Dark Flight: a Cold War military aviation thriller by James Blatch

Author:James Blatch [Blatch, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781838489427
Publisher: Vivid Dog Limited
Published: 2022-06-27T16:00:00+00:00

The team reconvened the following night.

Walker looked agitated.

“For a special agent, he doesn’t cope well with stress,” Clifford said as they suited up.

“He should try flying this thing,” Red said. He looked at Clifford, but he was busy with his suit fitting and didn’t respond.

As they emerged onto the apron, Red watched the technicians striding back and forth around Daedalus, preparing for the second attempt at an SRB burn.

Dupont approached them. “They’re twenty-five percent fuelled. We’ll use tonight as a calibration to predict future flight level and speed, so it’s critical to note the top of arc as accurately as possible.”

“You in charge now?” Clifford said, fiddling with his space-suit collar.

“No, sir. Just helping out. I think the NRO agents like to have me as a go-between with the engineers.”

“Guess you’re not going to the canteen tonight, then?” Red said with a wink.

Dupont walked back to the huddle around the aircraft and fell into discussions with the company reps.

The aircraft seemed to have a couple of new panels on the side, since coming back with the missile on board. More sensors. It reminded Red how critical each flight was. The XS-81 bristled with devices that fed a central data recorder, and there would be nowhere to hide if they made a mistake.

Time passed slowly as the refuelling team in protective suits readied themselves. Red and Clifford prepared to reenter the Daedalus.

Gomez met them at the hatch. “We’re worried about the timeline.”

“We know you are,” Clifford replied. “We’re doing what we can.”

“The long-range forecast isn’t great. We’re concerned about positioning for the operational flight. We may need to bring it forward to early next week.”

“Jesus. We’ve barely got started.”

“That’s why we’re worried. Remember, there will be a small release window for the missile launch. You might want to start thinking about positioning, as well as height and speed.”

Clifford rolled his eyes and stepped onto the ladder underneath the XS-81. “I’ll tell you what. Let’s see if she doesn’t explode or shake apart when we light the rockets first, shall we?” He disappeared into the belly of the aircraft.

“We’ll brief you on Alaska tomorrow a.m.!” Gomez called after him.

Red let Gomez back down the ladder before climbing up.

Not being the most stressed person on the project was a novelty he was enjoying.

As he settled down into the right-hand seat, he realised something almost remarkable. He was looking forward to it.

One of the tweaks to the procedures they made when considering what could go wrong meant that they sat with helmets off during refuelling. Less encumbered, should they have to egress fast.

“The NRO boys care about a lot, but they don’t care about our lives, do they?” Red said.

“Nope.” Clifford didn’t look up from his paperwork.

Over the next thirty minutes, the crowd outside thinned out, with nonessential personnel shepherded away to the canteen.

He reread the freshly printed list headed “GROUND FIRE DURING REFUELLING.” He chuckled to himself.

“Wouldn’t really be a fire, would it?” he said, showing the page to Clifford.

“Huh?”

“It would be an explosion.

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