Chapter Two - Maneuvers
0755 Hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
UNSC Surrogate Victor, Epsilon Eridani System
"One, two, lift!"
Rachel grunted as she the others strained against the weight of the Pelican, their MJOLNIR suits amplifying their strength multiple times over. Even so, it took a moment before the craft was hoisted a meter in the air so that a technician could scramble under it and pry free its front landing wheel. The back two had lowered after Eric tried the controls inside; however, the third one had been stuck.
After thirty seconds or so, the technician kicked off and slid out from under the Pelican, crowbar in one hand, a thumbs up with the other. The Spartans gratefully lowered the ship to the ground where it now stood ready to be rolled out of the way and to the side of the hangar.
Rachel stretched upright and let out a deep breath. Even for a Spartan, that was heavy work. Logan merely brushed his hands once before rechecking his equipment. Ashley and Eric left to sit down for a minute.
"Spartans," came a voice from behind Rachel.
She turned abruptly and saluted Jack, while the others stood straight and did the same. Jack looked at each one of them. Rachel and Ashley sported an assault rifle each, as well as an M6D pistol on one hip. Eric and Logan each had an M90 shotgun on his back and their own pistols. All carried fragmentation grenades as well as spare ammunition about their waists.
"Green-Three, status report," Jack said.
"Ashley is fine thanks to Eric, Logan is a dick as usual, and all are battle-ready sir!"
"Good. Then get onboard Longsword Fighter C. We have a mission. We're to infiltrate, capture, and take command of an enemy Covenant ship, while the Surrogate Victor holds the others off of our backs. Soon after our success, they'll activate Shaw-Fujikawa and drop into slipspace. Understood?"
Four blue acknowledgement lights winked in response.
Only Rachel was enthusiastic enough to add, "HUAA!"
"Alright, then. Onboard, double time."
They triple timed instead.
o o o
"Enemy destroyers charging plasma, Commander."
"MAC gun is hot sir. Ready to fire."
"Hold fire. Turn us about and set half-speed course for heading one eight zero. Prepare for full-speed course correction three one three on my mark."
"Yes, Commander."
The Surrogate Victor rotated and accelerated into a slow retreat from the two pursuing enemy Covenant destroyers. They couldn't hope to outrun them, let alone their plasma torpedoes, for that matter. Perhaps the enemy would think them to be heavily damaged from the earlier fight. Their only chance at survival rested within Vladimir's unexplained plan.
"Sir! Plasma torpedoes fired and advancing. ETA is sixteen seconds."
"Course correction now!"
The Surrogate Victor fired it's thrusters to alter its aim out and to the side of the enemy's inbound vectors, then hit the engines with a punch and tore its way through space. Twin streaks of sizzling red-hot plasma lanced forth from the ships' lateral lines, arcing to adjust to the human frigate's sudden change in direction, lining the shots one behind the other.
Twelve.
"Prepare for course correction two one six on my mark. I'll need as much power diverted to the engines as can be spared while keeping the MAC Gun hot."
"Got it, sir."
Vladimir looked on the main view screen as the two destroyers broke their side-by-side formation and split up. The furthest ship pulled up into a long loop that would bring it slicing downward towards the Surrogate Victor, while the closest turned straight towards them, set on a headlong collision.
Four.
"Mark!"
The human frigate rotated towards their collision course direction, kicking in with the emergency thrusters. The ship slowly began accelerating again towards its new target at a sharp enough angle to allow the plasma torpedoes to miss their first pass, although the distance measured in that of mere decameters.
"Picking up speed, sir. Torpedoes returning for a second pass."
"Contact the Master Chief and his squad. Tell him to launch that Longsword Fighter immediately."
"Aye, sir."
Vladimir watched as the plasma torpedoes arced in the air and raced after them, one in front of the other, towards their retreating flank.
"Commander, collision ETA is twenty-six seconds. Plasma salvo impact is seventeen."
"Sir, SPARTAN-067 and his team have launched."
"Nearing top speed, sir."
"Forget the engines, we're already traveling fast enough. Divert all other power towards charging the Shaw-Fujikawa drive. Prepare to fire the MAC Gun on my mark."
"On it, sir."
The Surrogate Victor hurtled through space towards the Covenant destroyer racing towards them, while the other began its downward descent in its loop, even as their plasma seared at the human frigate's heels.
They're trying to sandwich us, Vladimir thought. They're going to smash us and burn us in between them.
Perfect.
"Slipspace drive at 88!"
"Sir! Six seconds 'til plasma impact!"
"Fire the MAC Gun!"
The frigate shuddered as it launched a white-hot metal slug towards the incoming destroyer.
"96...Slipspace dri-,"
"Do it now!"
o o o
Jack held on tight as the Longsword Fighter exited the hangar bay at frigate speed, rocketing out the doors and watching as the Surrogate Victor climbed away from them towards the oncoming enemy Covenant ship. Ashley's voice echoed loudly over the Spartans' personal COM channel.
"Hitting break thrusters. We have to decelerate to normal speeds so we can match that destroyer's velocity and hop on."
Jack silently nodded. He realized even then how precarious their situation really was. Depending on what the hell Vladimir was planning on doing to take down the destroyer's shields for them to slip in, the Covenant ship might lose or gain speed, change direction, or even simply explode into thousands of glowing-hot pieces of debris. No matter what happened, their chances weren't so good. But that was alright.
Spartans had defied the odds countless times before.
"Jack…take a look at this," Rachel whispered.
A small screen appeared in the upper left corner of Jack's HUD, revealing what Rachel's eyes could see through her small viewport near the window.
Reach.
A molten sphere of death, flash-fried out of existence. Bubbling magma began to hiss and cool, as the last trails of plasma obliterated the surface.
Jack cut Rachel's link.
He caught her movement out of the corner of his eye. She looked one last time out the window, then turned away and shook her head. Jack had a sudden urge to go sit next to her and hold her hand.
"Incoming plasma!" Ashley shouted as she put the Longsword into a roll to the side. As the red-hot plasma missiles streaked overhead, the entire cockpit was filled with their burning glow. The outer layer of steel about them crackled, then hissed into silence.
"What is he thinking?" Eric's voice echoed from the cockpit.
Jack blinked as another image appeared on his HUD, revealing the Surrogate Victor pulling fast ahead of them. It's MAC gun glowed with a white-hot intensity, then fired, the whole ship shuddering in the inky black vacuum of space. Ahead, the Covenant destroyer had little choice but to take the impact dead on in the face. Its shields flickered for a moment, then finally faded. Already pinpoints of light gathered at the front of the human frigate, just as the racing plasma torpedoes sought to devour them.
A flash, and then the Surrogate Victor disappeared in space.
Now Jack understood. He watched as the two plasma torpedoes dove into the destroyer, melting through its hull like butter, leaving a gaping hole through the entire ship. The other destroyer plummeting from above strained to redirect its path, narrowly avoiding collision with its ally. It would be a minute or so before either the first one regained enough power to fight or the second one could redirect its path and annihilate them.
"This is our chance. Get us inside that ship ASAP," Jack said, standing over Ashley's and Eric's shoulders to see the view himself.
Ashley struggled with the controls, still attempting to slow down the Longsword to relatively slow speeds so that entry was still possible. The Covenant destroyer had lost most of its momentum, so that gave them a little slack.
Slack. Jack laughed at the word. Suddenly he felt a firm hand on his shoulder and turned. Logan looked back at him through his visor.
"Jack…we need to talk."
"Now's not the best time. Is there something wrong with the mission?"
"No, it's-,"
"Then return to your seat and prepare for battle, Spartan."
Although he couldn't see him, Jack could feel Logan frown and furrow his brow. Logan removed his hand and sat down with an eerie silence. Jack returned to watching their approaching target and scowled.
Why am I angry? Jack thought to himself. But somehow he felt it was because he already knew what was on Logan's mind. Jack glanced again at Rachel examining a magazine from her pistol.
Ashley strained the controls as she put the Longsword into a sharp bank towards the smoldering opening torn into the hull of the Covenant destroyer, now listing slightly as it struggled to regain power. The alien ship grew larger, the gaping hole seeming to open wide to consume them. One second, two…
The Longsword fighter soared through the scattered openings to various chambers, swerving to avoid colliding into any stray debris floating about. With a last kick of its overheating engines, the small ship dove sideways through an opening into the rear-most hangar bay, pushing its nose down to crash and slide across the alien deck, slamming into a wall and bouncing off, grinding to a halt.
They were in.