UNSC Antietam orbiting New Corsica
August 16, 2557
"Awesome." Lusana gave a whistle to the newest breath of fresh air upon removing his helmet. "Look at that boys!" All three Spartans turned their heads to see the UNSC destroyer Antietam in geosynchronous orbit over the blue and green jewel of New Corsica. "She's home away from home."
In his seat, Fowler groaned, "I really love the Navy. It's great except for all those fuckin sailors."
"Well don't sweat that Fowler." Hades said from Pine's external speakers, "Cardinal just signaled me. We've got trouble."
"What kind of trouble?" He asked.
"Don't know. Antietam's XO is waiting for you guys for a briefing."
The pelican was guided into the brightly lit hangar bay where personnel were already securing down before the ship's pilot even had thought about powering down the engines.
In his crisp, uniform, the XO greeted the Spartans and gestured them to follow him to a briefing room. While not as unique as their own back at Noble, it still did its job to serve as a place to inform teams of what they were to do. On the walls was a painting of a battle of the between men in blue versus men in gray. The American Civil War's bloodiest single day conflict, the Battle for Sharpsburg or more notably, Antietam, which the destroyer was named after.
The Antietam was one of the first vessels that was put into service once the war had ended. During that time, she had only been assigned to escort duty and an overwatch for Infinity's trials. Now she was in the thick of battle, having participated against the Covenant in the elite civil war.
Eon entered the small bluish lit room, where the XO and the holotank with Cardinal's dossier awaited.
"Eon, excellent work on tracking down the smuggling routes and that map will go a long way to hammering it in the future, however, we have a huge problem."
On the display, the dossier minimized and replaced with a replica of the long thin spinal space elevator.
"Looks like a hostage situation. Verona Beach's space elevator was hijacked this morning and the terrorists appear to be issuing an ultimatum to Governor Soir and the New Corsican governing body. I don't know if they're Venom as well, but they too have been calling for his replacement."
"So what are they after?"
"A four billion ransom as well as him and his cabinet's abdication from power. If it is refused, then they've already threatened the massacre of their hostages as well as the shootdown of oncoming craft."
"Haven't the controllers warned the traffic?" Pine asked.
"Negative, the control staff was taken hostage at the same time and under strict gunpoint to continue their jobs as normal. Any attempt to warn the pilots have not been done and if it were to be done, then the controller would be killed. These guys know almost any codeword for distress."
The XO spoke up, "We want you to infiltrate the control room and warn the traffic of what's happened. Rescue the controllers so that they can send out the distress call. Meanwhile, we'll have hostage rescue teams on standby with the ransom so that this crisis can go without incident."
"So how are we going to get inside? If we go by Pelican, they'd shoot us down." Austal said.
Fowler nodded, "Same thing with ODST drop pods."
None of them had prepared for that option, but Lusana had already been thinking of that just when they were ordered to rescue the crew.
"I've got an idea. XO, can we get full access to the Antietam's armory?"
The officer produced a card from his uniform, a simple means of unlocking and locking just about any door with his security clearance. Only him and the CO had the override type of card keys.
"Sure thing. Is it your method?"
"Yes, but it's most likely our only option."
Verona Beach Space Tether
"I hope you're not afraid of heights." Ross Pine said as Eon clung to the side. Here, Eon used nanofiber palms to their gloves and boots to cling onto the outer part of Verona Beach's space elevator. The top station was where the counterweight as well as both the controllers and the hostages were located. Destruction of that would result in the elevator's collapse and the death of more than just who inhabited the massive structure. The counterweight was above the station where the transports would dock and drop off/pick up passengers. The height difference between the two areas was nearly 2,800 feet, higher than Dubai's Burj Khalifa.
That was the theory, as the elevator was just under the height of where gravity would begin to wear off. It was the shortest of New Corsica's five space elevators since it was the least used, mainly for passenger transport to multiple other colonies as well as New York back at Earth. Down below, the lights glowed orange over the shaded areas of the planet, where night had fallen. The daylight showed patches of white, blue and green.
"How's it going up there?" Lusana asked over the channel.
Up near the top, Fowler and Austal were fitting in a few demolition charges. It was their first time they were rigging something with explosives at their strong points so that it couldn't be brought down. Once they had finished, they slowly made their way back down, cautious about their movements, halting slightly above both Lusana and Pine, who were surveying for any activity.
"Rigged to blow anytime."
"Good, let's get this done."
Fowler clicked the detonator, followed by the soft booms from above. The shaft vibrated as the energy traveled through the metal. The charges released parts of the elevator to fall to the bottom. Eon hugged the side as tight as possible before releasing their grip, performing what looked like backflips in slow motion and falling with the debris. Surely the terrorists would detect the falling debris, but they wouldn't be able to see the Spartans coming down alongside.
Eon angled their arms to control their descent as they neared the structure with the controllers and sensors inside. It was similar to skydiving, but this time, none of them had a chute. The closer they got to the planet, the faster they were falling.
"Easy does it." Eon lead told the team. To the right, Austal brushed aside a seven foot piece from taking out his shields. The feeling of freefall was exhilarating, putting in an adrenaline rush that only could be felt in such situation. While some thrived off of it and Eon was taking full force, none of them were planning to make death-defying stunts for recreational purposes today. Everyone had to return alive.
Pine was the closest to their destination and they were less than a thousand feet off, "Jetpack activated."
The thrusters burned a bright yellow as the sudden change brought his descent to a halt. Shortly afterwards, the rest of Eon announced their jetpack deployment. The debris had now fallen past the control area and terminals, but Eon slowed down, landing with a jarring impact on the roof. Other than a slight dip in the shields, they were in good shape.
"Everyone okay?" Lusana asked.
"Fowler's good."
"A OK."
"In one piece."
The team ditched their packs and readied their weapons for the operation. "Alright." Lusana began, "Keep quiet until the control room and nobody tries to be a hero. Got it?"
Eon flashed a burst of green lights through the HUD. It was going to be close quarter gunfights, so the team had much of their gear for that. Pine had the only weapon with somewhat far range, a BR85 battle rifle, most distant targets would be his job.
The emergency airlock was nearby and they quickly entered it before proceeding into the hallways of the station. It was brightly lit, with white painted walls and vivid lighting from the top. A large metal designer plaque welcomed both travelers and employees to the Verona Beach spaceport and space tether. The team crouched down, moving slowly and only when they had another covering their back from hand signals and light flashes.
They arrived at the lobby in front of the control room, where a desk was on the left, which controlled the screening for the control security. A guard with a helmet on stood with an assault rifle.
"I got eyes on three more." Pine reported from his separate point near a pair of bathrooms to the right. "All rifles."
"Eon, we're gonna have to take em out and disable the security." Lusana said, then marked them on his HUD. On all of the Spartan's there was a laserlike line visible to him and his teammates, showing the threat and who had it covered. Austal lined the guard by the station with his M57, indicating that that target would be taken out. If the guard moved, Austal would shift his aim so that it centered on his chest the whole time.
"On your shot."
"I'm ready." Fowler reported. His sight was covered and confirmed.
"Ready." Pine finalized. Lusana lined up his own target and then flashed his light again.
At the same time, all four Spartans fired their weapons, each at one target. The terrorists dropped before any of them could react.
"Kill confirmed."
Austal scanned his tracker and moved to the consoles when no contacts were detected. It took him a few seconds, but he deactivated the security barriers, allowing them to pass through without alerting the control crew or their terrorist handlers.
"Set to breach."
This time, Fowler paired up with Austal on the other side of the room.
"What's the count?" He asked.
"Tracker's showing six hostiles with hostages inside. Pick your targets gentlemen."
Austal had finished placing the breaching charge, sending a green light to Fowler that he was ready. When the green light was sent back to him, he clicked the detonator. The explosives tore through the wall, sending dust outwards. Fowler acted a second later, tossing in a flashbang.
When they heard the high pitched sound of it going off, they swept the room. At the same time, Lusana and Pine had come through the main door. Instantly, they met a couple of surprised gunmen, whom they quickly cut down. Austal trained his sights on one of them who was about to yank one of the controllers as a human shield. The man died as a stream of bullets penetrated his upper chest, dropping in a spray of blood. The hostage fell down, covering his head with his hands as part of a routine when faced with perpetrators against a counter-terror rescue team.
Lusana and Fowler eliminated the rest, who had less than a second later to try their futile acts. During that time, both Ross and Marcus had pulled down a couple of operators nearby to protect them if need be. The room had a large window facing outward that could view the terminal, all awaiting craft as well as those incoming.
"Clear!" Both Spartans had their sidearms aimed in case they had to defend the civilians.
"Oh thank you!" One of the controllers exclaimed, "Thank you so much."
Lusana put the safety back on his weapon, "Don't mention it. Now get the rest of the incoming traffic away from the port."
"Yes sir."
"Cardinal, Eon. The control room has been retaken, all hostiles eliminated."
"Good work Eon." Cardinal complimented, "Stand by for further orders."
Meanwhile Austal and Pine were at the control room, overwatching as the operators directed all traffic to the nearby spaceports of Cravate as well as the moon.
It was here when things started to unwind…fast. One of the controllers was ordering an aircraft, to a separate port when it continued on its course.
"IXD four-zero-two-seven, please change heading by one-seven-zero and proceed to Cravate immediately."
The pilot didn't make a response.
"IXD four-zero-two seven, acknowledge immediately." The operator spoke so fast it took him a minute to figure out the command.
"How long have they gone dark?" Austal asked.
The operator turned around, "I don't know."
From the holo-screen, it said that the designate craft IXD 4027 was at a heading inbound for the docking area. Judging from his perspective, he looked out to the window where displays moved with the aircraft that could be seen. He found the IXD 4027 icon quickly.
"What is?" He was cut off by Cardinal, who seemed panicked and the same conclusion as he did. It seemed that all the controllers and Spartans had deduced the craft's intentions.
"Eon, get out of there!"
"Incoming!" Fowler shouted, startling all inside the room and spurring them into action. "Explosives! Get clear!"
"Go! Go! Go!" Lusana encouraged, waving as quickly as they could. From the display, the unresponsive craft was passing the terminal and gaining velocity straight for the tower. Everybody instantly threw down whatever they were carrying and sprinted towards the door, out as far away from the suicide craft's objective.
The seconds ticked by, but it seemed like hours. The team had just entered the lobby with the operators in tow when a deafening explosion came from behind. Everyone was thrown about. Austal had impacted the solid granite wall when the fireball tore through the air. Shards of metal and stone flew through the air, threatening to pierce anything unarmored. The shields were chipped, a bone crunching feeling of taking rounds at point blank. Then, just as it quickly appeared, the catastrophe vanished.
"Eon status?"
"Eon come in!"
None of the Spartans answered or moved.
Did Eon survive? Maybe. Although it probably isn't the death toll is what's catastrophic about this.
Thanks for reading and reviewing, you give my writing purpose.