"Lock the primary payload fairings."
Leo Vance yelled the command across the humid Texas launch control center. He wiped thick engine grease from his forehead with the back of his hand.
Five massive rockets towered over the flat desert landscape. They gleamed bright white under the harsh morning sun. Plumes of freezing liquid oxygen vented from their massive lower stages. The thick white vapor rolled across the scorched concrete of the launch pads.
Ryan Parker stood behind the reinforced glass window of the bunker. He had purchased the entire commercial aerospace facility three days ago. A sovereign did not lease launch pads from corporate landlords. He bought the concrete beneath his feet.
Leo tapped a heavy iron wrench against his scarred palm. He had spent seventy two hours forging
