Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or anything associated with the US Navy
chapter 3: splash two
October 25, 2009
location: the Scotia sea- USS Ronald Reagan
Captain Schulz was called back to CIC an hour after he left to hear a very unusual report from the CAP. He found commanders Young and Quayle waiting for him when Schulz arrived.
"Sir, hammerhead is reporting three contacts" said Young "we also have them on our scope".
"Any idea what they are?" Schulz asked.
"Two appear to be small planes judging from the radar signature" said Young as he brought the captain over to one of the LCD displays hanging in the darkened room, a radar image was displayed. Two dots bore the transponders of the Reagan's fighters. Three of them about twenty miles south were marked as unknowns, two small dots chasing a third bigger one. The third one starting to move faster, on a heading that would bring them to the Reagan in under 30 minutes.
"Skipper, do you see that?" said Young.
"You're damn right I see it" said Schulz as he went over to the phone and picked it up. "Get hammerhead on the line".
--
"This is hammerhead, go"
"Hammerhead listen to me very carefully, see if you can get a visual on the unknown but under no circumstances are you to engage. Clear?"
"Crystal, sir" Jessica replied.
"Hey, hammerhead. Those targets are closing fast" said her wingman , Knight.
"Hit the roof" Jessica ordered. She pulled her super hornet into a steep climb as did Knight. They leveled off at about 9000 ft and watched their radars as the contacts passed a few hundred feet below them, but didn't detect either fighter. Jessica and her wingman baked right and kept on the unknowns six o'clock high. They banked left slightly to get a better look, they didn't know what to make of the scene below. Two strange looking purple aircraft which resembled short beetles, only with glowing blue wings. Were chasing a third craft, his one was an olive brown color and had short stubby wings. The other two were more alien looking than the third which resembled more of a Russian cargo plane.
"Reagan control, hammerhead. We have visual contact with three, I repeat, three unidentified flying objects."
"Lieutenant, you better not be kidding around here" said commander Young.
"You can look at the gun camera footage yourself when I get back" said Jessica. "Advise our orders?" There was silence.
"Hammerhead!" Said Knight.
Jessica looked back down and saw one of the purple craft had slowed, then several bolts of bright light left the craft and one of them struck the top of the other aircraft they were chasing. The large one began to slow and the purple craft matched its speed. Suddenly, Jessica caught sight of tracer rounds leaving the back of the boxy craft, heading for the two purple ones. A stream of white energy bolts left the two alien looking craft but the boxy one put on the brakes and the purple UFOs flew right over them. Suddenly one of Jessica's radio channels flared to life with an unfamiliar voice.
"Mayday, mayday. This is pelican 390. We've been ambushed by a pair of banshees and have been damaged, we're leaking fuel and have lost offensive capability. Requesting any assistance, now!"
"Reagan, did you get that message?" Jessica asked. "Reagan, respond".
"What do you want to do?" Knight asked.
"Ok, on my authority we're engaging those two purple unknowns" said Jessica.
How do we know if the ones they're shooting at aren't the actual bad guys?
"Because the big one is using bullets and the other two are using lasers, that's how I know" said Jessica "just follow my lead".
"Roger" said Knight as he and Jessica pitched their F/A-18s into a dive.
--
"Hang on" Tanner said as the pelican lurched around after getting hit. Alarms started to buzz and crew Chief Higgins moved to reroute power from his seat behind Tanner, in the cockpit.
"Fuel lines have been ruptured" he reported "I'm rerouting to the reserves. But I doubt the engines are going to hold together for much longer".
"They're slowing down" Tanner said as she watched the scanners "they're going to fire!"
"Not if I can help it" said Fred as he grabbed a chain gun from an overhead compartment. He opened the rear hatch and lowered the overhead stand for the gun, mated the two and opened fire. AP rounds flew at the banshees, some striking but not doing enough damage.
"Hold on" said Tanner as she hit the brakes and the banshees flew right over the pelican. She released the safeties on the dropship's weapons but when she tried to fires she discovered the control systems had been damaged when they got hit. Tanner swore under her breath and corporal Higgins said it would be ten minutes until the weapons control could be rerouted to backup circuits. So Tanner keyed her mic and sent a distress call on all frequencies.
"Mayday, mayday. This is pelican 390. We've been ambushed by a pair of banshees and have been damaged, we're leaking fuel and have lost offensive capability. Requesting any assistance, now!"
"Smokes, they're coming around" said Higgins. Sure enough the banshees had come around and were preparing to finish off the crippled dropship. Her vector stabilizers had just failed which meant she couldn't pull any evasive maneuvers.
"Crap, smokes" said Higgins "we've got two more contacts coming right at us from above. Jesus, they're moving like a bat outta hell!"
Tanner looked forward as two gray blurs passed right in front of the pelican, and the banshees dove in pursuit. Tanner pitched the dropship to the left a little so she could see the action going on beneath them. The two new craft drew the banshees close to the water but then pulled up at the last second and split up, each being chased by a banshee.
--
"I think that got their attention" said Jessica as she pitched her hornet up, and turned after the alien craft pursuing her wingman. The banshee was no match for the F/A-18's superior maneuverability. Jessica still had one on her tail but she was able to shake it for a few seconds, enough time for her to arm one of her AMRAAM missiles.
"Fox three" she cried as she depressed the trigger on her joystick and the missile mounted on her wingtip released, its engine ignited and streaked after her target. The missile was actively radar guided which meant it couldn't be disrupted by ECM, assuming these alien craft had any kind of ECM. Jessica was rewarded with a fireball as the missile made contact with the banshee's fuselage and disintegrated it.
"Nice shot" said Knight "hold on a sec, I'll clear your six".
Knight's F/A-18 chased the other pursuing banshee which tried to retreat after discovering its partner had met its end at the hands of Jessica. Only it was destroyed by another AMRAAM from Knight's plane.
"Hammerhead, this is Reagan control, did you engage those targets!?" Schulz's heated voice said over the radio.
"Sir, I acted on my authority due to pressing circumstances. Not to mention I received a call for help from one of the targets" Jessica said.
"Alright then", said Schulz, his voice more calm "sitrep?"
"We splashed the two alien looking craft after they fired on the third Jessica reported they also mentioned being damaged and were leaking fuel. Sir the third UFO seemed to have vectored thrust engines which makes it capable of VTOL, request permission to escort it back to the Reagan".
"I am authorizing you to make contact and assess any damage. If they're capable of VTOL then you can bring them back, Reagan control out".
--
"Everyone ok back there?" Tanner asked.
"We're fine" said Fred as he came up into the cockpit "what happened?"
"We owe some flyboys our skins" said Higgins "any idea what the hell they were flying?"
"Beats me" said Tanner "probably some ONI spook prototype".
"Sergeant" Fred said as he spied one of the aircraft take up formation on the right side of the pelican and the other took up position on the left. Fred looked out on the one on the right and activated his HUD zoom. He saw in the cockpit and human looked over, wearing a dull gray helmet and breathing apparatus.
"I've got COM traffic" said Higgins "patching it in".
This is lieutenant Wagner of US Navy carrier airwing fourteen. Respond.
"What the hell is a US Navy?" Higgins said.
"Didn't they teach you some history, marine?" said Fred "US as in United States".
"Say what!" Tanner exclaimed "that country hasn't been around in 500 years. So what is this, a big prank?"
"Those missiles were sure as hell real" said Higgins.
"Open a channel" said Fred
"Aye, Chief" said Tanner "attention unknown fighters, this is UNSC pelican dropship 390, we hear you."
I'm directed to ask you if your aircraft is capable of VTOL.
"It is" Tanner replied rather awkwardly.
I'm also directed to escort you to my carrier ASAP, follow my wingman.
"What now?" Tanner asked.
"They said they had as base" said Higgins "we need to set down in order to repair our fuel lines. We're on the reserve fuel now. Its not enough to get to the closest base or break orbit".
"So I guess we follow them" said Fred.
--
Captain Schulz made his way back to his quarters after issuing orders to prep the flight deck for arrival. He removed the same procedure book from before and skipped to a different section. But just as he donned his reading glasses commander Young burst in, and slammed the door behind him.
"Captain, I want the truth" Young said "you know more about whats going on. I and the crew deserve to know."
"I don't like your tone, commander" Schulz snapped. He leaned back in his chair and exhaled deeply. Then he tossed the book on the desk. Young picked it up and inspected it.
"Yelland protocol? As in captain Matt Yelland?"
"The very same" said Schulz "that storm we ran into... this hasn't been the first time a Navy ship has encountered it."
Young sat down in front of the captain's desk as he continued.
"About 30 years ago Yelland was skipper of the Nimitz. They were conducting exercises off of Hawaii when they ran into that very same storm, the ship disappeared for nearly a day".
"Where did it go?" Young asked.
"The question is where it went, but when. The ship's position remained constant. The storm sent it back in time... to December 6, 1941."
"You're joking!" Young said
"Yelland damn near prevented the pearl harbor attack" said Schulz "but the storm reappeared and he puled his planes back. After they returned to pearl the crew was forced into secrecy. The Navy issued that procedure book, named after Yelland. It dictates the response any Navy ship is to do when they get sucked into the storm. It mostly covers what you are to do in the event of being thrown into the past, there is only a small section on what to do if you're in the future."
"What makes you so sure we're in the future?" Young asked.
"Didn't you hear hammerhead's description of those aircraft? Its the only explanation that fits."
"So what does the magic book tell you to do?"
"Simple, don't interfere with any future affairs" said Schulz "but thanks to hammerhead's stunt out there it seems we're knee deep in some kind of alien war on Earth".
"What happens now?"
"Right now, I want you organizing the flight deck and have major Casey get a marine team on the flight deck" Schulz ordered "and commander, what you learned here, never leaves the room".
"Yes, sir" said Young as he left the captain, who turned back to the procedure book and looked up the section about being thrown into the future.
A Navy captain's top priority is to safeguard the lives of his crew so try at all possible not to get involved in affairs of the future. You are also directed to observe the following procedure.
1. obtain a record of United States military history from the time you left up to the local present time
2. obtain any intelligence of enemy state or terrorist groups for the aforementioned timeframe.
3. obtain samples or schematics of future weapon systems (radiological, biological and chemical included)