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Air Force Wing: Part 1, First Contact by teemus



Air Force Wing: Part 1, First Contact
Date: 17 January 2004, 6:32 AM

This story may be a little slow. It took me a while to come up with it. The next story will be action packed. Please leave comments on what you think about it.

teemus
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      September 3rd, Ferris system


      Harman sat in the mess hall of the cruiser Brown Eagle. He took the last bight of his hotdog and then the loud speaker opened up, "All personal of the 101st Marine Air Force wing and 82nd Tactical Fighter wing, please report to the briefing room." Harman got up from the chair and left the mess hall.

      He joined up with a few other members of the 101st heading towards the briefing room. He turned a corner and got into the lift and pushed the down button, as the lift doors began to close some one yelled, "Hold the lift!" Harman recognized the voice as his wingman Lavi. He quickly pushed the stop button and the lift stopped moving and the doors opened up again, "Hey, thanks Harman."

      "No problem," replied Harman.

      "Do you know what this is about?" asked Lavi.

      "Well before lunch, I heard some men talking about the Covenant might jump into the system. For all I know it could just be a drill."

      "Yea, I hope it isn't, I wanna kick some alien ass!" yelled Lavi

      "Don't worry, you'll get you chance," replied Harman. The lift suddenly jerked and came to a stop, after about 10 seconds the doors parted and reviled a crowded hall. Harman and Lavi stepped off of the lift and proceeded down the hall. They took the first right and came to a door, which had the words, BRIFING ROOM writing in gold on it. Harman pushed the door open and came into a large room with one circular table in the middle. He moved down the rows of Marines and took a seat near the middle next to one of the 82nd pilots.

      The units captain stood up and spoke, "Alright ladies! The Covenant have jumped into system, they launched a wave of Serphas not to long ago, they should ETA with our ships in about half an hour. Only thing is, we wont let them reach the other side! We will wait for them on the dark side of the plant, as soon as they are within range we blast the living hell out of em." after this there was a series of cheers, "Don't get to happy yet, once the fighters are gone the 82nd will move to bombard the ships, the 101st will provide cover. Is this clear?!"

      "Sir yes sir!" replied the pilots all at once.

      "Alright, move out! Be in the bays in 5." And with this all of the men and women left the room to get ready for the fight that lay ahead.

      Harman walked down to his room to grab his flight suite. He opened the door and walked inside to see Shami; one of his pilots getting ready, "So, you ready?" Shami asked.

      "Yea, im ready to kick some ass."

      "Yea, me to," he replied and headed towards the door.

      "Hey, tell Lavi to get the men together, ill be there in a few." Harman replied back.

      "Ok, ill do that," replied Shami as he left the room. Harman the turned back to the door and pulled his flight suite on. After about 2 minutes he was ready to go. He grabbed his helmet and left the room and made for the launch bay.

      As he walked through the door to the bays he ran strait into Paul, the 82nd squad leader, "Heres what im thinking, you guys hang out in front and take them head on, if any of them get past your lines well take em out. Sound good?"

      "Sounds perfect," replied Harman. He then continued down and stopped in front of his Long Sword Fighter. It was a jet black with shark teeth on either side of the nose. Harman ran his hand over the armour and then turned to face his squad, "Saddle up and once every one is out there take up Delta position, we will wait on the dark side of the planet, once every one of the bastards if facing us you will Fire at will! Is this clear?"

      "Sir yes sir," yelled the pilots together.

      "alright, saddle up and lets do our job," said Harman. He then turned to face his jet and jumped into the cockpit. The plane began to rotate on the plat form and soon faced the open bay doors. Harman did a system check and then activated the after burners. He brought up the fighters nose and gunned the engine. His fighter shot out of the bay and into the blackness of space. Harman did a loop and began to circle the ship waiting for every member of the 101st to clear the bay. As each pilot left the bay they would radio in as clear. They waited till the last man of both squads's radioed in. Harman then activated the COM link and spoke, "Alright, the 82nd will be trailing behind us. So get into Delta formation and lets go!" Harman took his position in front of the formation and the squad headed towards the dark side of the planet. The squad stopped on the other side of the planet and Harman spoke again, "Alright, hold here. Remember, don't fire until the last fighter crosses into the dark."

      The two squads sat for about half an hour until a Lavi broke the silence, "Sir, the first fighter just crossed."

      Harman then looked up and saw a purple tear drop shaped ship coming around the planet. Behind it came about 60 more of the machines. Once they were in range Harman opened the COM again, "Open Fire!" after saying this Harman slammed down the trigger to the two 70mm chin guns.

To be continued...



Air Force Wing: Part 2, The Assault
Date: 25 January 2004, 11:23 PM

Also, don't forget to thank CoLd BlooDed for helping me write this story. The last few parts are all his work. -teemus



September 3rd, Ferris system

      Harman pulled back on the throttle and felt his Longsword rise. When he was almost at a 90-degree angle he jammed back down on it and forced his plane into a steep drop. He quickly turned to the left and was soon looking down at the top of a Seraphs Fighter. Harman got his weapons locked and fired the crafts 70mm chin guns. Unlike most Longswords, Harman's was an upgraded version. It carried two 70mm chin guns for the fast work. It also carried a pair of powerful 110mm rotary-cannons.

      Harman kept the trigger down and watched as a fireball engulfed the alien craft. He pulled out of his dive and switched his weapon to the rotary-cannon. He looked to the left and saw a Longsword being chased by two Seraphs. He then focused his aim on the lead craft and opened fire. The bullets bounced off of the ships shields harmlessly. The pilot realized that he was way out of range, so he switched his weapons to a Fox-T12 missile. The T12 could tear through a layer of Titanium-A armour. Once again he got the weapons locked and squeezed the trigger while yelling, "Fox 1!" He watched the missile leave a trail of smoke as it made its way towards the alien craft. The ships shields didn't stand a chance against the missile; it impacted on the ships hull and tore a giant hole in it.

      Just as he switched his aim to the second fighter the COM burst open, "Hel**ahhh**cant take it ne****" Harman took his fingers off of the trigger and watched as the alien ship opened fire with its plasma weapons and tore another Longsword in half. He muttered a quick prayer for the pilot and returned his attention to the Seraph Fighter. It was closing on him way too fast. Harman wouldn't get a chance to fire off a shot. So he pushed down on the throttle in hope of losing the enemy pilot. After a steep dive he pulled up again and saw that the pilot was still on him. Harman pulled a hard right and watched as plasma went past the spot he had just occupied. He once again barely made it out with his life as plasma sizzled over the cockpit. Harman did a loop and came up on the fighters six. He quickly got a lock and fired another Fox-T12 missile. The missile impacted on the rear of the enemy craft and caused it to spin out of control and collide with another fighter destroying them both.

      As Harman bathed himself in his new victory the COM burst open, "Harman, you better come and look at this," said Paul.

      "Roger, I'm on my way." Harman replied and flew his Longsword to where Paul was situated. As his craft pulled into the bright part of the planet he could see the Covenant Warships advancing.

      "What do you think they're doing?" asked Paul.

      Harman was silent and watched as the Seraph Fighters made their way back to their ships. Harman clicked on his COM again and found a channel to the lead human cruiser, "The Covenant fleet is moving in!"

      "What? That's impossible, they wouldn't attempt a raid," replied the ships captain.

      "Well they are." Harman replied

      "Give me a video feed then, son."

      "Yes, sir." replied Harman, frustrated as he uploaded his helmets video cam onto a channel to send to the Cruiser Arrow Head.

      The COM was quiet as the Captain viewed the video feed, "Very well son, I'll have the fleet get ready to fight. In the mean time tell your fighters to pull back and protect the planet from any oncoming dropships."

      "Yes sir." Replied Harman as he clicked off the COM. He took one look around and saw the debris of Longswords and Seraph's floating in the black of space. Harman clicked his COM on again and spoke on the team frequency, "This is Red Leader, move back and prepare to protect the planet from oncoming dropships." There were a series of clicks on the COM as each member stated that they understood.

      As Harman and Paul made their way back to the planet they talked about what had just happened. Their conversation was cut short as the first Covenant dropship came around the bend and fired its plasma weapons at the lead human ship.

      Harman didn't have to give the order to fire, as one of the other Longswords fired one of its Fox missiles. A thin line of smoke followed behind the T12 as it streaked towards the dropship; there was a short pause as the missile penetrated the hull and exploded, sending big shards of purple metal in all directions. Several more dropships flew around the planet and into the sight of Red team who simultaneously opened fire.

      The first dropship exploded, and the other four returned fire. Long fingers of purple plasma splashed over the hull of a Longsword's hull, quickly causing one side to be exposed and sucked the atmosphere out. The Longsword drifted uselessly, and soon collided with an active dropship, causing both to explode.

      "Come on! We can't let these dropships get the best of us!" yelled Harman over the COM.

      The last two remaining dropships ignored the Longswords—an unwise choice—and decided to shoot the lead human ship. Only a few shots managed to land on the hull of the ship before a Fox missile was launched by Harman. It tore through the first dropship and exploded as it entered the second.

      "This is getting too easy," said Paul over the COM and clicked it off.

      Harman agreed but didn't say anything and kept his eyes aware of anything rounding the planet. Nothing, the only thing he saw was one of his men straying from the group, "Get back into formation, Red-Six."

      There was no response, but the pilot seemed to come back into the Longsword fleet, in a direction towards Harman, he took no notice and continued to monitor the displays. At least five dropships appeared and the Longswords opened fire and so did the dropships. There was an explosion, and someone screamed over the COM channel before it was swallowed by a large burst of static.

      "This is where it gets tough, people." he said over the COM, "Fire at will!"
      So the Longswords continued to fight alongside each other as the stray Longsword slowly closed in on Harman who took no notice...



Air Force Wing: Part 3, Consequences
Date: 30 January 2004, 5:09 AM

Ferris system, September 3rd

      Harman switched to his rotary-cannons and got a lock on another dropship; he jammed down the trigger and watched the rounds tear a gain hole in the spacecraft. He turned to his left and saw the Longsword on his right go up in flames. He turned his gaze back into space and saw a group of dropships in a loose 'V' formation advancing. Harman activated the 2 remaining T12 missiles onboard his ship. He got a lock on the two leading ships and opened fire. The missiles left a thin white streak in the black of space as they raced towards the ships. The very lead ship was hit in the nose and exploded from the inside; the second ship attempted to dodge the missile but didn't get very far. The missile impacted on the left troop bay and sent the ship streaming towards the planet. By the time the wrecked dropship hit the atmosphere the others opened fire.

      Harman quickly dodged out of the line of fire and returned fire with his cannons. He clicked on his COM and spoke, "Why are none of you firing?!"

      Once again Paul was the first to reply, "We can't get a clear line of fire."

      "I don't give if you can't hit them! Just open fire and be sure not to hit any of our own boys!" There was a series of clicks as each member stated they understood. Harman returned his attention back to the battle and watched as a volley of machine gun fire and missiles streaked towards the lines of enemy drop ships. The first few didn't stand a chance, but the last four-drop ships broke ranks and came at the humans from different directions. Harman heard his ships alarm go off and realized one of the dropships had a lock on him. He quickly jerked up and watched plasma sizzle past the spot where his Longsword had been just a second ago.

      The pilot yanked up and came nose to nose with the enemy drop ship. He clicked his COM on and yelled, "Paul! I can't loose this motherfucker!"

      "Don't worry, I'm on it." came the calm voice of Paul. Right now the only thing Harman was doing was worrying. He jerked up and saw the enemy dropship speed past him and towards the planet. Harman felt his stomach lurch and realized that he had just let a dropship past their defences, that one dropship could contain enough firepower to control ¼ of the planet. He was about to click on his COM and warn the marines on the surface of the drop ship but stopped when he saw a white streak race towards the drop ship. He sat in silence and watched as the drop ship shook and then exploded. The COM then opened up and Paul spoke, "So, how many points do I get for that one?"

      Harman gave a small laugh and replied, "I'd say 50."

      Paul laughed and said, "Alright boss, just make sure next time its 100."

      "I'll do just that," replied Harman as he clicked off the COM. As Harman fell back into the human pattern, he looked up and saw one of the fighters drifting out of the formation; he clicked his COM on again and contacted the fighter, "Red-Six, fall back into formation!" He yelled getting annoyed. There was no reply from the fighter but instead the engines roared to life and it picked up speed. Harman clicked his COM on again and shouted once again, "Red-Six! What are you doing?!"

      This time there was a reply from the pilot, "There's no point captain, we lost this war the day we got ourselves into it. Why get back into formation when we're all going to die either way?!"

      Harman couldn't believe what he was hearing but managed to come up with a reply, "You better follow orders boy! You can get court-martialled for this!"

      "Ahh... but Captain, there won't be a me to court martial, and if we do survive, you won't be there to witness my court martial."

      Harman realized that this voice belonged to his wingman Lavi. Harman clicked his COM on again, "And why is that boy?"

      "Because I'm gonna see to it myself."

      Harman watched in horror as the craft picked up speed and headed straight towards him. Paul who had heard the conversation quickly gathered two fighters and opened fire at Red-Six. They're combined mass of bullets tore a gaping hole in the oncoming fighter. Regardless of this the fighter kept coming, the bullets from the Longswords ceased, Red-Six was gaining speed.

      "We can't get a clear shot!" yelled Paul over the COM, "Evade! I say again, EVADE!"

      Harman fired the thrusters, but the rebelling Longsword crashed into the aft of Harman's spacecraft. There was an explosion, and Harman twisted his head to the left to see Red-Six's Longsword—or what had been Red-Six's Longsword—streak by with a long tail of flame. It exploded seconds after sending huge pieces of twisted metal in various directions.

      An alarm blared in Harman's mind, the displays flashed red, and the Longsword started to spin around. There was an explosion, and Harman realized there was a huge dent in the rear of the ship.

      "Sir! Abandon ship, hurry you don't have much—" Harman could hear Paul's voice over the COM before it was swallowed by static.

      One by one the displays and view screens exploded, the alarm continued to wail. Harman threw his hands in front of his face after another explosion rumbled through the cockpit. He was overwhelmed, confused, and afraid, so the last option of his was to faint.

      And that's exactly what he did.




Authors Note: I would also like to thank CoLd BlooDed (once again) for writing the last 6 paragraphs, thanks and I hope you enjoyed the story.



Air Force Wing: Part 4, One Way Ticket to Hell
Date: 14 February 2004, 5:55 AM

Ferris system, September 3rd

      Harman woke again to see another console explode and then quickly recapped on what had happened; they were in middle of a fight and one of their pilots had wigged out and tried to kill him. He was brought out of his thoughts when the radio burst static, "Har**** you there, bai***** busy at the mo***** repea***" the person stopped talking, in there place Harman could hear the whir of the 110mm rotary-cannons. Harman looked into the rear camera and saw Red-6 trailing smoke. He returned his attention to the situation at hand, he had to get out of his doomed fighter some how. After about a minute of panicking it came to him, each Longsword carried a suit which could allow the pilot to bail out in space and survive for up to 3 hours.

      Harman undid his buckle and ran towards the back of the ship. He kicked open one of the lockers and grabbed the suit. Harman pulled it over his flight outfit and ran back towards the pilot seat. He heard a small boom and looked out the front window, one of the human cruisers just had a hole punched in it by a plasma torpedo, after a few seconds a fleet of lifeboats came shooting out of the ship. Harman watched as they zoomed past his doomed ship and raced towards the surface of the planet. Then he turned his attention back to doing what was most important. He found the activation button on his suit and clicked it on. Harman walked up to the main console and timed the self-destruct for 30 seconds. He quickly activated the countdown and ran towards the back hatch. Once he got there to his horror he found that it was jammed. With 20 seconds left he quickly dashed for the main ramp. He pushed the open button and felt himself being sucked out into space. At first it was hard to breath but then he was able to adjust. Harman took a look around and watched in horror as two Longswords went up in flames. Since his and his wingmen fighters were disabled that meant that Paul was in charge. Harman trusted Paul but sometimes he could get a bit too aggressive.

      Harman watched as purple plasma bolts went off here and every once in a while he could see the streak of Fox T12 missile. Harman was suddenly hurled farther into space as his fighter detonated. He quickly headed back towards his wrecked fighter by bouncing off of the hull of a disabled drop ship. Harman heard a faint groan and looked to his left. He could see a motion less body drifting in the black of space. He floated over towards in and pulled the person up. Just behind the body he saw one of the destroyed fighters shimmer, like it might in the desert. He blinked and looked again, it was gone. Harman forgot entirely about it as the unconscious pilot groaned again. He checked the pilot's badges and found out it was Lavi, his wingman. Harman felt a wave of anger rush into him, he wanted to leave the pilot there, just let him drift in space, after all he deserved it for almost killing Harman, little bastard, Harman thought, tried to kill me and now his life is in my hands, thought Harman with even more anger and hate rushing into him. Just as Harman was about to release the body, he heard a low humming and looked up. From one of the fighters a small grayish looking vehicle was speeding right towards them. At first Harman thought it was a new Covenant dropship; he quickly grabbed Lavi's body and dove behind some wreckage. As the ship got closer, Harman recognized the bold words "MARINES" painted on the side of the ship.

      Harman quickly floated back into the open and began waving his arms being sure not to let go of Lavi. The ship noticed them and changed direction to head towards them. It pulled to a stop in front of them. Harman grabbed Lavi's body again and floated towards the back. As they drifted to the back, Harman could have sworn he saw the hatch shimmer just before it opened. Harman had to push this thought aside as the hatch opened to revile about 15 marines in zero-gee suites with loaded AR's pointed at them. "We're friendly," said Harman.

      The marines lowered their weapons and allowed the two to enter, "Welcome aboard, your on a one way ticket to hell!" shouted the marine at the far end.

      "Stow it marine!" shouted another marine wearing a Sgt's cap. That marine turned to Harman and spoke, "What happened to you guys?"

      "It's a long story," replied Harman adding a cold look at the unconscious body of Lavi. The hatch closed and the cabin lights flickered on. Harman laid Lavi on the floor and turned to face the marines.

      "Well, we got a lot of time," said a marine looking around. Harman then sighed and began to tell his tale.

To be continued...





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