Earth's Destruction Chapter 4: One-Ship Assault
Posted By: Sentinel<bertuccismith211@aol.com>
Date: 9 December 2003, 2:30 AM
Read/Post Comments
|
The Firewall sped through slipspace, at an unknown location. This was the last cruiser in the remaining human fleet. The fleet went from one thousand ships to twenty. If the crew of the Firewall knew what their last mission would be, they'd probably commit suicide.
Only Admiral Severn and Eric(Spartan 467) were the only ones on the bridge. The Admiral shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe you even thought about this. I mean, this is a suicide mission. If the crew knew about this, they'd panic and kill themselves."
The Spartan stood five feet away from Severn. No one could tell what was going on behind his reflective visor. "It will work. You just have to trust me. Besides, what other way to revenge Earth than glass their homeworld and return the favor."
Severn turned around, looking at the central viewscreen. "No. This is a suicide attempt. No one has ever managed to get near their homeworld for five seconds," he paused for a few seconds, "and live."
"But this will work," the Spartan replied. "If we can gather all UNSC ships that fled Earth, and exit slipspace in the planet's atmosphere. We then can abandon ship, and capture one of the Covenant's leaders."
The Admiral rubbed his chin in thought. "Sounds suspiciously like the mission the Spartan IIs were set out on, before the Covenant attacked Earth."
"Yes. This is that mission, and I may be the only Spartan left to do it."
Severn finally gave in. "Alright, you win." The Admiral hit the ship-wide intercom. "All bridge personnel, report back."
Then he added to Eric, "Go get everything ready, and meet me once we've exited slipspace."
"Yes sir," Eric replied as he picked up his SM8B off the floor. He then added, "Thank you sir," as he left the bridge.
Severn sighed as the Spartan left the bridge. "This is insane." Yet he was forced to agree. This one Spartan was perhaps the most unstable. That meant that he would kill anything, no matter who they were. And he could have snapped the Admiral in less than a heartbeat if he wanted to.
Severn was brought back to reality as all the bridge officers took their stations. "Alright everybody," he addressed the officers. "We're going to do what you'd think is suicide. But, we have a chance." He paused to take a breath. "We're attacking the Covenant homeworld."
One bridge officer fainted and fell out of his chair. Another smashed his head against his station's screen. The third one screamed, "We're all gonna die," as he went into what looked like a seizure. But it was only someone losing their mind.
Admiral Severn looked at the officer at slipspace ops. "Lieutenant McDermott, plot a slipspace course for the Covenant homeworld's atmosphere. And trigger a remote signal for the Firewall to jump out of slipspace as soon as we're in the launch bay."
"It's ready Admiral."
"Good. Let's get to the launch bay."
They all shuffled out of the bridge, Admiral leading the way. They found their way through the maze-like corridors of the UNSC cruiser. After five long minutes they finally reached the launch bay. "I never knew that this ship was this big," Severn muttered to himself as he opened the launch bay doors.
Spartan 467 walked up to the UNSC officers. "We're all ready Admiral. Ten Pelicans, seven Longswords, five Warthogs, and four Scorpion Main Battle Tanks."
"How did you manage to get those attached to the Pelicans?" the Admiral asked curiously.
"We fit one Scorpion in between two Pelicans for each of the tanks." Eric then turned to look at his work. "Nice job, isn't it?"
"Yes," Severn replied. The tanks were rigged on nicely. They now wouldn't be much of a weight problem. "Very nice work."
There was a slight rumble as the Firewall passed through the Covenant homeworld's atmosphere. "Okay," Severn said. "Let's be ready to move now."
A bunch of yes sirs and two minutes later they were all on Pelican dropship. It was crowded. Luckily, Severn had climbed into the co-pilot's seat. Better to ride in the cockpit than in the back.
Severn hit the intercom and said, "Are we ready to exit slipspace via that remote signal Lieutenant McDermott?"
"Yes sir."
Finally, things were getting underway. "Send the signal on my mark." He then hit the radio switch for all the Pelicans and Longswords. "Is everything ready?"
Twelve yes sirs came through the frequency. Severn turned the intercom on, again. "Hit it Lieutenant!"
The Firewall seemed to tilt over as it fell into the atmosphere. "Here we go!" yelled a voice through the comm. Severn felt disorientation and vertigo as the cruiser fell through the atmosphere.
"Pelican 1 to all Pelicans and Longswords. Punch it! Over." Severn made sure that his Pelican was last as the small ships moved into the unknown atmosphere. "Here we go!"
The Pelican broke its bond from the cruiser and flew into the unknown…
|
