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On A Pale Horse: Rescue
Posted By: Silent Hunter<silenthunter18509@yahoo.com>
Date: 12 January 2004, 10:53 PM
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2200 Hours, December 25, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
Modified Pelican Dropship Inbound to Covenant World.
"Andrew, I have no control in my stick, take us down faster, we have to get there in 10 minutes, or there wont be a reason for this mission." Major Shouted over the roar of the Pelican. This was a different type of pelican. It was a prototype of a new pelican designed to handle the heat of a high-speed reentry. Its outer Hull was comprised of Heat resistant panels, fused with a new heat-resistant metal. The inner hull was built around a cage-like Titanium-A frame. It was Made of an alloy of the new metal, mixed with Titanium
"I know Major, but we'll burn up if we go in much faster..." Lieutenant Andrew Beck shouted back. He looked out the widow. Red flames had engulfed the pelican. Even his modified Pelican wasn't made to survive reentry heat to this degree. The pilot was amazed he was still alive. He wanted to avoid pushing the pelican further, but the ETA was 12 minutes. The POWs would surely be over-run by then. If he increased the power to the engines by 10% he could cut the ETA down to 5 minutes. It would only increase the odds of the pelican burning to a cinder by the time it hit the ground, however. He wiped the sweat off of his forehead, and pushed the throttle forward. The ship began to violently shake. He gabbed a handhold, and squeezed for dear life. The ship held for a minute...then an alarm sounded. He looked at his computer screen with a look of horror on his face, as multiple warnings and cautions scrolled down.
> WARNING: COCKPIT TEMP EXCEEDING 125 DEGREES F
> CAUTION: SHIP FRAME INTEGRITY 76%
> CAUTION: OUTER HULL BREACH IMMINENT
> WARNING: ENGINE TEMP CRITICAL
> LEFT ENGINE SHUTDOWN
"Sir! She's falling apart!"
"Dear god in heaven..." The Major muttered as he looked at the computer screen. Andrew pulled back the emergency airbrake lever. The ship slowed a little, then a tearing noise sounded throughout the pelican as the airbrake panels were ripped off by the force of the air. The speedometer read ERROR. The pelican began to roll. The controls barely responded. The throttle was now pulled back all the way, and switched into reverse. It did little good. He triggered the emergency reverse thrusters. The ship rocked, and everyone felt a lurch forward...then backward. Andrew looked at the screen again.
> WARNING: COCKPIT TEMPERATURE EXCEEDING 140 DEGREES F
> WARNING: OUTER HULL BREACHED
> ENGINE SHUTDOWN ENABLED
> WARNING: SHIP FRAME INTEGRITY 23%
> EMERGENCY THRUSTERS DAMAGED
>> EJECTION HIGHLY RECOMMENDED <<
Andrew grabbed the cross he wore around his neck, and prayed. Sweat poured from him like a river. He deployed the emergency chute. It failed. Bailing wasn't an option anymore. At that velocity, it would take at least 10 minutes to slow down to a reasonable speed. "We're screwed!" Andrew screamed. He pulled the stick back as far as it would go...The ship slowly slowed down as it went in belly first. He punched in a few commands to try to override the engine shutdown. After 15 seconds the engines came back to life. The extreme heat would probably damage the engines, but all he cared about was living. The throttle was pushed all the way forward, and the engines thrust aimed down, as if it were going to do a landing. The altimeter read 8746 meters, and it was rapidly declining. The ship was slowing, but not fast enough...8000...7000...6000...5000...all in a matter of seconds.
The flames around the pelican disappeared, and large buildings came into view. He was still coming down way too fast. He was down to 3000 meters. He slowly regained control of the ship, and pulled up, and he was dodging skyscrapers...trying to get somewhat close to the nav-point that indicated the location of the escaped POWs. His inertia kept the pelican flying at least 8,000 km/h. Even with the thrusters on reverse, it would take forever to slow sown. Avoiding the skyscrapers was an incredible feat, because the controls were so loose. He was coming down a long stretch of highway, with he marker 2 km ahead, and deployed the landing gear. He slammed the ground hard, and the front, and left rear wheels blew off. The pelican's nose scraped down the highway. It slid for 2 ½ kilometers before stopping.
Andrew sat back in his seat. He wasn't sure if he was still alive. He leaned forward, grabbed a bag, and threw up in it. He hit the hatch door to get some air in the room. The cold air was lake a slap in the face. It was a welcome relief from the 150+ Degrees in the ship. The Major jumped out, and threw up.
2206 Hours, December 25, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
Covenant Political Facility, On the surface of Covenant World
"what the hell? C'mon, lets see if they're alright!" John said, gesturing at the pelican that slid past them seconds earlier.
"We should get a ride, first..." said a marine pointing at a parked covenant transport bus.
"Ok, Get on, before they get out of there." John and the marines piled the covenant 'cars' and 'busses' against the doors inside. John figured that would hold them in for about two or three minutes. John, and the marines piled the 2 bodies, and the injured marine inside, then got on themselves. After about a minute, John got the feel for the controls. He sped along the gash in the road. He tried not to be too rough, because the only thing keeping the marines from falling out the open sides was a bar stretching across the 'ceiling' that served as a hand-hold. And they could only hold on with one hand, because they had to hold on to their comrades unable to stand. He caught a glimpse of the pelican. It looked like a blackened pelican that was once in a thick metal skin. That skin appeared to be pealed back to about halfway. It was standing crooked on a single wheel. The under hull had wavy patterns on it...as if a liquid was washed over a speeding car, and it solidified suddenly. A Marine were outside, bent over with his hands on his knees. "Must've been one hell of a ride..." One of the marines commented.
Andrew jumped off to join the Lieutenant. He handed him a bottle of water, and he gulped it down furiously...He looked up. "Oh shit..." A covenant transport bus was approaching. He grabbed his sidearm, and aimed it. He fired several shots. The bus stopped, and a human stepped out, with a hand in the air. He was pale...too pale...as if he had never seen the light of day. Then two other marines stepped off, each holding a marine up, and helping another marine limp towards them...
"Let's get the hell off this rock" John said "...sir" he added after noticing his insignia of Lieutenant.
"Let's..." The man said, sweat dripping down his face. He stood up straight, and climbed back in the pelican. Major Bradley got in, and sat back into his seat. Andrew Hit a couple buttons, and amazingly, the engines came to life, and they were off to the Atlantic...
2220 Hours, December 25, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
Damaged Pelican Dropship, Covenant Controlled Space
The pelican was dead. The engines were completely useless. It was being pulled in by a tug. Longswords patrolled the area, ready to blast anything that came after the pelican. John looked out the front. The huge ship Atlantic loomed in the distance. It looked like it took the biggest beating any UNSC ship has ever taken. Gashes, and burned holes streaked down the sides. A hole was so huge, that it punched through all the layers of its hull, and breached the decks below. Oddly enough, it was the only UNSC ship out there. John was wondering...'where the hell is the rest of them?' as if the lieutenant could read his mind, he said aloud, "We were hiding behind that gas giant" He pointed at a blue-green gas planet. "The Captain wouldn't let us exit the system without extracting as many marines as possible...and every Spartan inserted...after two days, we were losing hope...then we got your transmission..." John didn't know what to say. These people risked their lives to save him. He would forever be in debt to the Captain of that boat.
2300 Hours, December 25, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
Battle Cruiser Atlantic, Slipstream Space
John was in the cryo bay. He had just gone through all the pre-cryo checks. All were good. John looked at these cryo tubes. They were designed for Spartans. They could communicate with their AI's while in hibernation...they were not conscious however. Their brains would be functioning, but just barely. 1 minute to them would in actually be days. He climbed in. The tech was about to put Cortana's AI cube in the slot on the side of the pod, when he turned to John. "you say she hasn't been in anything for 2 days?" The chief nodded. "God help you" He said with a smile. He chief couldn't help but smile as well. "If you'd prefer, I could not put it in...it would just be like normal cryo-sleep..."
John smiled. "No, I couldn't do that to you...I can't imagine the hell she'd give you people." The tech let out a short burst of laughter.
"OK then." He turned to the tech in the control room overlooking the whole bay. He gave the thumbs-up sign, and he returned it.
The last thing John saw was the pod door close, and the tech inserting the cube in...and blackness...He felt Cortana's presence in his mind...but instead of feeling like ice-water, like it should, it felt like his mind was on fire.
"What? Where...who...You! You asshole, what the hell were you thinking, when you left me there?!" Cortana shouted
John said very calmly, "Didn't want you to be captured by the covenant..." The heat in John's head seemed to cool down a bit "Cole Protocol, you know..." ...the heat came back...
"Oh...well I think I'd rather take my chances with the damned covenant, than that torture"
"Calm down..."
"Fuck off!" The chief was surprised by this. He had only seen Cortana act like this once before...
"Have it your way..." John said, still calm as ever. Damn, you'd figure she'd be grateful, and not act like an ass, he thought to himself.
"I heard that!"
Oh it's gonna be a long trip...
TO BE CONTINUED
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