"Slipspace wake detected, stream accessible, reconfiguration course to intercept advisable."
Jason reconfigured his command and entered the new coordinates. The trips time recalculated and showed the new projected time. Four hours, Jason didn't know whether to be pleased or not. Their ability to piggyback on a slipstream wake meant that the Captain had been right and the Covenant fleet had jumped to Onyx.
"Slipspace capacitor charged sir." Nick reported "Slipspace transition in ten seconds."
The stealth craft leapt forward and the stars faded from view as the space around the Black wing tore open. The ship finally made the transition into the warped dimension known as slipspace. The Spartans in the back of the ship left their seats and started to police the equipment that had broken free from their restraints. Nick got out of his seat and went to help the others as the ships computer took over.
Jason leaned forward and typed in a search on the computer in front of him. One file came up and Jason stared at it for a second. He opened the mission folder and started to read it. It looked like a person had hastily typed it because the usual A.I. tidiness was missing from the orders.
Mission: Obelisk
Parameters: Valuable U.N.S.C. personnel MIA on planet code named Onyx. Sentinel infestation has taken over planet surface and lower atmosphere. Covenant fleet numbering 32 ships (various classes ranging from light frigate to heavy carrier) are in high orbit over planets northern polar region. U.N.S.C. fleet of eight ships destroyed by Covenant reinforcements. Rescue of said personnel, mission priority. Forerunner technology must be retrieved if possible. Planet side A.I. reports that Covenant troops may have means to open portal priority targets went through. Retrieval of personnel and forerunner technology must be completed before Covenant forces over run Earth defenses.
Jason sat straighter in his chair. Their orders definitely came from an officer on the Anatole but he didn't understand why. He usually received orders from the section 3 black ops A.I. Jason uploaded the file to his suits memory crystals and sent copies to his teammates.
The Spartans all read over the mission file and understood what they needed to do. Jason decided that the best way to get planet side would be to use the drop pod system onboard to get down to the planets north pole. Once there, depending on the opposition they would precede at best speed to find out a way to open the slipspace field.
Stephanie looked at the mission timer, another 30 minutes until they arrived. She got out of her seat and stretched. She replayed the engagement at the Chevron supply base in her head to see if Christian could have been saved. The covenant rushed us with superior numbers and we fell back. Christian covered their retreat and was hit by a enemy sniper in the head. Nothing could have been done. Everyone did as they were trained to do.
Jason left the pilot cabin and walked to the weapons cache. He reached down and grabbed a MA5B assault rifle and stowed 10 magazines in his left legs ammo compartment. He placed the assault rifle on his back magnetic grapple. The ship was going to arrive in five minutes and Jason wanted to be ready for anything.
The others followed his example and started picking out their weapons. Jason then went to a grenade crate and loaded up his grenade belt. He walked back to the cabin as Nick's yellow status light clicked on in his H.U.D.
"Sir, the calculations were off by a few minutes. We will be exiting slipspace in one minute."
Jason nodded to Nick and went back into the troop compartment.
"Team, load up and prepare for slipspace exit in T minus 45 seconds."
The Spartans grabbed the last of their gear and returned to their seats. Jason returned to his seat and pulled his harness tight. Nick input a strand of commands and the ships running lights turned off. He then initiated all stealth protocols and turned the engine dampers up to full power.
The ship seemed to freeze and drop as it returned to normal space. When they emerged they were 14,000 km away from the planet. Jason magnified his display in over the planets north pole. Hundreds of Covenant ships launched towards him.
The Black wing seemed to be dead in space. Nick had cut the engines because the ship was already getting plenty of notice from the Covenant armada. The Covenant ships had detected the slipspace field and had grown suspicious. They had already sent out four recon teams to investigate. They had drifted closer to the planet in the five minutes since they had entered the system. The Black wing drifted at a speed that was quite fast for a ship moving without its engines.
They could now see the Covenant fleet clearly without magnification. They were starting to pass under and around Covenant ships. Jason checked his calculations and redid the math one more time to ensure that he was right. They would arrive at the drop point in five minutes.
Jason ran to the back of the ship and grabbed a BR 23 battle rifle and ten clips of ammo. He stored the ammo in his right ammo compartment. He was to be the first one to drop because he had to lead by example. Jason walked to the first drop pod tube and got in. He did one final check of his equipment and armor to ensure everything was in working order. With this done he flashed his green status light one time to tell Nate who was at the pod controls that he was ready. He then looked up at the red light and waited for it to turn green. An agonizingly slow two minutes went bye then the light turned green. Like clock work Jason pulled down the lever and his pod was released from the Black wing.