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Saber in the Sky - Part IV
Posted By: mplacki<mplacki@yahoo.com>
Date: 3 August 2005, 12:29 am
Read/Post Comments
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1100 Hours, July 18, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
UNSC Longsword Fighter, planetary orbit around Sigma Octanus IV
Jordan rolled his Longsword to the left to avoid a chunk of debris, then straightened it out. The mere sight of so many destroyed ships was sickening. God, I don't even want to know how many bodies are out here, he thought. A piece of twisted metal flashed on his right – a few seconds later, he recognized with a jolt that it was the starboard wing of a Longsword. He shuddered, wondering if he had known the pilot, and if he had managed to eject in time.
The radio squawked, bringing his attention back to the task at hand.
"All right, people, here's what we're doing right now. Separate into your respective flights – we're going to be searching the rubble. Have your AIs make a note of the location of any piece of Covenant technology that looks remotely salvageable, and look for any survivors – preferable UNSC survivors, but Covenant survivors might be able to give us useful data too. I'm sending each flight the section you've been assigned as we speak."
Jordan glanced at Revs. "So what part are we doing?"
The AI gestured at the red navigation marker that had popped up on the main screen.
"Quite a few Covenant ships out there," he commented. "Not many UNSC ones, though. I would gently suggest to power up your weapons systems – it would be rather uncomfortable to be ambushed by a pack of Seraphs looking to go out in a blaze of glory."
Jordan felt this was a rather fair analysis.
"All right Three Flight, you heard the Captain," he said. "I want everyone to power up all weapon and shielding systems, just as a precaution – there might be enemy contacts out there trying to hide among the bigger wrecks. Spread out, about three klicks* apart from each other, and keep an eye on your wingman. Report anything that looks suspicious."
"Copy that, sir," replied Greg. Jordan watched Greg and Tony peel away, then turned his attention to the debris he was supposed to be scanning.
"Revs, check the debris for any electrical fields. That should give us an idea of what's worth looking at and what's not."
"Way ahead of you, Commander," he said. "And I'm searching all fields on the Covenant ships, not just electrical ones. Some of their stuff might not work on electricity."
"Show-off."
"That may be so, but at least I'm good at what I do," replied Revs, smirking.
"Oh, shut up already," scoffed Jordan. "I bet I can do my job better than you do yours."
"You're on."
Jordan settled back in his chair and sighed. It was going to be a long flight.
Three hours later, he was still sitting, trying not to fall asleep from boredom. There had been a few interesting finds on some of the Covenant ships, but for the most part they were things that had already been seen. Plasma turrets had been found before, there was nothing exciting about that; it was the code that controlled them that was the real key toward getting them to work. Considering that these ships had been blasted with MAC guns, Archer missiles, and God alone knew what else, there was a depressingly low probability that there would be anything resembling retrievable code somewhere in the ships' databases. Just then, David's voice crackled over the radio.
"Captain Deckard, this is five."
"Go ahead, Commander."
"Sir, we've found some sort of strong electrical field here. It could be originating from one of the ships, but it could just as easily be a group of Seraphs or Covenant dropships. Can we get the rest of the squadron over here as backup, just in case?"
"That's affirmative, Commander; stand by. Three flight, get over there and give them a hand. We'll join you if you need the backup – I want to finish inspecting this cruiser first."
"Roger that."
Jordan and Travis broke off and headed toward the destroyer David had been scanning; Greg and Tony took up defensive escort positions behind them.
"See anything, Revs?"
"Considering that I don't actually have eyes…"
"Just answer the question," said Jordan, rolling his eyes.
"There's certainly a strong electrical field there; there's also some minor radiation. Could be a coolant leak, or it could be a group of Covenant fighters."
"I already knew that," he said exasperatedly. "Do you see anything that poses an immediate threat?"
"Nope; if there are Covenant fighters hiding there, they're keeping well out of sight. Given the Covenant's record of dashing out to fight any enemy that comes their way, I think it's reasonable to assume that they are either damaged, empty, or non-existent."
Jordan keyed the radio. "What do you think, Dave?"
"I think that if there's any fighters here, they're damaged and aren't interested in coming out to play just now."
"That's what I think; you want to take a closer look?"
"Probably should. I'm going to take a flyby; watch my six."
"Copy that, Dave. If you find 'em, leave some for me."
David laughed. "No problem, Jordan; help yourself."
David's Longsword rolled onto its starboard wing and skimmed the surface of the destroyer; a second later his wingman, Kevin Hendrick, followed him.
"What do you see, Dave?"
"Nothing interesting; looks like a few Covenant dropships had geared up, but never made it out of the hanger. Might be useful to the ONI spooks, but there's nothing for us in there."
"Shame. I was just getting excited, too. Anything else that needs to be covered in your sector?"
"Nope. I was saving this for last; everything else has already been tagged. How about yours?"
Jordan shook his head. "Everything's clear there, too. I was just double-checking a Covenant frigate for stuff I might have missed on the first pass."
"Captain Deckard, this is five. We're all done here."
"Affirmative, Commander; wrap it up and head home. Two and Three flight, have your AIs send me a record of the different anomalies you've found, then consider yourselves at liberty for the rest of the day. We should be back within a half hour as well"
"Aye-aye, sir," replied David. "Two and Three flight, heading home."
"Hey Travis," said Jordan, "you want to stop by the simulators when we get back?"
"Sound fine to me."
"How about you, Dave? Greg? Tony?"
"Haven't you sat in a Longsword enough for today, Jordan?" asked David.
"Maybe," he said, smiling mischievously, "but we never got around to that dogfight the Captain promised."
2000 Hours, July 18th, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
UNSC Leviathan, planetary orbit above Sigma Octanus IV
Captain Deckard pressed the door chime outside Admiral Stanforth's office and waited. A few seconds later, he heard the lock click, and the door opened.
"Ah, good evening, Captain."
Captain Deckard saluted. "Reporting as ordered, sir."
"At ease. Come on in and take a seat."
Deckard took a seat and looked around. There was a window on one side of the room, through which Sigma Octanus could clearly be seen; against the other wall was a cabinet, which held the various awards and medals Stanforth had received.
"Let's get right to business." Stanforth motioned to a plasma screen embedded in the desk, which was displaying a map of the local solar systems. "This is the path the Covenant have taken to invade human space," he said, drawing a red line on the screen with a stylus. "Judging by this, we're expecting Kappa Epsilon to be attacked relatively soon." He drew a red circle around one of the systems. "The Covenant won't be happy about their defeat here at Sigma Octanus, and their going to want to make us pay. Kappa Epsilon is home to just under twenty million people; I'm sure you'll agree that it's an inviting target."
Captain Deckard nodded. "What forces do we currently have in the vicinity?"
"The Amazon and the Mississippi are both just outside of the system. Unfortunately, you know just as well as I do that a destroyer and a frigate won't even make the Covenant blink."
"You want to send in Saber Squadron."
"Only if they're ready," corrected Stanforth. "They might be the best pilots in the fleet, but if they need more time to train with the new ships, I'm not going to send them on a mission that could get them all killed."
Deckard shook his head. "They all headed right to the simulators after their clean-up job was over," he said. "The ships might be new, but they're still Longswords, and the pilots know how to use the new technology. They'll obviously be able to come up with new strategies and tactics with more experience, but they're ready to take on a mission right now. In fact, I think they would welcome one."
"You think they're ready?"
"Absolutely. They already work together very well, and their teamwork will only improve as they spend more time flying missions. If you need Saber Squadron, we're ready."
Stanforth smiled. "Glad to hear it, Captain. Have the techs get your ships ready to fly, and brief your people first thing in the morning. There's going to be a big party over in the Kappa Epsilon system, and I want your people to be right in the middle of it."
* - For those who don't know, a "klick" is slang for a kilometer.
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