Chap.1:Feet First into Hell...Well Maybe Nose First
Posted By: Recent Flood Victim<Stonesourfan696@yahoo.com>
Date: 1 May 2005, 10:48 PM
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01345 September 21, 2552 (Standard Military Calendar)/
Aboard Lonsword fighter, Unknown System
Jake was lurched against his straps as the Longsword went into another roll, resulting in straining gees. He tightened his harness as best he could, but the shoulder straps dug into the burns on his shoulder.
"Razor-Two through -Seven follow me. The rest of you follow the birds to the surface." Lieutenant Jenna Combs yelled over her team COM.
"Ma'am Seraphs are heading after the Escape pods. Recommend we move to intercept." One of her team pilots called out.
She pulled the joystick up and sent the ship into an upward spin. Jake's straps strained and he gritted his teeth together to relinquish the pain from his mind.
"Hold on there Corporal." She keyed her team's freq. "Move into intercept those bastards. Keep them pinned until the pods reach the atmosphere. Then peel off and make your own way to the surface. Combs out."
The Longsword fighters peeled out of their 'V' formation and went to intercept the new Covenant threat.
The Seraph class fighter was the Covenant equivalent of the Longsword fighter. But it was faster and much more powerful; it was also launched in great numbers. This made Lieutenant Comb's mission almost suicidal.
Warrant Officer Bradley Michaels fired four Anvil II missiles into the fleeing Seraph. Fire splashed across its shield, and it held for a moment before collapsing.
"This is from me to you!" Bradley's co-pilot yelled out as he fired the Longsword's chin-gun at the vulnerable vehicle.
The alien crafts hull shook violently then exploded into a glittering sun which instantly cooled in the darkness of space.
"Good work Brad. Now pull off and make your way to the surface. The pods are clear and the Osiros is making her way into orbit as we speak. Good luck, Razor-One out." Bradley smiled as he started to nose the craft through the skin which surrounded the planet which he had been ordered to land on.
As luck would have it they just happened to stumble into a system already housed with an Earth like quality. The Osiros's Captain figured it'd be a better place than any to get our bearings.
But just as Bradley entered deeper into the atmosphere a shrill alarm blared into his ear.
"What the hell?" He looked down at his monitor to see a ship-size mass headed straight towards his intended vector. He managed to just look out the port view to see the flaming skeletal body of his former station heading straight towards them.
"Jesus, Mary and Joseph!"
Lieutenant Combs only saw the plume of fire erupt as the Osiros plowed over Razor-Three. She shook her head then focused on their current situation.
On the way into the atmosphere a lone Seraph managed to land a plasma shot on her right wing. It had burned through the wing and was now causing a violent wake all around her. She tried her best to level it out but time was running short as the greenery of the planet began to grow larger by the second.
"Hang on Corporal this is gonna get ruff." She pulled back on the stick hoping to produce some resistance to slow them down. "We're moving way too fast. Corporal see if you can get those chutes deployed."
Jake looked down at his console and rapidly typed in control commands. A visual display showed the compartment doors for the chutes beginning to open then stopping suddenly. A red light flashed and a message scrolled across the bottom.
"Negative on that ma'am. The doors are welded shut and hull integrity is dropping quick." Combs silently cursed then went through several plans in her head, and only one stuck.
"Roger that Corporal. Hang onto your ass this is gonna be hell." And to put a period to the end of that sentence she ignited her after burners and pushed the ship faster towards the ground.
As she broke through the last of the clouds; Jenna pulled back on the stick hard and tried to level it out. And just as she had hoped the bird leveled out and the air speed slowed considerably.
Combs had hoped that by adding more speed to her decent she would be able to level out in the lower atmosphere. Luckily it had worked well enough to slow them down much past their original speed, and also make the Corporal afraid of flying with her again.
"Status Corporal." She ordered; trying to pull him from the shock. He quickly snapped to and skimmed over the Ops console.
"Hull temperature stabilizing." Jake scanned over the controls even quicker. His face twisted into a nervous stare. "Air speed has decreased past our entry speed. But were still dropping like seventy tons of bricks. All thrusters have been destroyed...all you can do is steer left or right ma'am."
And Lieutenant Combs did just that. She moved the aircraft into a sharp right turn and followed that up as she neared the ground.
"On my mark put your head between your ass and pray." She said through gritted teeth.
The Longsword fighter skimmed through the air, belly up, pushing itself against the wind. Though having been slowed considerably; the ship still had no maneuvering thrusters or landing gears. So the landing was going to be hell.
Jake watched as the largest trees scrapped the belly of Longsword as it quickly made its vertical decent to the ground. He held onto the side of his seat with his left hand and with the right pulled the harness as tight as it would go.
"Hang on!" Combs yelled out just as the fighter broke through the top foliage; crashing through trees and vines as it plowed to the ground.
The final crash was into the thick jungle soil bellow, which waved up all around the craft. The hull smoked through hundreds of cracks, and the occupants lay strapped in their crash seats unconscious.
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