Jade Greenway

Jade Greenway grows up with two heroes that guide her life, her grandfather who died flying Navy jets over Korea, and Sally Ride who was the first American woman in space.After earning her bachelor's degree in physics and her master's degree in mechanical engineering from MIT, Jade, now a Navy officer, begins flight training in Florida and Texas, where she meets Captain Richard Quincy, who will change her life.When the law is changed to allow women in combat, she is sent to Miramar Naval Air Station in California, to become an F-14 fighter pilot. Over the next several years she rises through the ranks to become squadron commander.Over the skies of Afghanistan and Iraq, she earns the Distinguished Flying Cross medal twice, and the Purple Heart medal for injuries she receives. While flying over Bosnia in support of NATO action there, a surface-to-air missile hits her aircraft destroying one engine and severely injuring her crewman. Forced to crash into the sea and suffering injuries of her own, she is nevertheless able to get the unconscious crewman out of the aircraft and keep him afloat for more than an hour in heavy seas until rescued. For her actions, she is awarded the Navy Cross, the Nation's second highest award for valor.While recuperating in the hospital, NASA invites her to join them. She goes back to MIT for her PhD in astrophysics, and becomes project scientist for a planned mission to the Moon on what will become known as Flight of the Messenger.As Captain Jade Greenway and her two-man crew are approaching the Moon in the Messenger spacecraft a huge meteor strikes Messenger sending it hurling through space away from the Moon. One man is killed instantly; the other man is severely injured including a punctured lung. Jade has a broken arm and ribs, and vital oxygen is leaking to space.Jade must find a way to bring her damaged spacecraft and her dead and dying crew back to earth, with no computers working, no communications working, and vital oxygen slowing leaking to space.

When Jade Greenway returns her damaged spacecraft to Earth, she becomes a national hero, but she wants to return to her Navy roots and serve with Admiral Quincy, the man she has been in love with for years.Admiral Quincy is Commander, Carrier Strike Group Three. He flies his flag on the USS Ronald Reagan, CVN-76 on duty with the Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf. He does not want Jade to serve with him, because tensions between Iran and the US are building, and he believes that war will break out at any moment.Fearing for her safety, he prefers that she marry him and make their home, where she will wait safely for him. However, Jade is not the waiting type. She takes a reduction in rank to serve on the ship with him.Conflict arises between Jade and Quincy, because she views Iran's war-making capability much more dangerously than he does. When Iran does attack, and the Reagan is badly damaged, Jade is forced to take command even though she is seriously wounded.In the White House, President Dwyer's popularity with the American people is at an all-time low, because he sent troops back into Iraq. With the election for his second term approaching, he needs some event or someone to make a dramatic change in the Nation's perception of him, or else he can kiss a second term goodbye.A chance meeting between Jade and Secretary of State Mitchell puts her name into play as a vice presidential candidate. Since Jade is seen as a national hero, the President's men see her as the dramatic boost he needs to win reelection.

In Book I, Jade Greenway commanded the spacecraft Messenger on a disastrous trip to the moon. In Book II, an Iranian attack on the USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike group killed Admiral Quincy and seriously injured Jade causing her left arm to be amputated at the shoulder. Even with those life-threatening injuries, she had to assume command of the carrier strike group and get it to safety.Now, in Book III, she is Vice President of the United States, but her tenure in the White House is by no means comfortable, because of her constant battle with White House Chief of Staff Hardy Trimble. Once the election is over, in his mind, she has served her purpose, and that is all he needs from her. He certainly doesn't want an uppity woman challenging his power in the White House, where he is king.When President Dwyer has a mild stroke, the cabinet wants to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution making Jade the Acting President, but Trimble strongly opposes giving her power. The cabinet prevails and Jade becomes Acting President.She has a plan to defeat ISIL, but she can't implement it, because she knows that President Dwyer will reverse it when he returns. Trimble opposes her at every turn. His one purpose seems to be keeping the Vice President in her place, so he and the President can run the country.