Author's Note: I've taken a few liberties on this chapter to help it fit better with my version of the story, but I tried to stay as close to canon as possible on this one (excluding the date, obviously). Hope you enjoy, please let me know what you think, and peace!
Chapter Nine: This Is Not a Drill
1546 Hours, August 11, 2552. Above UNSC Orbital Defense Platform Athens Station, Just Outside Earth's Atmosphere. "The Way Things Began," Planet Earth. Prologue to the Invasion of Earth
First Lieutenant William "Willis" Hawk, callsign "Talon," relaxed in the pilot's seat of the C709 Longsword starfighter. He was a Marine, and thus trained for many different types of missions---the chief among them being ground ops, of course. But even during his time at the Academy on Reach, he'd always known he would feel most at home in the cockpit of a ship.
Hawk hadn't been able to fly a Longsword Interceptor, his favorite bird to pilot, since he'd been selected for the prototype training program on Rondurass a year ago. At first, he'd been excited to learn that he'd made the cut, because only the top pilots were allowed the honor. The prerequisites to even be scouted as a possible candidate were already monstrous: prospective test pilots had to have graduated in the top one percent of their class in both flight school and their respective academic universities. Obviously, this whittled down the field considerably all on its own, but the Rondurass trainers weren't quite satisfied yet. Prospective pilots also had to have been involved in at least five campaigns, received a certain number of citations for their combat performances, and shot down something on the order of fifty Covenant aircraft. Twenty-four at the time of his acceptance, Willis had been one of the youngest to qualify, and it was an accolade that made him proud. Still, after piloting the same prototype for so many months, he was glad to finally be training with Longswords again.
The prototype crafts, variations on the standard D77-TC Pelicans, had finally been released for use in the UNSC military as of three weeks ago. Now, Lieutenant Hawk and his squadron of elite pilots were allowed to return to their preferred vessels---the Longswords---until their next deployment. Because of the needs of the prototype project, all the pilots involved had been out of the actual fighting since arriving on Earth; Willis was itching to get into some real dogfights with the Covenant once again. As long as he was blowing Covie bastards to hell in his ship, he felt like he was doing his part to help bring the war to an end. And if he was out saving the human race, Hawk reasoned, he was also keeping his own family safe by extension.
The lieutenant checked his Longsword Interceptor's status boards for the millionth time since take-off, and only then did he allow his gaze to fall on the picture taped to the cockpit.
A small grin began to play across his lips. The photo had been taken just a month earlier, when Natalie had finally come home from Sigma Octanus IV, and it showed one of the more candid moments of his family's otherwise hectic and serious lives. Willis was turned sideways, pulling his wife towards him as he kissed her on the cheek; standing between them and grinning as wide as his parents was their young son, a happy little kid after a day of being spoiled with gifts and attention. Lieutenant Hawk loved the photograph, and he knew Natalie had taken a copy with her when she'd gone back to her unit as well. It was a reminder of the better times, times they'd hopefully get to have in the future. If the war ever ended, that is. And if the Covenant didn't manage to annihilate the human race like everyone thought they would.
Willis sighed and checked his ship's instruments once again. Still no bogies. Where the hell was Captain Ryder with her practice opposing force? Combat exercises were supposed to get the pilots into hairy situations where they had to think, not dull ones where they could let their minds wander.
As he waited for the action to start, Lieutenant Hawk found himself stealing a second glance at the family picture. In doing so, Willis began to recall the tail end of his and Natalie's shore leave. Not surprisingly, the first thought that came to his mind was a pleasant one: him and Cooper making love on their last day together. Hawk smiled to himself. Yeah, that was definitely a good thing to remember.
But his wife's departure soon after made the memory bittersweet. Life was always difficult for both of them when they were separated, and Willis and Natalie never had any idea when they would see each other next. Maybe in several months, as had been the case for the last year or so? Maybe in several years, which was closer to the norm? Or, though neither of them wanted to even consider the possibility, perhaps never again? With the Human-Covenant War still going strong, there was just no way to tell. And leaving his son, of course, had been harder still…
"Talon, this is Snoopy, over."
First Lieutenant Hawk was shaken from his musings by the voice that suddenly flooded his helmet, but he recovered quickly. Suddenly grinning, he replied, "Snoopy, Talon. Read you loud and clear. Any bogies yet?"
"Negative, Talon. Where do you suppose Red Leader went?" First Lieutenant Brandon Heat, callsign "Snoopy" and Hawk's wingmate, asked.
"Wouldn't know, Snoopy. Don't see 'im on the screens," Willis answered.
"Dammit, it's bad enough Blue Leader hasn't made her presence known yet."
Red Leader, in this training exercise, happened to be their squadron commander, Captain Jason Dakota. Blue Leader, their designated "enemy" commander, was Captain Theresa Ryder. But for some reason, both Dakota and the entire Blue team were missing. The occurrence was an odd one, and Hawk had the feeling that the two captains had some tricky maneuvers up their sleeves.
"Talon, Eyeshadow. Found Blue Leader, over." Even over the fuzzy COM channel, Willis managed to recognize the voice as First Lieutenant Jessica Meyers.
"Eyeshadow, Talon. Where?" Lieutenant Hawk looked at his instruments, but he couldn't see anything that indicated the other squadron commander's position.
"Oh, Christ! Talon, she's right on your fucking six!" Lieutenant Heat shouted.
Willis didn't waste any time confirming his wingmate's panicked statement. He simply gripped the controls of the Longsword tighter and sent the starfighter to the left in a tight barrel roll. His split-second decision served him well: had he remained in his previous position long enough to check his boards, his hull would have taken the brunt of Blue Leader's 110mm rotary cannon rounds. That would have made Hawk the first "casualty" of the exercise, a cause for much embarrassment and ribbing once the pilots returned to base. The lieutenant let out a quick sigh of relief before he realized Blue Leader was coming after him again.
"Not bad, Talon," Blue Leader said over the COM channel. "I'll admit that when I snuck up on you, I thought I had it made."
Lieutenant Hawk grinned a second time. "Thanks, Blue Leader. But compliments aren't going to make me let my guard down." As he spoke, Willis maneuvered his Longsword Interceptor through a series of banks to the left and right. Just as he'd predicted, Blue Leader strafed him the whole way.
She'd taken the bait.
All right, Blue Leader. Let's see how good of a pilot you really are, Hawk thought. He knew full well that she was an excellent pilot, but the real question he wanted answered was whether she was better than him. After all, Captain Ryder, he'd been told, held the squadron record for most Covenant kills. Willis, however, liked to attribute the fact that he was many, many kills behind to their difference in age and time in service. Six extra years had to count for something, right?
That's exactly right, Hawk thought. As Blue Leader came strafing behind him with her cannons once again, Willis suddenly jerked the controls of his Longsword up and cut his forward momentum. A single, classic textbook move, and now he was the one who had her in his sights. This is how you take out a bogie, Talon-style, the lieutenant thought with a slight curl of his lips.
Lieutenant Hawk was about to wipe Blue Leader off the map when a crackle in his radio made him hesitate. He didn't know why, but he somehow felt that the transmission would be too important to miss.
"Red Leader, are you seeing this?" The voice belonged to Lieutenant Heat.
"Snoopy, Red Leader. Yes, I've been tracking them. That's where I disappeared to a moment ago. Blue Leader?"
"Red, this is Blue Leader. I hear you, over."
"Blue, Red Leader. What do you say we cancel the training and check out just what the hell all these blips are?"
There was only a moment's pause before Captain Ryder answered. "Agreed. That is strange. Base didn't mention another squadron practicing maneuvers out here." There was a brief period of silence, then, "Blue team! Form up on me and let's go for those blips. Heading zero-zero-four-point-two."
"Red team, get behind me and follow the same course," Captain Dakota ordered over the COM channel. Willis obeyed the command, immediately turning his Longsword in the direction of the heading and pushing the starfighter's controls forward.
As he slid into formation alongside the rest of his squadron, Hawk wondered what those blips on the screen could possibly be. Whatever they were, he was going to be pretty pissed when he encountered them; they'd ruined his perfect kill against one of the squadron's best pilots. Now he'd have to work his ass off to get that privilege again, and he couldn't use the same tactics a second time, either. He'd been so freaking close…
Lieutenant Hawk's mind was brought back to the present abruptly when he saw a small fireball up ahead. "Jesus! What the fuck was that?" he said through the COM.
"Oh, my God. That was Blue Leader, Talon. She's dead," Captain Dakota announced in an uncharacteristically small voice.
"Red Leader, this is Cougar! Holy shit, these blips are Covenant fighters! I repeat, Covenant Seraphs inbound!" First Lieutenant Eric Davis cried; he was Blue team's XO, now commanding.
Willis suddenly felt as if his heart had stopped. Blue Leader had been killed and the Covenant were here, outside Earth's orbit? The scenario was like something out of a nightmare, and yet it was really happening.
"Cougar, Red Leader. Confirm Covenant ships in-system?"
"Red Leader, Cougar! Covie bastards, Red, I mean it!"
"Cougar! You'd better bank to fucking port!" Willis heard one of Blue team's pilots yell.
Coming up on the battle now, Lieutenant Hawk watched as Cougar maneuvered his Longsword Interceptor out of the way of purple lances of plasma. Blue team's temporary leader just barely managed to get away unscathed.
Hawk could finally see the real-life forms of the blips on his screens; they were Covenant Seraph fighters, all right.
"Red Leader, Talon! Shouldn't we be relaying this to HighCom, or at least base?" Even with the evidence plainly in front of him, Willis was still having a hard time believing the Covies were here, this close to Earth. How the hell did they find us? he thought, his pulse suddenly racing. And, oh, God, what about my kid who's down there?
It had been a long time since Lieutenant Hawk had felt sick in the cockpit.
"Talon, Red. I'm uploading data into a compressed file now, but we're too close to the Covie bastards; I don't want them picking up the transmission. I'm breaking off and making a run for the station. Take charge while I send this message, Talon. I'll be along shortly. Is that understood?"
"Affirmative, Red Leader. Talon out." Still in somewhat of a shocked daze, Willis took a deep breath before speaking to the rest of his squadron. "Red team, this is Talon. Come up on me, engage live weapons, and override the manual locks on your Shiva warheads. Repeat, weapons free. Let's take these fuckers out!"
While he'd been speaking, Lieutenant Hawk had jumped right into the middle of the fray between Blue team and the Covenant Seraphs. The teardrop shaped alien vessels were launching lances of plasma at the human spacecrafts, but so far Blue team managed to maneuver out of the way. Coming up on a Seraph himself, Willis gritted his teeth and began strafing with his 120mm ventral guns.
"Drake, I'm gonna do some fancy flying to get these bastards confused," the lieutenant said as he turned to glance at his co-pilot. "Then when I tell you to, I want you to launch a few Scorpion missiles. Prep the nuke and unlock the ASGM-10 missles, too. These Seraph's have to have come from somewhere, and it'll only be a matter of time before the Covenant capital ships show up."
"Y-yes, sir," Second Lieutenant Alexander Drake replied. "Getting heavy weapons hot, Scorpions ready to fire at your command."
Lieutenant Hawk nodded imperceptibly as he pushed the thrusters hard. Rolling to starboard as a couple of Covenant Seraphs tracked him with their plasma weapons, Willis was able to avoid the hail of fire with his maneuver. As soon as he'd completed the roll, he tricked the two Covie pilots by suddenly banking back to port. He came up just underneath the first Seraph, and that's when he let loose a long spray of 110mm rounds with the rotary gun.
"Now, Drake, now! Hit 'im with the Scorpions!" Hawk ordered.
"Firing, sir!" the second lieutenant replied.
The C709 Longsword shuddered slightly beneath Willis's seat as the missiles came free. Lieutenant Hawk drove his starship forward with lightening speed; the last thing he wanted to do was get caught up in the blast formed by his own weapons.
When the Scorpion missiles exploded behind the ship just seconds later, Willis had to hold onto the controls with firm hands to keep the Longsword from spiraling off in a random motion.
"Yeah!" Lieutenant Drake whooped. "Bastard's nothing but a pile o' debris now, El-Tee!"
"Confirmed hit?" Hawk asked. He couldn't believe it had been that easy.
"Confirmed, sir. Seraph was already trailing smoke when we hit it. Must've had its shields destroyed, Lieutenant." Drake looked at him. "Nice set up by the way, sir."
"Save it, kid. We've still got that second one to deal with, and it looks like three more are coming to join the party."
Willis continued pushing the Longsword at its top speeds, banking and rolling occasionally to dodge the streams of plasma. "Red team, this is Talon," he said over the COM channel as he maneuvered. "Disperse with your respective wingmates and engage the enemy fighters. We have to keep them busy while Red Leader relays his message. If you spot a capital ship, then stay the hell away from it. We should be receiving additional orders soon, so standby. Snoopy?"
"Talon, Snoopy. I suppose you want me to keep on your tail?"
Despite the horrible situation, Hawk couldn't help but grin. "You got it, buddy. Let's wreak some havoc, shall we?"
"Now you're talkin'!"
The pair of Longswords had just broken off together when Willis's COM crackled.
"Talon, Cougar. The Seraphs are starting to break formation and haulin' ass for the station! They must've spotted Red Leader heading that way."
"Cougar, Talon. Then we'd better stop them, because if that message doesn't make it to HighCom soon…" Lieutenant Hawk found himself unable to finish all of a sudden.
"Oh, my fucking hell. Is that a…" Drake began to ask, trailing off.
"Covenant capital ship, eleven o'clock off the port side!" Willis cried, suddenly regaining his speech. "Red Leader, this is Talon. We need back-up now!"
The fifteen seconds it took Captain Dakota to respond were the longest in Hawk's entire life.
"Talon, Red Leader. I see it, son. I've managed to get the message off, but it looks like the Covies are heading for the station. We'll have to defend it until help arrives, Talon."
Willis couldn't believe his own ears. Two squadrons of Longswords had to go up against four squadrons of Seraphs and a freaking capital ship? They were all screwed, and he knew it. Humanity will become extinct, Hawk thought to himself. The Covenant will take over the planet, first by invading it, then by glassing it. He felt like he'd been shot in the chest, the sudden sharp pain was so bad. And Gabriel, my little boy, and eventually Natalie, and then everyone else I know will be dead. This---a Covenant invasion of planet Earth, the human homeworld---was what the UNSC, HighCom, and others everywhere had feared all along. And now it was happening.
I'm not going to let them do it, Lieutenant Hawk vowed. I want to live; I want the people I love to live. And I'm going to help secure that future, right here, right now.
"Ready to go after 'em, Alex?" Hawk asked as he looked at his co-pilot.
"Yes, sir," Second Lieutenant Drake replied firmly. Hawk was surprised by the young officer's resolve, until he realized that his own voice must have projected much more confidence than he felt. He turned away and shook his head slightly. Command presence was even more powerful than most people cared to admit.
"Snoopy, Talon. Let's do this."
"Right behind ya, Talon. Just say the word," Lieutenant Heat answered.
"Sir! Three Seraphs comin' this way! They're gonna take us out before we get in a defensive formation around the platform!" Drake said.
"No," Hawk replied, narrowing his eyes. "They're going to try."
He leaned on the controls of his Longsword and swooped down towards the oncoming alien fighters. If he could only keep them at bay, at least until that capital ship managed to get close enough to reduce his whole squadron to floating metal scraps…
"Red team, this is Red Leader. I want you all to plant your entire store of Moray Space Mines around the perimeter as you fall back. That should keep the bastards busy and cautious, which'll buy us more time. Hold steady and we should be able to get through this all right."
Being chased by a particularly aggressive Seraph at the moment, Hawk didn't have time to comply with the order right away. Instead, he sent his Longsword into a neck-breaking turn before tipping the nose of the starfighter straight down; out in space, there was no real up or down, but the displays on his status board indicated that the Longsword was now in a vertical position.
He could feel the G-forces pushing him back hard against his seat, and his display showed that he and his co-pilot were currently experiencing eighteen Gs. That was probably one of the more unpleasant downsides to flying, Willis thought.
Just when he felt like he couldn't take it anymore, Lieutenant Hawk brought the craft level once more. Rolling to starboard as the Seraph continued to chase after him, Willis decelerated and watched as the alien craft sped past.
"I've got you now, you son of a bitch," Hawk muttered as he fired 110mm rounds at the alien ship. Not a split second later, the lieutenant saw his wingmate dive in from Hawk's port side and loose what must have been a dozen Scorpion missiles.
"And there go the shields!" Lieutenant Heat cried over the COM. "I'll let you have the honor of finishing 'im off, Talon."
Willis smirked. "Yeah, and I'll take it." He drove his starfighter forward and, when he'd arrived at the perfect position, Lieutenant Hawk ordered Drake to launch their own ordnance. Rocketing past the explosion, Hawk flipped his Longsword around, just in case a second pass was needed.
"Confirmed kill, Talon! And what a sweet shot it was!" his wingmate cried.
Hawk let out a sigh of relief and wished he could wipe away the sweat coming down his face. But there wasn't time for that; they still had to let their mines loose and get back to the station. "Ok, Snoopy. Now that that's over with, let's drop our little surprises and head for the Athens."
"Roger that," Heat replied.
Lieutenants Hawk and Heat finished planting their mines a short time later. They had just begun maneuvering toward the Orbital Defense Platform when it happened.
Willis stared outside the viewport of his Longsword in stunned silence. How the hell did the Covenant do that? he wondered, the sudden fear making his insides churn.
Somehow, a few of the bastards had slipped past both the mine field and the two squadrons of Longswords. And, as Hawk watched in mounting horror, the aliens detonated a bomb right on the orbital platform.
Athens Station was blown to smithereens a few seconds later.