Ch.3 Danger Close

MARCH 2ND, 2547. 0600 HOURS (STANDARD UNSC CALENDAR)

UNSC TWISTED FATE (NEAR ALERIA)

COMMAND BRIDGE

Captain David Recker

"Exiting slip-space jump in 3..2...1... Now." Clyde mentioned as Captain Recker pondered at the view screen in front of him.

The sudden stop in momentum almost knocked the Captain off of his feet, luckily for him, he was strapped into the command seat. Although, that didn't stop him from feeling the force of the deceleration.

"This is Aleria?" the Captain questioned, not letting his curiosity overtake him.

"Yes." The AI replied. "We should achieve orbit in about an hour or so. I would suggest having the ODSTs report to their pods at once. Also, I told Sergeant Devereaux to report to the bridge to discuss the plan with the Pelicans."

"I'm still not sure about that part of the plan, Clyde. You think that she could pull that off?"

"I'm fairly sure. My calculations state that she will have a 77% chance of success. She is a trained pilot, after all."

As Clyde finished that statement, the doors to the command bridge slid open to reveal the pilot in question. Recker did a quick overview of her report before leaving Earth, which stated that she was in fact a trained ODST pilot, while having served as an ODST after she first enlisted with the marines.

Her black hair swayed back and forth as she approached the Captain and Clyde, her Chinese-Canadian features becoming more apparent as she came closer.

"Sergeant Devereaux, thank you for coming on such short notice." The Captain began. "Clyde and I just need to go over the plan before we get too close to Aleria."

"Sure Captain." She replied with much joy. "I'm ready to do whatever it is that we're gonna do."

"Alright, I need your full cooperation for this mission. Clyde and I were discussing if we can pull off the 'Archangel' maneuver for insertion. However, I don't think we can pull it off with only one human pilot." Captain Recker replied grimly.

Lian took a small step back in surprise. The Archangel maneuver hasn't been tested much by the UNSC Air Force. In fact, from the tests that have been performed, the success rate isn't all that great. The maneuver would require Pelican pilots to cut the engines after leaving a UNSC ship in orbit. After falling into atmosphere, it would require assistance from a 'Smart' AI to fire the thrusters at the last second, to prevent the Pelicans from slamming into the ground at high g-forces. This maneuver is usually done in groups of three.

"I thought we were using orbital insertion for this op, sir." Lian said, wondering what called for the sudden change.

"We are." the Captain simply stated. "But, we're mixing things up a bit. We're gonna place ammo crates in the Pelicans along with marines. I know that it may sound risky that we're placing crates in a position that leaves the marines vulnerable to getting squished by either the crates or the by the high g-forces. However, it seems to be the only way to get additional boots on the ground without letting the Covenant or the Alerians know about it. The marine snipers can provide covering fire to allow the ODSTs to access the ship. The ammo on the Pelicans would allow us to stay longer on the planet if the ODSTs are taking too long. Do you think you can pull off the maneuver in your Pelican?"

She leaned from foot to foot, comparing the pros and cons between a normal insertion and the 'Archangel'.

Finally, after letting out a heavy sigh, "I can pull it off, Captain. Just one question: Who is piloting the other two Pelicans?"

"Simple." Clyde added. "I will pilot the other two. It won't put too much restraint on my programming. Many other AI, with worse programming might I add, have done more extreme stuff than piloting two loaded Pelicans toward a planet at terminal velocity and have it survive."

"Go ahead and head to your Pelican, Sergeant." Recker commanded. "We'll be engaging the enemy soon."

"Alright. Say, where is that group of ODSTs anyway?" Lian questioned the Captain as she strode out.

UNSC Twisted Fate

Armory

Cpl Tasha Bordeaux

"Hey! Watch where you aim that!" Tasha exclaimed at Monty, who had his M6C SOCOM pistol aimed in her general direction.

"Do I need to get the zip-ties again?" Jackson taunted from another corner of the armory.

"Ugh! What is it with you and zip-ties? Those things only tie up small objects." Tasha complained. "I'm surprised you were able to restrain me and Monty with those things."

"Well Tasha, I got my magic." Jackson joked with a grin on his face.

Tasha slightly grinned at the comment as she picked up a pair of dual M7 SMGs.

Footsteps clanked against the titanium deck as a woman of Asian descent strutted into the room as if she was the queen of the ship.

"Hey, you Delta-3?" She began.

"Yea." Jackson replied as he brought back the charging handle of a BR55 Battle Rifle.

"I'm Lian Devereaux, ODST pilot. I came down here to tell you that we're using the 'Archangel' drop for this op."

"God dammit! I hate that stupid drop." Monty screamed from the corner of the armory.

"What do you know? You probably weren't even there when they tested the maneuver." Tasha shot back.

"I was there when they tested the maneuver, who do you think identified the bodies!" Monty yelled with much excitement.

"Gross." Tasha retorted.

"Anyways," Lian continued, "We're heading to the Pelicans now, so get to it."

She then strutted out of the armory as quick as she came in.

"Man, she sounds like a handful." Tasha commented quietly as she left.

"Let's get going now." Jackson commanded. "Don't wanna keep the Captain waiting. Besides, waiting for too long would probably make that A.I. shit its pants, or the equivalent of it anyway."

15 minutes later

UNSC Charon-Class Frigate: Twisted Fate

ODST Drop Bay

"Alright, I'm strapped in!" Tasha yelled over her comms.

"I bet you are." Monty said quietly, momentarily forgetting that he left his mike on.

"I. Will. Kill. You. Montana Sanford." Tasha dared with much power behind it.

"Lock it down, both of you." Jackson deadpanned.

Tasha glanced to the weapons sitting happily in their holsters. A pair of M7S silent sub-machine guns sat in one holster while a M90 shotgun laid in the other.

"Ten seconds until drop." Clyde said over the team's comms.

"Alright, let's do this!" Devereaux yelled with much excitement.

"3"

"2"

"1"

Tasha immediately felt her feet kicking her brain as the pod shot out of the frigate faster than a rocket. The scenery of Aleria's upper atmosphere flooded the windows of the pod, along with the fires of terminal velocity. Glancing toward the ground, Tasha seen the Covenant frigate, its sleek purple surface glistening in the sunlight.

"Target in sight Gunny." Tasha reported.

"Roger that, Tash." Jackson acknowledged.

A bright flash appeared near the ship's bow.

"Radiation flare!" Monty panicked. "Is it trying to jump into slip-space?"

"Hopefully they just set off a nuke. These people aren't from an UNSC-controlled planet. I couldn't care less." Tasha muttered.

"Slip-space jump initiated!" Monty exclaimed. "Tell the Fate!"

"Can't the flare disabled comms. Brace yourselves!" Jackson commanded.

The resulting blast of the in-atmosphere jump hit the pod harder than a nuke. The pod began to wildly spin out of control; the systems were fired from the Covenant ship. The g-forces were too strong for Tasha to take. She couldn't think. The spinning made her dizzy.

She could only see black.

Captain David Recker

UNSC Charon-Class Frigate: Twisted Fate

Command Bridge

"Clyde, patch me into Delta-3's comm system." Recker commanded.

"Affirmative, sir." Clyde muttered.

A moment passed before another word passed through the air of the bridge.

"Target in sight, Gunny." a female voice said.

'That must be Tasha.' Recker thought.

"Roger that, Tash." a male voice replied.

'And there's Jackson' Recker thought once more.

A few more minutes passed. Normally, this would agitate any Navy Captain, but not to Recker. With all of the noise that had inhabited the ship for the past few days, he welcomed the near silence. However, something told him that this wouldn't last long.

"Radiation flare!" Clyde, and what Recker assumed was Monty, exclaimed at the same time.

Now Recker began to panic a bit. The Covies never used a tactic like this before. However, according to a few UNSC scientists and Monty's constant banter, it was entirely possible for Covenant ships to warp into slip-space inside a planets; a ability that UNSC ships couldn't accomplished with their Shaw-Fujikawa slip-space drives. But even those were primitive in design and technological power to the Covenant's equivalent.

"Can you warn Delta-3, Clyde?" Recker quickly questioned the A.I.

"No sir, the radiation must have fired the comms equipment on the pods and their suits." Clyde replied somberly.

"Damn." The Captain replied quietly. "Quickly, get me a line to Bravo-6. I don't care what protocols you have to break to give me a one on one with Admiral Parangosky! Get! Her! NOW!" His tone rising with each word.

The A.I. looked shocked at the Captain's quick rise in temper. It wasn't expected for an experienced Navy Captain to have a such a reaction. The Captain didn't care. He understood the consequences of letting the Penance of Betrayal escape.

And he didn't like it one bit.

Sorry guys about waiting so long for publishing this chapter. I honestly haven't been feeling too well (being sick doesn't exactly improve your writing moral). I have also been playing the new KSP update. I don't want this to be long-winded but….

Anyway, thanks for reading this chapter. Please leave a review. I think that my quality went down due to my absence but I promise to improve next time.

RNG OUT!