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PresidentMarcos
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"Dear God...my leg...HELP!"
Greenglass was back in the Dyna-Soar. His broken leg was throbbing with pain. Greenglass undid the zippers on the side of his spacesuit pants...
Rolling up his left pant leg, Greenglass was shocked. His leg was broken, and bleeding. Right below the kneecap was a gigantic, swollen, reddish bruise.
"Hmm..." the pilot said. "Better get back to Earth ASAP."
"Uhh...Vandenberg?"
"We read you, DS-420..."
"You saw what happened."
"Yes."
"Uh...Centcom...clearance for retrofire?"
"Clearance positive."
"Alpha. Retrofire over Africa in three minutes...repeat...retro in three minutes..."
"Roger. Initiate checklist procedures."
Three minutes later...
As the timer ticked down to zero, the Dyna-Soar's main engine fired, slowing it down superficially. It was just enough to put the Dyna-Soar within the domain of atmoshperic drag, which did the rest. As the Dyna-Saor fell Earthwards, the pilot spun it round and tilted back, ready for re-entry...
A few seconds later, Greenglass felt a heavy thump as the Dyna-Soar hit the atmoshpere, followed by the hissing rumble of re-entry.
After a few minutes of gliding at hypersonic speeds, the Dyna-Soar came to a landing at the dry lake beds at Edwards AFB.
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PresidentMarcos
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The Proton II was sitting on the launchpad, pointed up at the sky. It was loxing. As it filled up with liquid oxygen, streams of liquid oxygen "snow" cascaded down the sides. Below the Proton there was a large concrete launchpad, which was at the bottom of a colossal flame pit.
As usual, the letters "CCCP" were present, in bright red, down the side of the Proton. Wrapped around the base were four solid fueled booster rockets.
After a while, the Proton finished loxing.
"Zarya 1...this is Zarya 1...Zarya 1 to Izumrud."
"Zarya 1, Izumrud hears you."
"This is Zarya 1...Prepare for ignition sequence."
The mission controller in the blockhouse turned the key. The main screen lit up, then began counting down from ten...
When the timer reached zero, it was ignition. Ignition and liftoff...
"...3...2...1...Ignition!"
The Proton's five engines lit up simultaneously. A few seconds later, the Proton lifted off the pad and began to rise.
It looked like Izumrud would reach orbit.
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PresidentMarcos
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Meanwhile, at Vandenberg...
Quembley sat down at one of the terminals and looked around as the launch was detected. Immediately, Mission Control plunged into a frenzy of activity. It was soon apparent that this object was set to rendezvous with SLP-1ski.
Greenglass was sent into Mission Control on a wheelchair.
Quembley looked at Greenglass for a moment, then shouted, "What the hell are they launching!?"
Greenglass began to think for a moment. Why hadn't the Dyna-Soar been vaporized by the SLP-1ski's laser? Suddenly, it hit him.
"Damm it, that thing's a fuel tank! They're docking it with SLP-1ski...that thing'll be operational pretty soon! And if a laser sat needs such a huge fuel tank...then..."
Greenglass realized that he was looking at something quite serious in SLP-1ski.
"I don't care what you do, just keep them apart! SLP-1ski's a ground bombardment platform!"
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PresidentMarcos
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And so, chaos broke out in Vandenberg Control. There was a flurry of activity. Many Dyna-Soars were scrambled.
Soon, orbital space was crowded. Rockets were launching, putting Dyna-Soars into LEO. Many, many Dyna-Soars, as many as 200, filled the skies. They flew in distant formation, toward SLP-1ski...
"DS-452, DS-452...this is Vandenberg. Over..."
"Vandenberg, this is DS-452...over..."
"DS-452, you are clear for distant weapon release."
DS-452 was a later model Dyna-Soar. It was equipped with a long-range, nuclear-tipped orbit to orbit rocket.
The Dyna-Soar's weapon bay creeped open, and the rocket became visible. About a second later, the rocket was thrust upwards, above the Dyna-Soar. It aqquired it's target, and fired the main engine...
More SOON. More SOON. More SOON!!!
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PresidentMarcos
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The nuclear tipped missile streaked towards SLP-1ski. After a few seconds, several more were fired. BY this point, a great deal of protection had gotten up around SLP-1ski...
The first missile was stopped cold in it's tracks by a lucky shot from a Combat Soyuz. But before it was hit, it set off it's warhead prematurely...
The blast was an incredible flash of light, followed by a gigantic fireball. Several Soviet spacecraft were vaporized, and many more suffered damage. The EMP was enough to take down the defenses for a few seconds...
...long enough for the other missiles to come streaking in towards their mark. Within a few seconds, nothing was left of SLP-1ski except for a vapor cloud. But the Soviets would not stop.
Kalingrad Mission Control ordered the launch of about half of the Soviet Space Force into orbit. The stage was set for a large, although somewhat pointless, space battle in orbit.
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PresidentMarcos
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The two massive space armadas lined up and stared each other down. Targeting each other, they aimed their missiles, and fired. Within seconds, the radar screens of both sides were filled with mush...
And a few seconds later, the explosions began. It was a spectacular display that made Star Wars look like a small skirmish between cavemen. There were tremendous explosions, and flashes of light, and the streaking contrails of missiles...
As the casualties mounted, the two sides closed. At about 20 kilometers, the dogfights--if you could call them that--began. The Soyuzes and the Dyna-Soars wheeled around, firing at each other with their 20 mm cannon. After a few minutes, the war was over. The two sides, broken and battered, returned to Earth to lick their wounds.
The Americans had won--sort of. They kept their laser, SLP-1, safe. Not only that, but they secured space dominance for about five minutes while the Soviets re-entered. At last, the Americans turned around and came home to lick their wounds. But this was not the end, nor the beginning of the end, or even the end of the beginning. It was the beginning of the beginning.
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PresidentMarcos
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Yes, this is the end of this story. But don't worry. After a brief break of some non-related fanfics, there will be a sequel: Lunar Related Lunacy, or How !@#$ Happens.
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All times are GMT. The time now is 05:32.
Apolyton Time is 00:32. |
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17-02-2004 15:09
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