold and ambitious and was also the only idea that had been brought to the Battle Planners that did not significantly endanger our crews.
The nukes were fired and if all went well the outcome would be known in precisely 47 minutes. As a diversionary tactic the squad then split with three Defenders going in one direction and the remaining four heading another.
The 47 minutes soon became 25, then five and then one. A timer ticked away on everyone's screen. When the nukes were within the final few seconds of their target the skin would deactivate and the nukes would detonate.
The planners were all on edge because one major drawback to the plan was that if the seven nukes detonated late they would sink through the atmosphere and detonate just off the coast of Japan.
Since no other nation of the world was currently involved in the mission down in the chamber it was feared that it would cause an international incident. But, our Command thought those fears were easily justifiable when it came to war with the alien craft.
No other nation knew of the Defenders or our active skin technologies. When the previous mission had concluded with a nuclear explosion destroying one of the alien fighters the nations of the world had been screaming at us to know what had happened and exactly how it had been done. Our response had been anything but revealing.
When the counter hit ten seconds I could sense the nervousness in the room. Moments later the seven nukes detonated right on target. There was a momentary bright flash in the night skies off of Japan that could be seen from the Philippines to Korea to deep inside mainland China.
The target had been destroyed and the diplomatic phones at the State
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