Return to Honor by Beason Doug

Author:Beason, Doug [Beason, Doug]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Science Fiction, nuclear, terrorist, president, war, navy, middle east
Publisher: WordFire Press
Published: 2014-03-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

0230 ZULU: SATURDAY, 8 SEPTEMBER

If you greatly desire something, have the guts to stake everything on obtaining it.

Brendan Francis

If you start to take Vienna—take Vienna.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Ojo-1: Crew Compartment

The decision for Krandel to go—and to be first out—was entirely his. He massaged his neck, trying to relieve the tension that had mounted at the back of his head, and thought for the twentieth time about the decision.

Hell, yes, Weston was angry that he’d relieved him of his platoon. Weston was poised to lead the platoon himself—that was what he had spent years training for, and what was expected under the chain of command.

But when the decision was made to take only two TAVs, what else could Krandel do? The RDF had to be split up; someone had to stay behind. Krandel had no other choice. Weston knew that dragging another officer along would have been taking deadweight, but for Weston to take the order to stay, and to take the order from someone without operational experience was the final blow.

Krandel rolled his head to ease the tension. He jumped as an intercom set into the bulkhead crackled to life. “Attention in the hold. We have received final approval from the White House: The mission is a go. Stand by to rocket in three minutes.”

A cheer ran through the compartment. Inwardly excited, Krandel kept the smile off his face and nodded to himself. He could hardly believe it. After all these years, he finally had a live one.

And it wasn’t like the White House was trigger-happy, either. After the Mexican fiasco, no politician was willing to risk American lives for anything. Public support for any type of military action had dwindled to nothing; this could be his only chance at combat.

The TAV began to shake. Buffeted by the winds, the 747 below them prepared for the nose-down maneuver that would release the TAV into the atmosphere. “Thirty seconds!” Krandel finished strapping himself in and sat back, rigid against the webbing.

The waiting was the worst. That’s when the thought of every possible thing that could go wrong raced through his head. But once the waiting was over, things happened too fast for him to worry about them. His thoughts drifted to his first parachute jumps with the men. The first three had been night jumps—not because it was dark outside, but because his eyes were tightly shut.…

He felt a slight bump and he opened his eyes as the TAV was released from the 747. He was almost weightless; the bottom seemed to drop from below him.…then he was squashed into his seat as the TAV jerked up and to the right. The maneuver had been honed to perfection with the early space shuttle.

The Trans-Atmospheric Vehicle accelerated upward as the scramjets hungrily gulped air. The scramjets strained as they fought the craft’s inertia, trying to build up the TAV’s speed for maximum efficiency; slowly, the acceleration increased.

Krandel forced his head to one side and tried to wet his lips. The effort wasn’t worth the trouble.

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