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Desperate Measures (Revised) by Jack Lang
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Desperate Measures (Revised) Part 1
Date: 3 June 2009, 6:31 am
The sleek, black aircraft flew overhead forming loose, "finger four" formations.
Silhouetted against the blue-green background the fighters rose, breaking orbit.
In the bleak deadly vacuum they flew silent, blending with the inky blackness.
Inside his Longsword the pilot known as Hawk 49 turned to his co-pilot.
"Anything?"
"Quiet as hell mate…I don't like it"
Hawk frowned inside his helmet and glanced at the digital screen again.
"Spin up the weapons and stay sharp, this will get ugly quick."
Acting on reflex Hawk turned to look at the two empty seats in the cockpit, then stopped, remembering. The UNSC was so stretched that his spare men had been taken away to be retrained as pilots themselves. He would have to do their tasks himself.
"Seraphs incoming."
On the viewscreen Hawk could see a horde of Seraphs emerging from bowels of the Assault carrier, forming a mass of three-fighter V formations.
"About 200 Seraphs sir," the co-pilot said, reading his thoughts.
"Hmm two to one, best odds we've had this week!"
"Hawk Four-Niner to all Swords, prepare full missile spread and split on my mark."
Hawk touched the photo attached to the panel and once again felt the rage that had filled him every time he remembered her. Knife two-six had given him this photo just days before the Battle of Reach, he had really thought…. No matter. It was done. She wasn't coming back.
"Mark."
The fifty Longswords fired off five hundred ASGM-10 missiles in a full spread, increasing the targets for the Covenant defences ten-fold. Most of the missiles would probably miss the Seraphs-lacking the time needed to lock on properly-but the main point was allow the Longswords to close with that Carrier.
The Longswords split into combat pairs with perfect timing, and tracer fire started puncturing the darkness as the rotary and ventral guns spat death at the Seraphs.
The fight was far from one sided. Longswords spun away spewing smoke and brief bouts of flame while others exploded silently in the darkness.
A Seraph shot past as Hawk spun the 'sword in a loose corkscrew to dodge incoming fire.
A short burst from the massive 110mm rotary cannons and the shields of the next Seraph was down, and as it turned to fly by the 120mm ventral guns swivelled and blasted it into oblivion.
More fire was streaking past and a plasma burst gouged a chunk from the Titanium A just beside the viewscreen, if it had just been a few more centimetres to the right…
The remaining Longswords burst through the debris and wreckage just as the remaining ASGM-10 missiles were being picked off, and more Seraphs launched from the bays to face the Longswords. But with this the Shipmaster had blundered-the Longswords were now too close, and although accurate the Covenant weapons were not accurate enough to fire into the whirling melee that was getting closer and closer to the Cruiser.
More and more inbound fire and then… they were through! Hawk and the survivors had a clear line of sight, now the real plan could go ahead.
Modified Explosive warheads attached backwards in their bays were released and immediately began a full burn to decelerate to near zero speed. Amongst the mass of fire and dogfighting ships they went unnoticed by the Carrier as they crawled closer and closer.
Hawk's wingman peeled away with smoke billowing from the port engine.
"Just a scratch sir but that's us out of it."
Hawk allowed himself a quick glance at his co-pilot; they both knew that 67 wouldn't make it-yet no fear had shown in the voice as it made the statement.
The Longswords were retreating, seemingly defeated. They left wreckage and bodies behind but their job was done and now the plan could go ahead.
Under cover of the fighting a Destroyer and two Frigates had moved into position; concealed by the dark side of the moon they had uploaded target coordinates based on tactical data from the Longswords and now they emerged, firing as they went.
Four MAC rounds struck the ship; the shield stopped three and most of the fourth but it burst through the weakened defence to rip through the hull and trigger several secondary explosions. The Carrier turned slowly under the force of the blows but it momentum was quickly countered.
Then came the missiles-proximity detonated at a set distance-a series of explosions against the near non-existent shield, then more hit against the plating and melted through part of the hull, exposing the outer decks.
As the Carrier struggled to compensate another hammer blow struck, the Frigate braved counter fire to perform a flyby and as it did so black pods flew from its underside and sped towards the damaged ship…
Desperate Measures Part II (Revised)
Date: 5 June 2009, 7:12 pm
Aboard the UNSC Frigate, Flights of Fancy, Commander Adam Baldur paced. He did not like this plan; there were too many variables, too many flaws.
By positioning themselves on the dark-side of the Moon they were invisible to Covenant sensors. But they were also blind. If the Longswords failed, if the enemy were stronger than anticipated, they were screwed.
Baldur also lamented the lack of Shiva warheads. The weeks long battles in the upper atmosphere and orbit of Earth had depleted the UNSC's armoury of nuclear warheads to nil.
He nervously fingered the strap of his wristwatch as he looked at the luminous countdown superimposed upon the mainscreen. Not long now.
"Prepare the MAC firing solutions, bring all Archer pods online."
The bridge crew sprang to attention and began the frenzy of activity that preceded any battle.
Now they just had to pray that the ship was where they had left it.
Get the Kamikazes in their pods, and bring engines online. Charge up the Slipspace drive, we'll need to get out of here damn quick."
In the launch bay black Human Entry Vehicles were lined up in columns, their frontal casings still open. Inside the Helljumpers of the elite 105th Shock Troopers smoked final cigarettes and shouted messages to their pod mates.
The mood seemed light, but it was lie. The ODSTs were scared shitless by the suicide mission that they were about to undertake.
A door opened and a tall trooper entered.
"Officer on deck."
The Helljumpers straightened in their pods, then relaxed as Major Alex Airiman removed his helmet. The Tanned Australian was a kind CO. Shock Trooper units had always been more lenient with discipline, and Airiman was considered more lenient than most. He strode purposefully towards the open pods, and the mood of the room perked slightly. Without a word the Major swept his hazel eyes over the soldiers and nodded. That was they needed.
The recoil of the Frigate's MAC shook the whole vessel, and the vessel swayed and rocked as they dodged sporadic enemy fire.
"This is Commander Baldur, we are nearly in position. Gear up Helljumpers, and Godspeed.
The Frigate accelerated forward, thrusters blazing as they manoeuvred to avoid the minimal enemy fire.
The pods launched, ablaze with fire to stop side motion, and increase forward motion.
Commander Baldur Saluted the brave soldiers he was sure he had sent to their deaths.
The HEVs slammed into the part-melted decks of the Carrier, punching through weakened floors before coming to a halt.
Frontal plating burst away from the pods and a variety of weapon muzzles were thrust outwards just in case of hostiles. Not that there were any-vacuum had seen to that.
Of course that didn't matter to the blue visored warriors that now emerged, they had more than fifteen minutes of air-plenty of time to reach a pressurised compartment.
Major Airiman stepped out of his pod and unclipped his weapons. He checked his pistol was still holstered, then slung his SRS-99D S2 AM (S) over his shoulder before picking up his silenced MA5K.
Deft hand motions were the signal for the midnight warriors to start moving. Clambering over the debris that cluttered the floor they reached the first door, Airiman offered up silent thanks that the floor still had artificial gravity despite the damage. In zero gravity this would have been hell-even with the thruster packs.
The cracked and dented doors slid open, releasing a torrent of atmosphere that almost swept the Major off his feet, he steadied himself on a chunk of melted walling and swung in to the new corridor rifle raised. It was empty and Airiman signalled so to the warriors at his back, they began to fan out to cover the area. Silently and efficiently they moved into position and covered the next door.
The door behind closed and the squads waited until the atmosphere had returned and the pressure stabilised before moving forward.
Blending with shadow they infiltrated the outer corridors dodging the few patrols with ease then came to the first objective. Airiman nodded at a young corporal who removed her helmet.
Running a hand through sweat darkened blonde hair-slightly longer than regulation, a fact the Major overlooked-she retrieved the data chip embedded into her wrist gauntlet and began wiring it up to the Covenant data port.
A door hissed open and four Grunts and a Brute walked through. The Grunts were equipped with full-encased suits and were holding various pieces of machinery while the Brute was outfitted in fully enclosed jump pack armour.
Every single soldier held their breath as the Covenant warriors turned to the left and began to proceed down the corridor away from the squads.
The connection completed the ONI 'Smart AI' began its hack of the Covenant systems, by the time the Grunts were a quarter way down the corridor it had completed its hack.
"Hack complete, The necessary Covenant systems are available, and I must say an improvement on my previous record."
The Grunts jumped as if stung and the Brute whirled on the spot with surprising speed, performed a near comical double take and reached towards his belt.
Four of the humans began raising their guns but they were too slow, a spike punched into the shoulder of the closest Marine and swung him around, pinning him to the wall.
Silenced BRs sighted and fired. The Brute's head vanished in a mist of blood and gore that splattered the dumbstruck grunts. More coughs and the Grunts were history.
"I apologise, I was not aware that I was compromising our safety."
"Can it Aileana."
The Major glanced at the Pinned Marine
"Sir, I'll be fine, just cut me free of this wall"
He nodded and the Corpsman began cutting the wickedly sharp spike to free the soldier.
Only then did Airiman look at the holographic AI
"Well?"
The AI looked humble and worried
"Don't worry, it didn't strike a vital, He'll be fine. No permanent harm done."
"Very well, I have disabled the Covenant sensors across most of the carrier, and opened up a route that is relatively free of enemy forces, you will still face resistance but better odds than most battles."
"We're Helljumpers, epic odds for normal Marines are standard for us." He looked around.
The closest warriors grinned. "Oorah sir."
The Major hefted his MA5K and walked through the door, his warband at his back as they went forward feet first.
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