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Saber in the Sky: Part V
Posted By: mplacki<mplacki@yahoo.com>
Date: 7 September 2005, 8:07 pm
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0832 Hours, July 20, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
Planetary orbit above Kappa Epsilon
Jordan's first view of Kappa Epsilon revealed a planet that looked to be an even blend of Mars and Earth. It had fluffy white clouds, plenty of vegetation, and several large, blue-green oceans; the rest of the land, however, seemed to be entirely made up of dirt and rock in varying shades of red. It was slightly larger than Earth, with a denser but breathable atmosphere.
The squadron had traveled to the system using the new Slipspace drives on their Longswords. Jordan had been more than a little leery of this; it was difficult to shake off the knowledge that, until now, nothing much smaller than an ONI Prowler could make it in and out of Slipspace without being blown into its separate molecules. The techs back on the Leviathan had assured the squadron that the ships had been tested many times before being given to them, and that there shouldn't be any problems with the ships at all.
True to their word, none of the ships had been blown to smithereens; the shielding systems and reinforced Titanium-A armor had seen to that. The techs had, however, conveniently left out the fact that the ride through Slipspace was extremely uncomfortable. Jordan's Longsword had bucked, rattled, shaken, jerked, shuddered, and generally made life miserable for its occupant for the entire twelve and a half hour flight. Meanwhile, Revs had sat there laughing the entire time, constantly pointing out the advantages of not having a physical body, and the fact that he could shut down and go to sleep anytime he wanted. While Jordan's crash seat, which was designed to withstand high G-forces and help pilots cope with them, had helped out quite a bit, it had by no means cancelled out all the jerks the ship was going through. All in all, it was a great relief to be back in normal space.
Just then, Jordan spotted the Amazon. Like the Iroquois, the hero of the battle at Sigma Octanus, the Amazon was a UNSC destroyer; it bristled with dozens of Archer missiles, a MAC gun, and several Shiva nuclear warheads, and was surrounded by nearly two solid meters of Titanium-A armor plating. By all rights a formidable ship, but not one that could win a battle with a heavy Covenant ship on its own. But then, that's why we're here, thought Jordan with a smirk.
"Saber lead, this is Amazon. It's good to see you."
"And the same to you, Amazon. What's the situation?"
"Everything's clear right now. You squadron is slated to get down to the planet for some R & R while they can still get it."
"Roger that, Amazon. Saber lead out."
Jordan followed the rest of the squadron in a smooth dive toward the planet's surface. As he neared the surface, he could see tall, snow-capped mountains. Rivers fed by the melting snow had gouged deep canyons into the areas around them, revealing a bewildering array of reds and oranges. Rushing waterfalls and a lush carpet of blue-green vegetation completed the awe-inspiring scene.
David whistled over the radio. "Sure is pretty."
"You've got that right," replied Jordan.
"And it's our job to keep it that way, gentlemen," cut in Deckard. "So cut the chatter and get to the LZ double-time; you're going to need some rest if you want to have a hope of defending it."
"Copy that, sir." Jordan glanced at the canyon one more time, and noticed that the deepest parts were obscured by a thick, blue mist. Frowning, and momentarily forgetting his annoyance at his AI, he asked, "What is that, Revs?"
For once the AI didn't have an immediate response to give. "The atmosphere is unusually dense in that section, and it doesn't appear to have much oxygen," he said at last. "I don't think you can live down there, if you were wondering."
"Any idea how deep it is?"
"None. Could be a few dozen meters, or a few thousand. Sensors can't penetrate anything more than the first meter or so; the air is so dense that it absorbs the signals and doesn't reflect them back."
"Keep it's location handy," said Jordan. "Might be a useful place to hide if things get nasty."
"Surely," said Revs, with an air of total disdain, "you weren't planning on running?"
Jordan glowered at him. "What I meant was a place to hide for evac shuttles and whatnot. Not me. Now make yourself useful and bring up a NAV marker for the LZ."
Instantly, a red arrow appeared on Jordan's HUD, showing that the base was just under twelve hundred kilometers away. That equated to about another ten minutes of flight at this speed. Jordan smothered a yawn and blinked his eyes a few times. He hadn't been able to sleep all night with the ship shaking the way it was, but even so he was surprised how tired he was now. Exhaustion, he knew, led to mistakes, and he made an effort to sit up straighter at his console. It would be quite embarrassing to have the second-highest ranking officer in the squadron crash into the LZ because of some careless mistake.
When Jordan finally did land a few minutes later and got his bunk assignment from the sergeant on duty, the long flight had really hit home. Mumbling his thanks to the officer, he stumbled off to his room, crashed onto the bed, and passed out.
Jordan was woken up six hours later as his comlink began to chirp loudly. Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he picked up the comlink and flicked it on.
"McKell here."
"Commander McKell, this is Deckard. I need you in briefing room 327G as soon as possible."
Jordan snapped fully awake. "Covenant forces?"
"Not yet, son. But close. Get over here as soon as you can, and we'll explain it all to you."
"Aye aye, sir. On my way."
Jordan splashed some water on his face, snagged two candy bars from a vending machine, and wolfed them down on his way to the briefing room. Most of the squadron, as well as heads of all of the other forces around the planet, were already present. Jordan took a seat next to Bobby and waited for the remaining people to show up.
Once everyone had been seated, a man wearing a General's uniform walked to the front of the room and took the podium. The whispers around the room were quickly silenced.
"Good afternoon, everyone; for those of you who don't know, I'm General Bertone, commanding officer of the Amazon. I'm going to be going over the general strategy we're going to be using to defend Kappa Epsilon." He motioned to the screen at the front of the room, which resolved itself into an image of the Kappa Epsilon system. "About an hour ago, our long-range sensors picked up readings on an extremely large object moving through Slipspace. The profile of the object is very similar to the profile that the Covenant ships at Sigma Octanus took when moving through Slipspace. Both objects resolve as a single mass to our sensors; it's a fair assumption that the Covenant are on their way here."
"Admiral Stanforth has informed me that the Leviathan has completed repairs and is making best speed to the system as we speak. He estimates to be in-system in three hours. The frigate Sunset Glory and the destroyer Indomitable are also on their way here; Sunset Glory reports that they will be here within the hour, and the Indomitable should be getting here at roughly the same time as the Leviathan. Many other ships are also coming, but they will not be here for at least another six hours, and will most likely arrive too late to help out in the coming battle."
"We estimate that the Covenant fleet will reach the outskirts of Kappa Epsilon in five hours time; from the mass readings we've taken, they appear to have a flagship, three frigates, and a destroyer." There was an outbreak of nervous muttering at these words, and not without reason: the only times the UNSC won battles in orbit was when they outnumbered the Covenant ships three to one, not one to one.
General Bertone glared at the people in the room, and the whispers subsided. "I have no doubt that we can defeat the Covenant here; if you'll recall, Captain Keyes was outnumbered four to one by the Covenant and disabled three of the ships while keeping his own crew alive. There is no reason why we can't stand up against the Covenant here as well."
The screen at the front of the room changed to show a real-time image of the planet. "The capital ships will form a defensive line above the planet. We will be holding position directly in the Covenant's line of flight, with MAC guns charged and all weapons hot. When the Covenant appear, we will be giving them a full salvo of everything we can; then all ships will immediately begin evasive maneuvers. The Indomitable, the Amazon, and the Leviathan all carry complements of Longswords; these will be tasked with point defense, and will keep Seraphs, dropships, and boarding craft away from the larger ships."
"We also have two squadrons of Longswords on the ground. These include Talon squadron, which has been based on the planet, and Saber squadron, which has been sent here to assist us. Both squadrons will be tasked with helping to neutralize the Covenant capital ships. Saber squadron has been provided with AMX-12 antimatter missiles; they will be moving into position once the Covenant's shields are down. Talon squadron will be acting as cover for them, and will be making sure than enemy fighters can't interfere with their mission."
"Any questions?"
Nobody spoke up.
"Very well then. Check in with your commanding officers, and prepare yourselves and your ships for the upcoming battle. Dismissed."
Jordan and Bobby stood up, and filed out of the room. Bobby whistled appreciatively.
"AMX-12s, huh? I've heard of them before, but I thought they were still under development or research or something by ONI."
"Guess not," replied Jordan. "Or maybe they are still in development, but someone's pulled some strings to make sure we have them. Won't help against the shields, but they'll pack a major punch against the ships themselves."
"You got that right," said Bobby. "I'm looking forward to it."
"Bet I'll have more kills than you."
"Yeah, well, you're the second ranking officer in the squadron. It'd be embarrassing if you didn't." He smirked. "As such, I'll do my best to embarrass you."
"You're on."
"Hey, no one told me there was a bet on!" called a voice from behind them. Jordan turned to see David coming up behind him.
"Of course not, Dave; I felt sorry for you," winked Jordan. "It'd be a shame for you to owe me another hundred credits."
"Hey, I don't care what you say, that was a lucky shot in the simulator. You know I would've beat you."
"Fat chance."
"Tell you what: if you can get more kills than me, dinner's on me."
"Where at?"
"Oh, we'll find a nice place groundside later," replied Dave. "Assuming we get to stay here that long, of course."
"Sure. You wanna come to the simulator room with me? You can practice losing there."
David laughed. "Sure, why not. My ship's ready to fly, all I need to do is hop in. I have time to burn."
"I'm gonna grab a bite to eat," said Bobby, "I'll catch up with you guys later."
"Sure thing, Bobby. See you in a bit."
David watched Bobby take off toward the mess hall, then turned back to Jordan.
"Hey, Jordan?"
"Yeah?"
"In all seriousness… are you worried at all?"
Jordan nodded. "I'd have to be crazy not to be. One blast from those ships, one mistake and we're gone. Vaporized. Yeah, I think we have reason to worry. But we're gonna pull through anyway."
David looked at him. "How are you so sure?"
"Because we're the best," Jordan answered simply. "If we don't do it, who will?"
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