Dart

To the south of the Mississippi Delta, a storm began brewing. It seemed modest at first, but suddenly burst into terrible splendor, putting a thunderhead up to the stratosphere, and spitting lightning every few seconds. 

This was odd for February, but not unheard of. 

Still, the fishing boats out of Louisiana and Mississippi began heading back to port as the wind and waves picked up. It was no longer safe. 

Houston Air Traffic Control Center was the first to pick up the odd signal. It was intermittent at first, springing to life south of Louisiana airspace and heading fast towards the Florida panhandle on a slight curve north. It appeared out of nowhere over a monster thunderstorm in the Gulf. 

It was fast.

The director at Jacksonville Center had just returned from dinner and was just sitting when his phone rang.

"Steve Hargrove, Jax ATC..."

"Hey Steve, this is Josh over at Houston. Sorry to call you directly, but I think we have a satellite reentry... or somethin'."

"Where's it at?"

"We had it coming out of the Gulf, better than two hundred thousand feet, heading northeast, at... get this... four thousand knots."

"Jesus..."

Just then, he watched as one of his controllers waved at him and signaled him to the floor.

"I think we got it now, Josh. Give me a few minutes."

He hung up and walked into the control room.

"What's up?" he asked. 

"Houston just handed this off to us. Airspeed is thirty five hundred knots, altitude is one hundred fifty thousand... and it's behaving controlled."

"They thought it was a satellite reentry..."

"Too slow, Steve, and it's controlled, non-ballistic."

One of the controllers, Carlos, turned in his seat, "I'm getting radio on a restricted frequency."

"Put it on," Steve said.

Carlos switched over the sound to the speaker. There was a bit of static, but then a voice.

"Landing Control, Landing Control, I lost you, over. Broadcasting in the blind..."

"Can you talk to him?" Steve asked.

"I'll give it a shot, weird frequency. He's coming up on Moody."

"Do it."

"Unidentified aircraft, this is Jacksonville Center, you are about to enter restricted airspace."

"Jacksonville Center, what are you doing on this frequency, over?"

"Was about to ask you the same..."

"I know about Moody, but at my altitude I'm not much of a problem. About to perform my bleed-off turn. Where's Landing Control, over?"

"Not aware of Landing Control, over."

"Dammit... you know! NASA ATC at Gainesville? Over?!?"

"Unaware of NASA ATC, unidentified..."

"It's... never mind. Beginning bleed-off, standby one."

The radar showed the craft turn to the north.

"Milt," Steve called over his shoulder, "get on the phone to the 125th, tell them to get something up there."

"Moody already on the line, want to know if they should scramble."

"Tell Moody to hold. The 125th is better suited."

"Will do."

The radar showed the fast moving target turning back to the east. 

"What's his speed and altitude now?" Steve asked.

"Twenty one hundred knots, altitude one hundred thousand."

The unidentified signaled, "Jacksonville Center, this is Dart 6, contact Canaveral and inform them that I should be landing in twenty minutes, over."

Steve looked over as one of his controllers stood up and shook his head.

"There a problem?" Steve asked.

"The runway at KSC is closed. They have equipment on it. Skidway is also closed."

"Dammit," Steve said, "let him know."

"Dart 6, Jacksonville, that is a no-can-do, runway at KSC is closed, over."

"What do you mean the runway at KSC?"

"Kennedy Space Center, over."

"Kennedy? Never mind, I can perform another bleed off and head towards Imeson, is Imeson available, over?"

Carlos looked at Steve confused. "What do I tell him?"

"The truth."

"Dart 6, Imeson is not available, over."

"Craig then! Is Craig available? I can chute in, over?"

"Dart 6, Craig is available, over."

Steve looked at him, "better call them up and tell them to clear the runways."

Carlos nodded. 

"Sir," Milt called, "the Eagles are up and on their way. Some people in Folkston aren't going to like this, they're on full scramble, going supersonic over south Georgia."

"And near us," Steve added.

Outside, a thunderous boom could be heard as three F-15's roared to the north.