They zoomed out Skywalker’s sensor to take pictures of the entire carrier, then zoomed in to maximum magnification to take detail pictures of every section of the ship. Occasionally Skywalker’s threat warning system would beep, indicating that it was being scanned by a nearby radar, but there was never any indication that anyone had locked on to it, and no aircraft ever flew nearby to chase it away. There was an outside possibility that Skywalker’s satellite up-link back to the Valley Mistress had been detected and even intercepted, but no one in the Khomeini group ever attempted to jam or shut down the signal; White and Masters hoped that Iran didn’t yet possess the sophisticated computers needed to unscramble the up-link signals.
“Here’s the other stuff I wanted to look at,” White said excitedly as the Skywalker drone moved northward again, after orbiting over the Khomeini for nearly an hour. The drone had locked its sensor on a ship almost as large as the aircraft carrier, its center superstructure higher and clustered with twice the antenna arrays.
“The Chinese destroyer Zhanjiang, the pride of the Chinese navy,” White said. “Supposedly out here to House the Chinese officers and troops training on the Khomeini, but I think it’s out here to protect the carrier and to add a little extra firepower to Iran’s carrier escort fleet. It’s got a full complement of non-nuclear weapons—long-range anti-ship and antiaircraft missiles, cruise missiles, rocket-powered torpedoes, big dual-purpose guns, three sub-hunter helicopters, the works. This one ship has more firepower than the entire Iranian air force, before they started buying up surplus Russian planes.”
“So basically the Chinese are escorting an Iranian aircraft carrier battle group,” Masters observed. “If anyone takes a shot at them, China gets involved in the fight.”
“No one knows what China would do if the group was attacked—or, more likely, what the Chinese would do if the Iranians attacked someone,” White said. “But Iran and China are pretty closely allied, economically if not ideologically—China’s been pumping billions of dollars’ worth of military hardware into Iran every year at bargain-basement prices, in exchange for cheap oil. It’s a win-win deal for both of them, and I’d think they’d try very hard to maintain their relationship.”
“But what for?” Masters asked. “What does Iran need with an aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer?”
“They’re the big boys on the block now, Jon,” White replied. “You got a carrier, or a nuke, and you’re the top dog. Iran maneuvers itself as the leader of the Muslim world by sailing five billion dollars’ worth of warships around the Gulf, daring anyone to take a shot at them.”
“Who’d be stupid enough to do that?
“I’m not saying that’s their strategy,” White said, “but it’s a pretty big threat, and they’ve got a lot of firepower to back it up.”
“Like big chips on their shoulders,” Masters summarized. “More like bricks. I guess they’re out of the terrorist game then, huh?”
“I wouldn’t say that at all,” White said. “They’ve mastered the art of terrorism over the years. It didn’t earn them any respect, except with other fanatical fringe groups. But now, with a powerful navy and air force, they’ve got respect—at least, everyone’s wary of them now. The U.S. definitely is.”
Skywalker continued its patrol after orbiting Zhanjiang for almost an hour—still no sign of detection, even after more than two hours over the Iranian battle group. The operation had been a complete success so far. They decided they’d recall Skywalker after the battle group had headed south around the Musandam Peninsula and entered the Gulf of Oman. They programmed the drone to fly about twenty miles west of the warships instead of directly over them. Using the drone’s sideways-looking radars, they kept track of the ships as they sailed southward into the sea lanes.
There was more to see as they scanned the rest of the Iranian battle group: “Holy cow, look at that,” Masters exclaimed as they studied the vessel. “Looks like a big sucker Paul White was examining several photographs; he started shaking his head and said, “It’s not on the list of known ships in the Khomeini battle group. Let’s see … destroyer from the looks of it … huge superstructure, but not as big as a cruiser … big missile tubes amidships … aha, boys, looks like Iran really did get the Chinese destroyer it was looking for. That looks like a Luda-class destroyer, with two three-round Sea Eagle missile canisters. Skywalker’s paid off right away, Doc. I don’t think anyone knew another destroyer had joined the Khomeini group. This is a pretty significant find.”
Masters still looked green around the gills, but he grinned like a schoolboy. “Of course it is, Colonel,” he said, beaming with his usual bravado. “I’m here to serve up the surprises for you.”
White had the communications section relay a message to the National Security Agency of the new Chinese destroyer’s presence.
“Only the best from Sky Masters.”
“Uh-oh,” Knowlton said, “Mr. Modest is cranking it up again …”
“No brag, just fact,” Masters said jubilantly. I “me Air Force or CIA should buy a hundred HEARSE drones. You can’t get better intel than this—quick, reliable, accurate, and, …”
Just then, one of the Sky Masters technicians radioed, “Skywalker is reporting an overtemp in the primary hydraulic pack. Could be a bleed air-duct failure—might’ve got hit by a bird. Shutting down primary hydraulics …”
Masters looked as if someone had just slapped him in the face, and White and Knowlton couldn’t help smiling over his sudden discomfort, even if it meant discontinuing their surveillance.
“Recall it!” Masters shouted. “Issue the recall command!”
“Recall order transmitted and acknowledged,” the technician responded immediately. “Skywalker changing heading …
Skywalker’s on course back to home plate. It’s reporting capable of normal recovery; it will be ready for recovery in one hour, forty-two minutes.”
Jon Masters shook his head. “If the Iranians are any good, Skywalker will never make it back,” he said. “Bleed airduct failure near the primary hydraulic pack means a fire; a fire means visibility. With the hydraulic failure, Skywalker will start trailing hydraulic fluid, maybe fuel, maybe smoke and fire, and dragging control surfaces and maybe its arresting system, and bye-bye, stealth.”
“Then don’t aim it right back for the ship, Jon,” White said. “Make it head to someplace over land, in Oman, or self-destruct it-“
“I am not self-destructing Skywalker while it’s still flyable!”
Masters shouted. “If it heads directly for us, it’ll highlight our position, highlight us. I’ll have to reprogram it manually.
This was not supposed to happen … it’s designed to head back to its launch base on as direct a route as possible.”
“Turn it away, Jon,” White warned him urgently. “The Iranians will pick up on that thing and trace it back to us.”
“Skywalker reporting fire-control radar … intermittent lock-on, KU- and X-band radars, probably Crotale antiaircraft missile fire control.”
Masters turned to White, all hint of seasickness gone from his face—he was deadly serious now. “We can surely kiss Skywalker good-bye, Colonel,” he said. “And it’s not taking any navigation commands.”
“What?”
“It’s in emergency-nav mode, Paul,” Masters said. “Conserving power, conserving hydraulics—it might even have its controls locked. It won’t evade, won’t do anything but fly in a straight line.”