But the first attack strafe against the center Covenant Corvette was all Fish had the chance to see before her co-pilot warned, “Additional contacts from our starboard! Four Seraphs and two Banshees.”
She looked to the left from her Pelican’s main view. Six shining dots flickered towards them from just over four kilometers away, steadily growing in size as they blazed forth to attack. Fish checked the waypoint indicating their distance from Requiem’s corridor. Two-hundred kilometers to go, “This is going to be tough.”
“We’ve faced worse.” Sharkbite said.
“Damn straight!” a new voice, belonging to someone on Hammer Squadron said. Fish’s HUD indicated that it came from Hammer-three.
Hammer-one returned to the comm, “Alright, Hammer, break formation and intercept those Covenant. Keep them from reaching the boat, and prioritize those Seraphs. Fish, you just stay on course and get those Spartans groundside. Copy?”
A series of acknowledgements fluttered the channel as everyone confirmed their orders, and the Broadswords broke off from the Pelican.
Fish thought the plan was a sound one. Covenant Seraphs were by far the more advanced craft compared to their Banshees in a space battle. Faster, better armored, and more maneuverable. They were a decent challenge for Broadswords to take on. But she also often found that UNSC pilots were better trained compared to those from the Covenant. Maybe it was the motivation.
Since Banshees were slower than the Seraphs, it made sense the Hammer squadron would leave them for last. It would take longer for them to get into an effective attack range than it would their sleeker, teardrop shaped counterparts.
Fish checked her radar again. Hammer had stalled the Covenant’s advance, and were locked in engagement with their Seraphs.
The comms erupted into a frenzy of voices talking over one another as the team communicated enemy movements and attacks, while coordinating their own squad’s evolving plan. Tracer rounds, plasma bolts, and explosions bloomed in the distance.
“Seraph-one’s shields are down! Switching to missiles. Scrapped!”
“Watch your six, Hammer-Three!”
“I know! I know!”
“Hammer-Four, shift to assist Hammer-Three.”
“Seraph-two dusted!”
“Damn! Banshees slipped through! Watch out Fish!” Hammer-One’s voice boomed over the rest of his squadron, as the channel automatically lowered their audio outputs to accommodate the flight commander, “Hammer-Two, go see what you can do about those Banshees.”
“But sir, what about Monk?”
“Negative, Hammer. We’ll be fine. Just keep those Seraph’s at bay,” Fish said, watching her destination waypoint countdown. Eighty-seven kilometers to go.
Hammer-One was silent for a full three seconds while he mulled over the request, “Copy. Hammer Squadron keep those Seraphs occupied!” A series of strained grunts answered him back.
“Will we be fine?” Sharkbite asked off the comm, questioning Fish’s statement.
“Most likely,” she replied, shrugging sarcastically in her seat, “I have a plan.”
“Oh, good. And here I thought you were winging this one,” Sharkbite said, matching her tone.
Fish smiled and looked in the direction of the incoming craft to see blue bolts of plasma flaring past the dropship. She pulled back on the controls and brought the Pelican into a near vertical climb, straight into the upper-periphery of the heavy frigate which steadily pulled away on their starboard.
Plasma bolts rained around the dropship, and found purchase on the outer hull as the Banshee fighters closed in behind. Armor plating bubbled and melted away as the ship continued to take fire.
A new siren blared in her canopy, and a previously inactive light blared red. The warning of a hull breach and subsequent loss in atmospheric pressure.
-Yoink!-!
Fish accessed the Spartan’s TEAMCOM, “You ok back there, Spartans?”
There was static for a few heartbeats, then the Spartan team leader answered back. A small hint of stress edging into his voice, “Yeah, we’ll be fine. Just focus on getting us to the surface.”
“Working on it,” Fish said through gritted teeth. She closed the channel.
Piloting was her strongpoint. It was probably the one thing she was better at doing compared to a Spartan, and she would be -Yoink!- if she was going to get told how to do her job by some ground pounder.
Fish opened a new comm link, and hailed the nearby Strident frigate while activating her Pelican’s emergency beacon, “Pelican Three-One to Infinity Sub-Vessel off our starboard wing, do you read?”
There was a pause as the Strident identified the tiny dropship’s distress beacon. Then a voice came in, “We read you Pelican Three-One.”
“I have two Covenant Banshees on my -Yoink!-, and a team of Spartans who needed to get dirtside yesterday! You think you can help us out?” Fish straightened her climb and threw the Pelican into a sharp turn, putting the craft, and the persistent Banshees into perfect view of the Strident frigate’s dorsal point defense system.
“Copy, Three-One. Confirm two Banshees on your six. We see them. Hold still.”
There was another pause as the communications officer relayed the info to the ship’s AI who took charge of the defense cannons. Fire spewed from the Strident’s port cannons like water from garden sprinklers, and 50mm armor-piercing bullets tore thick chunks from the fuselages of the incoming Banshees and the pilots within. The incoming plasma attacks ceased.
“Targets neutralized. You’re clear, Three-One. Safe travels.” The comm link shut off.
Fish let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding in, and the tension in her shoulders relaxed. They were clear. Again.
She didn’t like having that many close calls, let alone on one op. But she knew the danger that came with the gig. If she was going to become one of the greats, she had to learn to accept the pressure as just another part of her daily life. Otherwise, she might as well be stationed back in Sol, ferrying pompous Admirals from Chiro Station to HIGHCOM. Then suffer it all again on the return flight.
Fish set the Pelican back on course, full throttle, on target for Requiem’s blinding white, open corridor. She switched back into the Hammer flight’s communication channel. Instantly greeted with another set of cluttered garble, she struggled to speak over the confusion, “Pelican Three-One to Hammer lead, we’re in the clear. Entering the Requiem corridor in sixty seconds.”
For a moment, there was no clear reply. Just voices stacked on each other as they shouted calls to one another in panicked voices.
“I’m hit! Shields are down! They got a lock!”
“I’m on their six! Break left!”
“St! St! S**t! I got two on me, Jericho!”
“Hammer-Two coming to assist.”
“Scratch one! Lining up the last!”
“I can’t shake him! I can’t sha-” static filled the channel, followed by a brief silence.
“-Yoink!-! Seraph-four is down. So is Hammer-Three. We lost Monk.”
A cold shiver ran down Fish’s spine. She’d seen her fellow pilots get shot down before, listened to them as they spoke their last words. But something about Hammer-Three, Monk as his wingman had called him, felt different, and it hit her like a truck. He sounded remarkably young for a combat pilot, just like she was.
All the others had been older and experienced pilots. They had lived long lives in the dangerous world that was space combat against Covenant forces. To Fish, that meant that they had done their job, and they had done it well, but their time was just up. You roll the dice enough times, and you end up coming up on the losing side, one day or another. But Monk had barely had the chance to play the game in the first place.
She wondered if that would be her.
Hammer-One sighed heavily in his helmet. When he finally answered Fish, he sounded utterly defeated, “Copy Pelican Three-One. We’ve been tasked with fleet support, so you’re on your own from here.”
“Affirmative, Hammer-One. Thanks for the save. I’m sorry it cost you your man. Good luck out there.”
The channel went dead.
Hey, all! Thanks for reading! Let me know what you thought of it to help me better my writing. I’m looking forward to potentially more writing contests here on Waypoint. Chapter 3 is already written, and just needs editing, so hopefully I will have it out within a week. Thank you!