Hexagonal, Office XIII.

Anthony stood at the whiteboard, clearing his mind from the reconvened former NX17 tracking team.

“…… Based on the latest data we have found in the database, there is more than an 80% chance that NX17 is in synchronous orbit, what does this mean?

The NX17 is powered, and if they don't provide more supplies to the NX17, the NX17 is on its own power, indicating that it has sufficient fuel, advanced technology, and mysterious uses.

So, what is it that needs to be raised and downgraded, and for what purpose? ”

Anthony's gaze swept over the group members who were taking notes, most of them pinching their chins and starting to think, exchanging words with each other from time to time.

After a while, someone made a sound:

"Since it's a secret and it's within the scope of the earth, it means that it must be something used against the earth, and I guess it's a weapon, some kind of extremely dangerous weapon.

Perhaps it was a large armed satellite that dropped kinetic weapons or nuclear bombs on the ground to deliver precision strikes on important targets. ”

Anthony looked over as an older Hispanic, and he immediately got a signal from Anthony to stand up and continue to explain to his colleagues:

"While we've long proven that kinetic weapons like the 'Staff of God' are not worth the cost, they're not useless.

Missiles launched from the ground are easy to detect, and the huge thermal radiation is as conspicuous as the sun, but if released from space, conventional reconnaissance satellites cannot monitor it at all, which leads to the range of defense being limited to the end.

A 100-kilogram kinetic energy rod is enough to kill everyone on the lawn of the presidential palace, and the same goes for a nuclear bomb. ”

Anthony nodded and didn't comment, just sat him down, and then immediately someone stood up again:

"I don't agree, such weapons don't make sense at all, and who cares about the slightest bit of concealment when they really need to be used?

If it's for this purpose, the goal is too obvious! ”

The second man's words were met with the majority of approvals, and it was clear that everyone felt that there was another purpose.

"Is there anyone else, is there anyone else who has an idea?"

Anthony continued his search, and then a thin hand was raised.

It was an old man who looked to be about sixty years old, with a classic white Texas appearance, and it could be seen that the young hands were very burly, and there was a faint pride in his eyes all the time.

His name is Ruhl, and he is an old man in the Air Force Intelligence Office, who was already on the verge of retirement, but came here again because he was involved in the NX17 investigation.

Ruhl stood up and sneered contemptuously at the confused group:

"You stupid boys, don't you think in other directions?

Look at them, they're learning from the Alliance, that what NX17 is not a secret weapon of mass destruction, on the contrary, it's an umbrella. ”

Anthony's eyes lit up and he immediately became interested:

"What umbrella? Defend against what? ”

"An umbrella against missiles, a barrier for them to gain overwhelming superiority in nuclear deterrence, I think some of you should still remember the 'Aurora'."

Most of the young group members were still thinking about what a "laser" was, but a few people over the age of forty suddenly became excited and shouted:

"Steki DM, yes, this is it!"

"Damn, I should have thought of it a long time ago, that's the real damn thing!"

"They got the Alliance legacy, we should have known about it a long time ago!"

“……”

Around a few insiders immediately lively, although Anthony is young, it is rare for him to carefully study the history of the alliance's equipment, and finally remember what the "Aurora" is.

Before Xinyuan-3, the world's first carrier rocket "Energy" carried the space shuttle, and not many people knew about the Steki-DM test ship "Aurora" that it carried on its first flight.

The 105-ton laser satellite can be called the ultimate black technology of the alliance, and even senior equipment experts only know about it in name.

Even after the dissolution of the Alliance, the "Aurora" has not been revealed, and it is still hidden in a secret laboratory, waiting for Lucia to one day restart its research.

Yes, and this is the only thing that deserves such secrecy, at the expense of a powerful nuclear reactor.

Anthony could almost be sure, but asked Ruhl rhetorically:

"Why didn't you say it last year, was it because the evidence was insufficient?"

"At that time, I thought it was unlikely, because it was too small at only 20 tons, and the 'Aurora' weighed 100 tons.

However, after learning the latest information, I realized that from low earth orbit to synchronous orbit of more than 30,000 kilometers, the only one that can cross this distance and still maintain its power is a laser, so it must be something like 'Steki-DM'.

Technology iterations are too fast, lasers are shrinking, reactors are advancing, and 20 tons is not impossible to do. ”

It wasn't until Ruhl finished explaining that most people understood what the "aurora" was and tried to connect the two.

"Wait, doesn't that mean we're in danger!"

Someone reacted and said in horror:

"NX17 was launched a year ago, and they've been testing it for a whole year!

How many defects have they found and how many improvements have they made during this period, are they developing something bigger and more powerful like 'Aurora' in the future?!

And we were completely unprepared, at least three years behind, not five years!

If they launch enough laser satellites, nuclear bombs all over the world will be useless. ”

This conclusion was so sensational that everyone fell silent and did not dare to speak.

"No...... It's hard to launch so many large satellites ......"

"Don't forget XAP, they are fully capable of launching more than 10 laser satellites of 100 tons a year, and launching rockets is as simple as drinking water for them."

Anthony's eyes met with everyone in turn, and his thoughts raced.

He had a hunch that the last thing he wanted to believe would be the truth.

……

"Colonel Anthony, can you take responsibility for your words?"

A day later, David Usneau met Anthony, who had stayed up all night and had red eyes.

"I'm sure, at least 95 percent sure."

"So tall?"

David's eyebrows furrowed deeply, and a senior intelligence officer said he was 95% sure, which was unusual.

"That's right, even 100 percent, because I found other corroborating information."

Anthony didn't report it immediately after coming to his conclusion, and spent the night re-reading the relevant information, especially several key points in NX17, and then discovered a seemingly ordinary incident:

On March 2, 2017, less than a week after NX17 lifted off, an unmanned test high-speed jet trainer with the number "2231" crashed.

According to the news at the time, the cause of the crash of the "2231" aircraft was the uncontrolled disintegration caused by local high temperatures caused by the deformation of the skin beyond the maximum flight speed.

It seems to be an ordinary aviation accident, but under the repeated reading of Anthony, who is suspicious of everyone, word by word, he feels inexplicably familiar and at the same time has several questions in his heart:

Why does a jet trainer do high-speed testing?

Why does a jet trainer have to be tested unmanned, just because of the "new engine" and be careful like this?

Why did it crash just a week after NX17 lifted off, and XAP hasn't conducted a similar experiment since?

Anthony pondered for a long time, then watched as the photo of the wreckage on the news page at the time gradually twisted and moved, forming two words:

Target Drones

A manned aircraft at the end of the spectrum is unmanned and modified, and the Air Force will only do this when it needs a realistic target aircraft, so it is no wonder that there is a sense of familiarity.

If "2231" is a target aircraft, then what shot down this target aircraft?

Anthony, who was lying at his desk by the window late at night, was suddenly blown by the evening breeze and looked at the quiet night sky.

He seemed to see an extremely bright green light in the dark sky, and it hit himself with precision, and the blazing heat instantly ignited his clothes and hair, and then the laser penetrated the flesh, and the fat began to crackle, and his body burned like a raging fire, shrinking into a ball in the painful struggle, and finally only a pile of scattered, burned white bones and a little fingernails remained.

Anthony immediately closed the window, grabbed the blanket from the morning nap on the couch and covered himself tightly, dodging the white moonlight shining through the window like a vampire, and rushed into the thirteenth office on the bottom, only feeling slightly better when surrounded by cold concrete.

I don't know how long it took for him to fall asleep in exhaustion, and when he woke up, the fear of the sky finally dissipated a lot, but he still instinctively hated the sky like a snake and scorpion, and only by hiding in the shadows of the buildings could he gain a lot of security.

He was glad that David's office was underground, and if it was the office of the director of the Air Force Intelligence Office, which was covered by large floor-to-ceiling windows, it would have been difficult for Anthony to sit there.

After listening to the analysis of the "2231" crash, David Usno was speechless, and he couldn't help but look up at the ceiling, as if through the surface, through the spectacular Hexagon, directly to a synchronous orbit that can overlook the whole of the earth.

The widow is diligent in government, and the widow is also the master

(End of chapter)