“Green light in thirty seconds. Transferring coordinates to the missile now.” Martin moved slowly but methodically through the process, double-checking himself as he went. Speaking to no one in particular, he said, “Select target coordinate package … target coordinate package selected; assign package to missile bay … package assigned to missile bay; select missile … missile selected; lock-in target coordinates … target coordinates locked; awaiting pilot approval …” he looked up at Jack, who was smiling.

“Pilot approval awaited?” said Jack in a lighthearted mockery of Martin’s grave tone.

Martin eased up a little, chuckled, then raised his eyebrows, “Well?”

“I’m on it, Martin, cool your jets.” said Jack, still laughing.

Jack looked at the screen and checked the numbers. Martin did not mistake Jack’s levity for brevity, and saw the experienced pilot deliberately review all his entries, as he was trained to do. “Looks good, package approved, launch approval set. Ready to lock in?”

“Ready.” said Martin, looking at him and taking a breath. They both readied their hands on the switches to either side of them, deliberately designed to be as far from each other as the cockpit’s width would allow. Jack glanced at Martin and said, “Locking in … now.” He turned the key on the left of his console as Martin turned the key on his right and the control screen beeped, a countdown timer appearing a moment later.

It was out of their hands now. They could stop the launch any time up to the moment the missile left the bay, but unless they changed their minds, the plane was now going to do everything else itself, the possibility of human error removed from the equation.

It was a long few minutes. Martin occupied himself by scanning for the next pod, higher in the atmosphere but coming at them fast as it headed west. Once the first missile was launched at the first pod 250 miles away, they would bank hard and send another missile after that second pod, then a third, and onwards until they had used up their payload or been shot out of the sky.

Jack went through his prelaunch routine. Running through his maneuver and responses in his mind, preparing his reflexes. The B-2 had a significant armory to defend itself, including everything from decoy flares, to explosive jacket air-to-air missiles; they could fool incoming missiles and even disable enemy planes. They were mostly delaying tactics, rather than actual game changers, but they might be the difference between life and death, between being blown up and having enough time to eject.

At one minute out the cabin started beeping loudly, the plane was preparing to open the missile bay. It would significantly reduce their stealth capability, but then, so would the huge rocket flare of the missile they were about to launch, not to mention the explosion that would light up the sky fifteen minutes later.