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I know I accidently said the last one was part IV, but it was actually part V. Sorry, but hope you enjoy the 6th part! Bates slowly received firing solutions, and launched his missiles. Although the small cruiser was destroyed, a great number of personnel pods had made it off. The least Bates could do was cover the Spartans before Covenant reinforcements were sure to arrive. The Heracles had been picking off the pods ever since the Spartan's Pelican had launched. Only two pods had landed on the ship, one near the Spartan's entry point, the other crash landing somewhere within the back portions of the ship. But these the Spartans could handle. He made sure his crews and single ship fighters were ready for the Covenant reinforcements that were sure to come. They would not give up something as important as these coordinates. Bates was surprised they had only sent the small cruiser to begin with. "All men to their Longswords," Bates said over the PA. "But do not, I repeat, do not begin take off cycles. We may need to get out of here in a hurry. "Sir, we have incoming Covenant vessels from slipstream," Junior Lieutenant Hughes informed him. "All I see are two destroyers." "Is that all son?" Bates asked, mockingly. "That's more then enough to keep us busy." "No, sir, scratch that," Hughes said again. Bates waited for a moment, then became frustrated. "Well, Hughes, what is it?" Bates yelled at him. "Well, uh, I can't be sure, sir," Hughes began nervously as he looked over the slipstream reports. "Out with it!" "Sir... from my analysis, there are the two original destroyers, a carrier, and what seem to be two medium class cruisers," Hughes said, beginning to shake. "...And a cruiser destroyer." The man looked as if he was told he had to fight a hunter hand to hand. Bates took a step back, then hit the seat of his chair. There was no way the Heracles could repel that, even if it had a full armament of Shiva warheads. "Johnson, prepare a randomized outward vector," Bates said quietly. "But, sir, the Spartans, they're still -" Johnson began. "Just do it, dammit!" Bates yelled, suddenly rising to his feet. "Yes, sir," Johnson said, lowering his head and typing furiously at the panel in front of him. "We aren't going to abandon those soldiers, but we need to be ready to leave once they're aboard," Bates informed his crew. Some of them sagged with relief, others sagging with the realization that they wouldn't survive this fight. Green holes began to form in the area where the scout ship had been, and two destroyers appeared. The carrier followed, with the cruiser destroyer and two medium sized cruisers following. Bates looked over his tactical data. It appeared all of the ships were heading towards the stealth cruiser, and the small Seraph fighters and bombers toward the Heracles. "Send out all single ship fighters," Bates said. "We need to try to buy them some time, get me firing solutions for our MAC gun and Archer missiles. All power to MAC gun chargers, until the Seraphs open fire on us." "Yes, sir!" Jacobs, his weapons officer, responded. Within moments of pounding away at his station, Jacobs was finished. "Sir, firing solutions done, awaiting orders." "Take that cruiser down, Lieutenant," Bates said harshly. The bridge darkened and the entire ship shuddered as the MAC round was released, followed by the Archer missiles. In the time that the Heracles had been coordinating itself, the Covenant fleet had being doing so as well. The two destroyers were in front, covering the cruiser destroyer. The carrier resided in the back, as it lacked the punch needed for this operation. Oddly though, the Covenant cruiser they had fired upon was moving outward by itself toward the stealth cruiser. "Johnson? What's that cruiser's course?" "One moment... Collision with the stealth cruiser in forty-eight seconds," Johnson said, finally regaining his composure. "How long until the MAC rounds and Archer missiles hit?" "Twenty-eight seconds, sir," Jacobs said. Whatever the Covenant was planning to do with that cruiser, they wouldn't get a chance, thought Bates. "When MAC guns are recharged, fire another shot at that cruiser," Bates said to Jacobs. Jacobs entered a few commands into his station, and said, "%100 in forty seconds." "Seraphs in range of Longswords in thirty, sir," Hughes said. "Activate all gattling guns, let's give them any help we can. If any bombers prepare for a bombing run, I want Anvil II Missiles after them. Everyone understand?" All the bridge crew nodded. Ten bombers were enough to cripple a UNSC ship if given the chance. The forty that were breathing down on them could outright destroy them. "Hit in five, sir," Jacobs said. Bates counted down in his mind, as he saw the MAC round strike the cruiser. What Bates expected was to see was the Covenant shield shimmer and dissipate, as he had many times during his career. But when the MAC round hit the ship, there were no signs of any shield. Instead, the entire cruiser exploded, bigger then Bates had ever seen any Covenant weapon explode. Although the stealth cruiser was out of the blast radius, the shockwave from the explosion sent the cruiser hurtling through space. Even the Heracles, which was out of range of a nuclear blast from the cruiser, felt the shockwave. Bates fell backward, landing in his command chair. Bates knew the Covenant's battle strategies were self-sacrificial, but this was a kamikaze attempt. The Covenant capital ships, which until this time seemed oriented toward the stealth cruiser, turned to face them. The destroyers' and cruiser destroyer's shields had been taken out by the blast though, making them prime targets. "Fire MAC gun at cruiser destroyer, and as many Archer missiles as we can spare!" Bates cried. Jacobs typed furiously for two seconds, then the ship darkened and shuddered as the MAC round was released. Bates could see thousands of Archer missiles come from all sides of the Heracles, all on the same course. "Sir, the Spartans are contacting us," George, his communications officer said. As Bates heard this he looked at the progress of the Longswords. They were being torn apart. He cursed, then opened the channel the Spartans had contacted them on. "Teff? How is it going down there? We need to get out of here fast. There is no way we can take on a force that size. We're having enough trouble with their Seraphs as it is," Bates said angrily, beginning to tense up from the stress of battle. "We have retrieved the coordinate data, and need immediate extraction. As of now, we have no way to return, as you know our Pelican was destroyed. There is no way we could all survive the trip back to the Heracles with only thruster packs with those Seraphs swarming you," Teff came over the bridge PA, beginning to break up. "Hughes, how many Pelicans do we have left?" Bates asked. "We have two, but one is in need of repair from our last operation," Hughes replied quickly. "Good, send a message over the PA to have the Spartans take the Pelican and get those soldiers," Bates said, relaxing a little. "Yes, sir," Hughes said, turning to activate the PA system. "The Covenant forces on the ship have all been eliminated - they sent a surprisingly small force. The Spartans are on their way to extract you," Bates told Teff. "Good, have them meet us where we came in, it's the only place we have a certain exit," Teff said. "Thank you, sir." "Move our gattling guns to cover the Spartans. If they don't make it back, this entire battle had no point," Bates said. "Sir, the MAC round is about to hit," Jacobs informed him. Bates looked at his tacitcal display. The MAC round cut directly through the bridge, going straight through to the engines. The ship shuddered slightly, but continued on course. Jacobs hammered away on his console once more. "Sir, request permission to retarget Archers to head for bridge?" "Permission granted, Lieutenant," Bates said, nodding. Jacobs was a smart man, unlike the rest of his bridge crew. The first slew of Archers tore away the bridge. He could tell that the cruiser destroyer was inoperable, but Bates suddenly had an idea. "Jacobs, quickly retarget the missiles to fly straight through the MAC hole to the reactors." "Sir that could take up to five minutes, I don't know if I can..." Jacobs looked at Bates, who was grinning maliciously. Jacobs returned the smile, and responded, "Yes sir!" Jacobs hammered away once more at his station, shook his wrists out, then continued to batter at the keys. The last of the Archers were about to hit, when Bates saw them change course on his tactical display. "Good job, Lieutenant," Bates said, walking over to Jacobs and patting him on the shoulder. The Archer missiles filed into the hole, and within seconds, a fireball erupted in space, destroying the cruiser destroyer, carrier, and injuring the other two destroyers. The medium cruiser, which was well out of range of the explosion, had begun to move toward the stealth cruiser's hulk. Bates only hoped the Spartans could get out of there in time. The destroyers had gone back to watching the stealth cruiser, as they had taken enough damage to render them useless in battle. After only a minute, the Spartan Pelican had reached the stealth cruiser. The destroyers opened fire on them, and Bates winced. The plasma missed the Pelicans, and hit the stealth cruiser. The Pelican began to move toward the Heracles. Dawson juked and jinked left to right, evading the Seraph's lasers. There were quite a few on their tail, slowly chipping away at the back of the Pelican. They had only made it half of the way to the Heracles, and already they were in trouble. Teff jumped into the cockpit. "Dawson, open the tail," Teff said. "We have a little something for them." "Yes sir," Dawson said, hitting a few of the keys on the front of the cockpit. The tailpiece opened to reveal three Seraph fighters. Teff ran back, and helped the other Spartans. They had constructed a large explosive from anti-tank mines and plasma grenades. They hurled the explosive out into space, and it impacted on the closest Seraph. Teff clicked the remote charge he had place in the device, and it detonated. Two of the three Seraphs were vaporized from the plasma and fragmentation explosion, and the other's shields were knocked out. Teff raised his pistol and fired three times at the Seraph, breaking the window and depressurizing the cockpit. The pilot was sucked out into space, and the Seraph floated away. "Sir, we're almost to the Heracles, approximately thirty-eight seconds out," Dawson told Teff. "Good," Teff said, looking around and surveying the group of Spartans. He counted them, and noticed one was missing. Teff walked over to Dawson. "Where's Green 8?" "Sir... she didn't make it," Dawson told him. Teff stood there for a moment, feeling no emotion at all. He knew that his soldiers weren't invincible. But, that didn't necessarily mean she was dead. A blast of plasma hit the side of the Pelican, sending it spiraling. "Green 7?" Dawson asked over an open channel. "Don't worry," came the cold hard voice of the sniper. Dawson could see the fighter bay now, with Green 7 pointing his rifle at the Seraphs that were moving in beside them. Green 7 leveled his rifle, and fired. The lead Seraph exploded, the bullet hitting the one unshielded part of the fighter, its engines. The other Seraphs were onto him, turning towards him. Another two shots and the engines of the second Seraph ignited. The Seraph began to fire, when the Pelican turned it's tail to it. The Spartans inside fired four jackhammer rockets, one taking out the shield, the other three eradicating the fighter. "Thanks, 7," Dawson said over the channel. "Don't mention it," he replied. The Pelican landed in the bay, and the Spartans filed out. Teff looked back at the Covenant fleet. The cruiser destroyer was no where to be seen, nor the carrier. All that remained were the two destroyers, which had taken a lot of combat damage, and one medium cruiser, which seemed like it was about to intercept the stealth cruiser. Within three seconds, the Covenant ship hit, and ignited in a ball of plasma the likes of which Teff had never seen. Both cruisers were completely vaporized, and the fighters swarming the Heracles began to ignore the Longswords and try to take out the ship, but within a few seconds, Teff saw they had entered slipstream. Teff approached Dawson soon after that, seeing that something was bothering him. Even with the blast shields covering his face, Teff could tell. He was talking with Green 7, Harvey, who was their only sniper other then Green 8, who also seemed trouble. "What's the matter, soldier?" Teff asked. Harvey and Dawson both jumped and saluted. Teff returned the salute then asked the question again. "What's the matter?" "It's Amber," Dawson said quietly. Harvey had removed his helmet, and patted Dawson on the back. For once, he was not smiling. "It wasn't your fault," Harvey told him, in his uncharacteristically low voice. "What happened?" Teff asked, knowing the answer would not be a good one. |
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