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The Defense of Earth 2: The 889th Tactical Fighter Wing
Posted By: Steele<hoffmansteele@hotmail.com>
Date: 19 March 2003, 12:31 AM
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The 889th Tactical Fighter Wing
0630 Hours, October 14, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
Earth Local Space, Near UNSC Widower
Commander Rick "Einstein" Mitchell watched the AIS-36 missile slam into the top half of the Covenant Troopship and explode, ripping out a large chunk of smoking armor. The Troopship continued onward undaunted. Rick cursed to himself and rolled out to the left as plasma fire soared through the section of space his Dagger had just occupied.
"Gold Squadron, I have an idea. Set your Weapon System Sensors over to all Frequency broadcast and slave them to the Longswords. We'll drop in and get locks on the Troopships and feed them to the Longswords, so they can launch their Hammers at long range, without being ripped to pieces by the Seraphs," Rick ordered over the COM channel.
"Yes sir," Gold Seven and Squadron XO, Lieutenant (SG) Michael "Thump" O'Reilly replied, his voice anxious.
Rick flipped his COM channel over to that of the Longswords and informed their commander of the plan.
"That should work nicely, we'll volley till we're skinny and dry!" Swenson said.
"Yes sir," Rick responded. "And we'll see what we can do to keep your boys alive." Rick flipped back to his Wing Frequency, "I want Red to join me, the rest of you cover those Longswords. Now let's hit it." Rick decided a slight change in tune might work, so he flipped on Black Sabbath's 'The Mob Rules.'
He knew his tactic would work. It would take multiple hits from an AIS-36 to bring down the Troopships, but only one from the Longsword's Hammer Cruise missiles. He punched in a command code and dropped in behind the Troopship he'd shot at earlier. He got a lock and sent the sensory feeds to the Longswords.
Two Hammer Cruise Missiles reached out and slammed into the Troopship. The first hit amidships, breaking the ship's back and doing major structural damage. The second hit the Plasma Engine assembly, severing it and causing the Engine to rip free of the Troopship. The ship listed to port, spewing out standard Covenant U-shaped dropships, then spun and hit the atmosphere, burning up.
Rick grinned and turned to the left to drop in among another Troopships, but was distracted. His sensors lit up, indicating two Plasma Torpedoes about to slam into his ship. He looked to his left and saw the two bright blue comets; seconds from impact, closing on him like a pincer. He acted instinctively.
Rick slapped his stick to the side and felt the momentary press of Gs before the inertial compensators kicked in. He then slammed his throttles forward into blower and hit his rudder. His Dagger rolled ninety degrees and banked to the left darting in between the two torpedoes.
The two Plasma torps slammed into each other, instead of his Dagger, and coalesced into an azure fireball. Rick inverted his fighter and dove on the Seraph that had shot at him. He dropped in right behind his six and pulled the trigger, while saying, "Fox Two!"
An AIS-36 heat-seeking missile darted out of his weapons bay and lanced itself deep within the Seraph before it exploded. It did so in a bright fireball, throwing out shrapnel. Rick knifed through the explosion. "Gold One vapes another Seraph! That makes eleven for me. A new record!"
Rick rolled out behind another Troopship, got a lock, and watched as Hammer Cruise Missiles arced in and ripped it to pieces. He pulled up just as the Covenant Troopships hit the atmosphere. His Dagger would be of very little use in the atmosphere. He clicked on his COM.
"Well we did our part, now the Air Force will have to do theirs, but it's not like we left them a lot to work with."
"That's right sir, we kicked their sorry extraterrestrial asses. They won't want to go up against the 889th again," cheered his XO.
"Preach it, Thump," a young ensign shouted over the COM channel.
"All squadrons we need to get back to the Widower to rearm and refuel now, before more Covenant ships show up." Captain Swenson growled.
"Aye aye, Captain," Rick said as he spun his Dagger and lined up with the UNSC Widower. He flew in the docking bay and caught a docking harness. It took his Dagger over to its proper place. Rick popped the canopy and climbed out. He left his helmet and survival equipment in the Dagger's seat and turned to his crew chief.
"I got eleven of the fags, how's that for an hour of work?" Rick said, while wiping his sweat-stained flight suit.
The crew chief smiled, "That's a new record. I'll put them up as soon as I'm done with rearming her. Ammo and fuel first sir, you know how it is."
Rick started to walk away, then frowned; looking at the side of his fighter's nose. Where there had once been a picture of a reclining shark swallowing a Banshee, all that remained was a charred piece of armor and the Banshee. That wasn't a very good omen. He turned to his crew chief.
The chief saw it and reassured Rick. "Don't worry I'll fix it up soon as I'm done with your meatballs."
Rick grinned, gave him thumbs up, and jogged to his debriefing station. He got there and took his seat up front. An ONI colonel was standing up front near the podium. Rick looked at him and immediately recognized him as Colonel Ackerson from NavSpecWep.
The Colonel looked around at the assembled high-priority officers, and then began. "Gentlemen right now there is a lull in the fighting. For some reason the Covenant have pulled back and are reforming. We are going to use this 'window' to reinforce Earth and counter attack. As you know the Covenant continued with their standard Distraction, Deception, and Deceit tactics. While our forces where engaged several carriers used a pinpoint jump to get in close to Earth and attack.
"And well the 75 ships that jumped in system were completely wiped out by the MAC guns. During the engagement our casualties were relatively light. We lost about seven percent to their twelve percent. Our biggest worry is that when we counter-attack is that the Covenant will jump close to Earth and attack. If they do that, they have a three-hour window to destroy our Super MACs and invade Earth.
"All our forces are committed near Mars. We have to stop them there. Just in case we're sending fifty of the new battleships here. As you know this ships aren't like all our other cruisers. They're more than a match for any two Covenant Vessels. These coupled with the Super MACs plus any reinforcements should be enough to hold back any attack long enough for us to get in and rip them to pieces. Your new assignments are being uploaded to your APA now.
"I've got to get back to Admiral Stanforth. Rear Admiral Joseph Mugs will be in charge of all forces near Earth. Good luck to you all. We've got to protect Earth with everything we have. If they take Earth, it's all over." With that he saluted, turned and left the room.
Rick looked down at his APA and frowned. His fighter wing, what remained of it, were to arm themselves with ASM-19 Shredders and strafe any Covenant Capital Ships. This tactic wasn't known to promote longevity among pilots. It was a simple tactic and when used correctly proved very effective.
A squadron would fly straight at a cruiser in wedge formation and launch a Shredder salvo aimed at a certain spot. Hopefully this combined barrage would punch a hole in the shield large enough for a Longsword, following closely behind, to plant a Driller anti-ship missile.
The Drillers were known to drive straight through armor, bulkheads, and anything that got in its way and then explode. The pilots had learned to 'aim' the missile so when it exploded it would be near either the bridge or the Plasma Reactor. This proved to render the Covenant vessels 'combat ineffective.'
Rick called his Wing into the briefing room and informed them of the plan. They weren't surprised. The UNSC had been throwing away fighter wings like this for years, just to save their precious 'big ships.' Luckily most units had practiced this and were prepared.
Two hours later, Rick was in his Dagger with the rest of the 889th Tactical Fighter Wing, flying CAP (Combat Aerospace Patrol) around the Widower. His wing had a good plan and was ready for the Covenant, at least as ready as they could be. That was before his sensors beeped telling him of Slipstream exit. Multiple Slipstream exits. Looking up, he almost wet himself.
Precisely 700 Covenant Capital Ships had just dropped out of space in front of him. They flew in a perfect formation. Their blue and purple hulls glistened when they caught reflected light from the sun. All the ships appeared to be grinning, their bulbous sections pointed toward him.
Every single MAC gun fired and all the rounds fell short. The Covenant were out of range, but not by much. And they were advancing. Rick saw the trailing sapphire glow of the Plasma Engines as the ships accelerated toward the Fleet. Toward him. Toward Earth.
Rick was at a loss for words, but managed to find: "Oh shit!"
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