Revenge of the Heir

Research Team

Eric took the files from the assistant, who informed him he could select up to 30 of them for the work he needed. She was working on getting support staff that would gain the clearances they would need. Because of the sensitivity of any Nation exploring space again, it was classified need to know only.

Eric looked at the map of the base, and found what would prove to be the best area to build the launch rail that would give them 40 miles of rail they would be able to be built, and the terrain at the end would be perfect for building the launch rail.

His second decision who would be best to fill his slots for what they would have to design, and the irony of it was he was almost immediately able to eliminate all but 10 of the military officers. He accepted them, as he knew it would be the minimum ratio that would be acceptable to the general. The Civilians were harder to narrow down, as many more of them had relevant experience from the international team that had just fallen apart when 4 of the Nations were forced to abandon the project because of Wars they we're involved in.

He managed to select the lead researchers quickly, and had selected another 10 each of military and civilians to fill out his 50 Command positions of Officer Level research positions.

The support staff of NCOs and researchers would be assigned by the Generals staff, and he began issuing orders for his new staff to report. Half of them were already assigned to the base, and he realized he would be able to start several aspects of the project after lunch.

He looked at the clock, and realized he would be able to walk over and get a good seat by the door just as the mess hall opened for lunch. Holly had told him her schedule the day before, and she was scheduled from her Battalion for as soon as the Mess Hall opened. She walked in right behind him, and was too busy talking to a colleague they were about to begin testing after lunch.

Holly turned and saw him, and smiled. "Colonel Christensen, nice to see you again." she said as they were not the first in line and it was moving.

"Lt. Colonel Winters, Captain Wilson." he said remembering he had selected a Captain Wilson for his team. "Elaine Wilson?" he asked her.

"Yes sir." she confirmed as her phone vibrated and she moaned. "Sorry Lt, I just received new orders. I have to report to a new posting after lunch." she said as she looked at Holly.

"Shit." she said as they grabbed their trays of food. "That is going to set us back a week, who is the new CO?" she asked hoping she could convince them to wait until the next morning.

"I am, what do you need?" he asked.

"We are about to start a critical test that we need a structural engineer for. She is the only one up to speed on the test, and I only need her for the afternoon." Holly said as they walked over to a table.

Eric looked at her, and smiled. "A week behind you say?" he asked making her look at him as he smiled.

"What do you want?" she asked making him laugh.

"Nothing, her attendance today is not critical. Consider yourself reported as ordered, and allowed to perform the test for Lt. Colonel Winters today. Tomorrow morning, 0830 to begin your assignment." he said as the 3 of them began eating.

"What is the new project?" she asked.

"You will find out tomorrow Captain Wilson." he said as Holly looked at him curious. "Classified, need to know." he told her answering her unasked question.

He got back to the lab area, and the 5 Lt. Colonels, and 12 of the civilian staff had all reported as their new orders required. They were all in the assembly area, and he walked in setting the files on the conference table.

"Welcome to 15th Battalion 1st Division, you will notice that not all of our command staff has arrived yet. Before we begin, this project is classified need to know. Any of you who do not wish to participate, are welcome to leave now." he said as they all remained seated. "Very well, today we begin our newest project. We must find a way to launch a vehicle to space, without using rockets to accelerate to launch speed." he said as they all looked at him shocked.

"Are we thinking a space elevator? Or would it be a more practical solution?" Lt. Colonel Bricks asked. He was a structural design engineer, and it was a valid question.

"That was not the idea, however it may be an eventual viable solution. The thought right now, is to use magnetic acceleration for a horizontal launch system." Eric told them as they nodded.

"How much rail can we realistically build?" Colonel Brick asked.

Eric displayed a topographical map of the area he had requested, including the mountain that would allow them to make the optimal launch angle without massive rails that went from massive heights to the ground. 5 of the scientists stood and looked at it, and realized most of the approach while slightly hilly, would be able perfect for the supports the rail would need.

If we use a magnetic system that gets progressively stronger, we could continuously builds speed as it travels. Angle, strength and separation will have to be perfect to get the most acceleration. Will we be testing for human launches?" Lt. Colonel Nantz asked him.

"Eventually, yes. The first parameters will be unmanned systems to begin harvesting the debris that makes achieving proper orbit impossible. We will need launch vehicles that can be docked together to begin the process of making a station automated drones can use to harvest debris from orbit. We need drones capable of surviving impacts from miniscule debris, and the ability to harvest large pieces. We will also need vehicles capable of surviving reentry just for the first tranch of what we will need to accomplish." Eric told all of them as he had just been given overall parameters.

"Will the drones need atmospheric maneuvering?" another of the researchers asked.

"What altitude is the debris cloud?" Eric asked as they looked up the latest scans.

"195 miles." Brick answered. "Coming closer at a rate of about 1/4 mile per month." he said.

Eric did the math really quickly, and knew they would have a limited window. Below 150 miles they would chance high level atmosphere interactions. "That gives us 24 months to have it operational. We have 30 days from today to have a detailed plan ready to report. Let us begin working the challenges, as well all know there will be some." he said as his phone went off to report to the Generals office.

It took him 20 minutes to walk to the admin office, and General Knight was waiting for him. "That seems a very specific request to build. Why that exact location?" he asked.

Eric saw his map on the desk, and the new rail would split half the base in half. "It is necessary to achieve the speeds necessary. The type of acceleration requires a fairly level surface until you wish to adjust for launch. It also require it be fairly straight line, and this area proves perfect to reduce the cost of construction as much as possible." Eric said as he knew that part of the proposal.

"40 miles of rail for ultrasonic magrails?" General Knight asked.

"The longer the track, the more weight we can accelerate to launch velocity." Eric replied showing him 40 miles would mean the ability to launch nearly 400 tons of weight, if it was aerodynamic enough.

"We will approve 5 miles for speed testing to see if it is even plausible to get the train to speed. I was under the impression that the top speed of maglev rail was 500 mph or so?" he asked.

Eric nodded as he knew why he would think that. "It will take a power system far more powerful than one a train uses, as the trains only have a 10 kilowatt engine powering them. We are planning on using one in the megawatt range, possibly more." Eric told him.

"5 miles for speed testing, I assume that you will be able to use that for proof of concept?" Lt. General Knight asked him.

"Perfectly sir, how long before we can have construction finished?" he asked intending to use the first 5 miles for the proving ground.

"6 months we will have 5 miles of rail finished for your testing. How much time will you need after that?" Knight asked him.

"We are just beginning the design of the vehicle, maybe 3 months for a prototype and first test to check speed on whatever rail is finished." Eric replied as he nodded.

"Get busy, if you can be ready in 6 months we will be right on schedule for the President." Knight said making it clear he was dismissed.

Two days later the rest of his team had arrived, and he found himself once again giving a speech to all of them. Their support personnel had been assigned as well, and all of them were here now.

"Welcome to all of our new arrivals, and I hope you have been able to settle in since your arrival or transfer. My name is Colonel Christensen, and I am the CO for 15th Research Battalion 1st Division. If you have not come to the conclusion yet, or not yet been informed, this Battalions current project is Classified Top Secret, Sensitive Compartmentalized Information. Need to Know. Each of you in this room have been cleared, and so long as you are in our research area, you are free to discuss what you need to. Outside of this facility, not even our coworkers of other divisions can know what we are doing here.

"So what are we doing here? Many of you will have heard that the international team exploring the possibility of returning to space. They identified 6 areas we needed to work in order to return to a world capable of exploring space. The first of them is to make the launch into space less perilous, by reducing the amount of debris in orbit. Without the international team, and authorization from them to develop the rockets needed for vertical launches, we will be forced to redesign the way we know how to achieve orbit.

"Current scans place the debris cloud at an altitude of 194.2 miles, closing at a rate of .15 miles per week. Current research shows any orbit that is lower than 150 miles provides too much risk of atmospheric skimming to allow for effective operations. As such, we have 2 years to complete our research and make Operation Recycle a success. We have 6 months before proof of concept testing, where we will have 5 miles to attain a horizontal speed of 35,000 mph using our system. That is the speed we believe we need to achieve in order to obtain orbit without using rockets.

"If successful the launch rail will be built, and once we have the necessary length of rail, we will move to phase 2. Design team will need to build multiple units, as we will need to use several as a new station in low Earth orbit between 152, and 180 miles. Once it in is position, we will need collectors capable of surviving strikes from debris too small to be collected in usual methods. If someone can devise a solution to collect the smallest debris, it would greatly increase our chances of success.

"Even if successful the operation will take years, however it will increase our abilities to defend the United Empire. We have a lot of work to do, and not a lot of actual time to accomplish it." he said as they all stood and saluted him.