Mark of Odin: The Awakening

Chapter 4: Ghosts from the Past

The mighty USAF C-5M Galaxy soared over the United States at cruising speed and an altitude of thirty-six thousand feet. Preston leaned back in his seat and relaxed. He was sitting at the front of the cargo hold with Chapman, who was dozing next to him. Curtis was lost in a book and Takeda was engrossed in a Spanish learning app on his tablet. The young pilot had taken up Spanish the moment Preston had told him they were going to be temporarily reassigned to Spain. Chapman already spoke some of the language thanks to his time at the Rota and Morón de la Frontera bases with Preston. Curtis had promised to learn the basics, but was yet to show any sign of taking the bull by the horns.

Preston's thoughts drifted back to his brief conversation with General Giles the week before. Initially, he had been puzzled. As far as he knew, the Phoenix launch system was being exclusively developed by the US Army Research Laboratory. Matters hadn't been explained to him until two days later, in a meeting with Lieutenant Drayton, who disclosed the details about his transfer to Spain.

"I expect you're intrigued by General Giles's reassignment order," Lieutenant Drayton began.

"Of course. We've been working on the Phoenix for a long time. I can't see what possible benefit there is in going to Spain right now."

"Listen, the information I'm about to disclose is classified. We don't want it being made public. It can't leave this room. As you know, when we started developing the X-56 it was obvious that we'd come up against some problems. Especially technical ones, after all, this is a next generation orbital supremacy fighter jet we're trying to build. We've always known that one of the main obstacles would be inventing a suitable launch system, so we decided to take two different paths to maximise our chances of success."

"Two different paths? What do you mean?"

"First, the Army Research Laboratory was tasked with developing a way of adapting railgun technology to the Phoenix project. As you're aware, we need to create a version that can be used to launch a vehicle safely. The way things stand at the moment, the extreme acceleration would kill any crew on board. However, we also decided to search for the same result via external channels. As it turned out, our European partners proved to be the perfect solution. You've been informed about NASA's joint projects with the European Union. What you perhaps don't know is that we're actively involved in the Hermes Project, a plan to develop the next generation of space shuttles. It's run out of the European Aerospace Centre in Seville, Spain."

Preston cut in. "I see. But why are you telling me this? We still have the same problem. We've got to develop a satisfactory solution for launching the Phoenix in time."

"Yes, as I was saying before you interrupted me, is that it seems our European partners have made headway where we've hit a brick wall. They've come up with a controlled way of applying electromagnetic catapult technology so that a spacecraft and crew can be launched into orbit."

"That's impressive. So how did they do it? I thought we led the field in this type of technology."

"We do. Let's just say they had some unofficial help."

"From us? Without approval from Congress?" Preston looked surprised.

"That's right. As you know, there are people in Congress who want to see the Phoenix Project killed. Our friend Congressman Casper is at the head of them. If it came out that we've been filtering technological data to get results from an external team, they'd get exactly what they want. But listen, the same thing would happen if we don't play this card and the delays keep piling up. That's why you have to handle this with the utmost discretion."

"Understood. So what's our excuse for being over there? How do we avoid making people suspicious?"

"You'll travel to Spain as a NASA and USAF supervisor for the Hermes Project. At the end of the day, it's no secret that the United States is actively involved in the project, especially NASA. What's more, your team are going to take part in a Columbus Day air show that's going to be held in Seville. The United States is the guest country this year. That should work as a cover so you don't attract too much attention. With your service record the Spanish government won't think it particularly strange. We'll tell them we'd be honoured to take part in their celebration and are sending one of our best pilots." Lieutenant Drayton smiled.