Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or anything associated with the US navy
chapter 1: a peculiar storm
October 25, 2009
location: the Scotia sea- USS Ronald Reagan CVN-76
Captain David Schulz stared out the window of the main bridge of the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan. She was the second newest aircraft carrier in service, behind the George HW Bush which launched earlier in the year. She had also gone in for her refit and was now armed with three CIWS mounts, one of the systems they would be testing in this new exercise. The real purpose of the exercise was to test a new system that would allow the carrier to link up the missile interception systems of the ships in its battlegroup, there by providing a blanket of anti-missile and anti-fighter protection for the carrier.
"Skipper" said Schulz's executive officer, commander Maxwell Young. "Just got a message from CAG. He's reached altitude with roundtop and is still waiting for Wagner."
"That girl probably overslept" said Schulz "did you tell CAG he can handle it with a two ship formation?"
"He still wants to show her the ropes a little" Young replied "he said he's more than willing to wait, the destroyers still have a bit of maneuvering, should take about 45 minutes.
At that, Schulz looked out the window again at the destroyers of the Reagan's battlegroup as they moved apart, spacing themselves for the exercise. On the flight deck, planes were being taxied around, one was being inspected by the ground crews, an F/A-18 hornet that belonged to lieutenant Jessica (hammerhead) Wagner.
--
Below decks in a private room, Jessica Wagner was getting dressed when a muscular arm grabbed hers.
"Come back to bed" the man in her bed whispered.
"Billy, cut this out" Jessica said as she broke free "this was a mistake."
"That's not what you thought last night" said marine sergeant William Banks. Like Wagner he was 28 years old had had secretly harbored a crush for his superior officer. When he kissed her the night before she returned the favor, seemed she liked him as well. But now Wagner was regretting the night before. After sleeping with the marine she got the feeling that he was the abusive type, perhaps it was his tough look and his marine buzz-cut that gave Jessica this feeling. All she knew is, this had to stop.
"I don't get it Jess?" Said Banks "didn't you enjoy last night? Or is that what you were after, a good fuck."
"Watch your mouth, sergeant" Jessica snapped.
"Don't give me any of that" said Banks as he got out of bed and wrapped his arms around Jessica, then kissed her. "We both wanted this."
"Leave me alone" Jessica said as she shoved him away. "Get this through your skull, jarhead. There is no us, last night never happened."
"So you were just looking for a good time"
"forget it" said Jessica as she pulled on her flight suit and grabbed her flight vest. "You better make sure no one sees you leave" she said as she left her quarters and headed for her squadron room to get her helmet and the rest of her flight gear. It had only been 15 years since women were allowed to serve on carriers and incidents like what happened between her and Banks were now commonplace. She had once found the marine a bit handsome and admitted to herself that she was attracted to him. Then things went overboard last night after he cornered her in the hall, she didn't know what compelled her to bring the marine back to her room and start riping his clothes off. Maybe she was just looking for a good time. Jessica finally reached the locker room and gathered the rest of her gear. She pulled her blond hair back and into a ponytail on the fly as she darted up the various stairs until she arrived on the flight deck. No other aircraft were scheduled to be in the air during the exercise and the last of the CAP was being recovered. Jessica was ushered to her waiting F/A-18 as it underwent final inspection. As a pilot she was required to also inspect her plane, for this mission she was only armed with her gun and a pair of AIM-20 AMRAAM missiles mounted on the wingtips. She settled into the cockpit and began her ten minute preflight, then was locked and loaded onto one of the carrier's steam catapults. The ground crew gave her the green and a second later she was slammed into the back of her ejection seat as her plane accelerated off the carrier deck and into the sky. She was placed into a holding pattern until the air wing commander, more commonly known as the CAG and his second in command came up behind Jessica's hornet.
"What kept you" CAG asked over the radio.
"Overslept, sir. Won't happen again" Jessica replied.
"Make sure you don't" said CAG "we'll be up here for about ten more minutes until the battlegroup can finish spacing out."
Their mission was to fire a live missile near the Ronald Reagan in order for her to test her new defensive capabilities. Two missiles would be used, one for the new interceptor system and another for the Reagan's new CIWS mounts.
"Hey, take a look at that" said roundtop "got some clouds moving in."
"hammerhead, report this to CIC, and get me a weather check" CAG ordered.
"Aye, sir" Jessica said as she switched frequencies. "Eagle control, this is hammerhead."
--
"go ahead" said 2nd officer Robert Quayle as he manned the Reagan's CIC (combat information center) the nerve center for the ship that controlled its aircraft deployment and ran radar and communications.
"We've got a spot of bad weather moving in. CAG wants a weather report."
"Hang on, I'm just getting it now" said Quayle as he was handed a satellite image, sure enough there was a small system moving in on them. "Hammerhead, it looks like we're going to have to cancel the test. I'll bring this to the skipper."
"Rodger, eagle control"
Quayle got on the phone to the bridge and informed the XO. When he was finished he turned his attention to the weather images as they flashed across his screen. Then something weird caught his eye. He double checked before printing out a few copies and rushed for the bridge.
--
On the bridge, the captain continued to look out the window. It had grown cloudy all of a sudden and the winds were picking up. There were also faint lighting discharges.
"Wasn't the report for sunny and 70 degrees" the XO joked.
The captain hated having to cancel a very important training exercise like this but they need optimum conditions for the test. "Recall our birds and lets get the destroyers back in formation" Schulz ordered. The captain decided to issue the recall ordered himself but as he picked up the phone, Quayle rushed onto the bridge carrying satellite printouts.
"Captain, you have to take a look at this" he said as he rushed over to his side.
"What you should be doing is checking our weather instruments" the captain said jokingly.
"Sir, I think you're right" said Quayle as he placed one of the satellite shots in front of the captain "one minute the storm system is there" he took out another printout taken a few moments later, the storm was completely gone. The captain snatched both sheets of paper and began a cursory inspection of the date stamps, they were only about a minute off.
"The barometer is also way up when it should be down, even compasses are malfunctioning" Quayle reported. But the captain's attention was focused on the satellite photos, a grim look came across his face.
--
"Hammerhead, land first" CAG ordered as the three F/A-18s came in behind the Reagan.
"Sir, you should be the one to land first" Jessica protested.
"I don't land until everyone of my pilots land" CAG said "something you should realize as a pilot"
"relax, kid" said roundtop "you'll do fine, no one's crashed in bad weather in 15 years".
"Easy for you to say" Jessica said under her breath as she lowered her hook and extended her landing gears. She always hated landing her bird on the carrier, and nearly flunked storm landings in the simulators. But something was different, her instruments read the wind speed at 0. Something wasn't right about this storm.
"Hammerhead.... orm....pul... wa... ff"
"Say again, CAG" Jessica said into her radio, only static answered her. She could see the controllers signal to her, she had to land now, worry about what CAG had said later.
"Hammerhead, Reagan control. Checkers green. Call the ball."
"Rodger, Reagan. I have the ball." She pitched her plane down then up slightly to let the hook grab hold of the braking cable. She once again slammed into her seat as the sudden gees of deceleration slammed into her fighter. Once secured she taxied off the landing deck and over to a holding area of the flight deck. Powered down her engines and exited the aircraft, she looked aft and tried to find CAG and roundtop, lighting discharges were becoming more frequent. Then she spotted roundtop on approach, CAG not far behind. Suddenly a lighting bolt struck CAG's plane and traveled to roundtop's. The signal officer ordered them to wave off, but both planes plunged into the ocean. Alarms began blaring on the flight deck and Jessica ran aft, but none of the emergency teams sprang into action, in fact, everyone was looking forward. Jessica turned her head and her moth fell agape at what she was seeing.
--
The captain dropped both printouts when he looked up and saw it, a blue tunnel of energy appeared right in front of the carrier, its tendrils wrapped around the ship. A lighting bolt disabled all the electronics and radar, the carrier was left helpless. Suddenly an ear splitting whine incapacitated the crew, shattered some glass status boards and blew out a few electronics. But just as suddenly as it came, the storm and the energy vortex disappeared. The sky was just as calm as before.