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And now all hell will break loose Part 7
Posted By: metallicafan<metallicafan84@hotmail.com>
Date: 31 October 2003, 3:10 AM
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As one person leaves another comes along for the ride........
5 minutes later they all had gotten their gear and John was driving to the hangar. When they got there the Pelican was not hard to spot. It was easily four or five times bigger then a normal Pelican. It also had green painted on to look like a forest on top and blue-white paint on bottom. There was a flurry of activity there. The final walkover was being done by four engineers. John drove up to the the Pelican and everybody jumped off the Warthog.
"Sir!" A young corporal yelled as he ran up to John. "New orders for you. You are to take the Pelican 2984 to New Mombasa immediately along with the a platoon from the 101st. He handed a slip of paper explaining the orders.
"Aww shit........" Merker trailed off.
"Corporal, follow me." John said and started walking off, but grabbing the corporal as he walked past him. He walked behind a Longsword far enough so that Fox, Merker, and Chuck couldn't hear them. The looks on the nearby mechanic's faces told the story though.
"Damn, he's giving him one helluva yelling at." Chuck needlessly pointed out.
"But it's really not the corps fault."
Then Wayne walked in, apparently being alerted by a mechanic.
"Master Chief John 117!" He yelled those words loud enough to be heard across the hangar. He then trailed off to a more normal tone.
5 minutes later, John walked across the hanger and boarded his Pelican, while Wayne and the corporal left through the main exit.
"Well ain't that just a bitch!" Fox yelled and slammed his hand on the rail.
"What now? Merker asked.
"We go on I guess." Fox replied, now massaging his hand.
"We're gonna need some help now." Chuck said,shaking his head. He didn't add what he was thinking, "We're screwed."
They proceeded up into the Pelicans bay. It looked like an ordinary Pelican until they opened the door leading to the living area portion in the bow.
"Hey Chuck! Do I look like a kid in a candy store?" Fox asked, looking around at the inside of the obviously very heavily modified Pelican.
"Yes you do."
"Thought so." He had good reason too. The base's engineers had completely redone the inside and outside of the Pelican, adding bigger wings, and an overall bigger chassis and side passages that ran down the new parts into living spaces. The normal soldier hold had been redecorated and lowered to about half the normal size. Overall, it was much bigger and better then a normal Pelican.
"Man, the General wasn't kidding when he said we were gonna be up here for awhile apparently!" Fox said, taking a peek at the storage lockers.
"No crap." Merker replied from across the bay.
"I see you like it." A black clad pilot opened the door that separated the renovated bay with the normal bay, raised the visor on his helmet.
"John! Where the hell did you come from?!" Chuck yelled, jumping back.
"I got picked up by that Covenant force you met. I guess General Wayne decided it would be a nice 'coincidence'for me to be on this mission." Martez smiled.
"Sheesh. I swear that guy's demented." Fox said and sat down on a crate.
A crew chief walked in. "Your up for takeoff. Get the hell outta here!"
Martez walked on to the cockpit. He wouldn't have a co-pilot. He sat down, and ran through the power up check-list. After he was done, he took the joystick in his hand and activated the Vertical TakeOff and Landing engines. The Pelican lifted off, and Martez twisted the stick to the left to position it for takeoff.
Meanwhile, Chuck, Fox, and Merker were strapped into their seats, ready for takeoff. Martez's voice came over the speakers in their seats.
"Alright guys, judging by the bug's position, we are going to.....Maturin, Venezuela. Damn. He went THAT far!"
"What!?" Fox yelled out, jumping from his seat. "That's 6 days from here if we try to go undetected, 8 if we go around the Covenant!"
"Correction. Look out the port window." Martez paused, then added as an afterthought; "And sit down too, so I can fly us outta here."
Fox sat down in a seat and looked out the window. He scanned down the wings, past the engines, and craned his head to try to see farther down the wing. He saw what Martez had been hinting at attached to the Pelican's side, and reeled back in shock. "Holy crap! Those are FTL engines!"
"Yep. It'll take us 3 days for this mission if we hit Kanni the first time through, since we are going to go around the Covenant." Now that he was up in the air, he began the new Pre-FTL checklist he had.
"You know, I'm not an engineering expert, but last time I checked, Pelicans couldn't handle FTL." Merker quipped.
A bang announced somebody's presence. The door opened, and a person wearing an engineering medal pinned to the laple of his combat fatigues walked in.
"Who in the hell are you?" Chuck and Fox said together.
"And how the hell did you get up here?" Merker said a split second later.
"Lieutenant James O'Conner, the head engineer on this baby, and through the catwalk John raised up to, respectively." He sat down and adjusted the straps on the seat to fit him. "Those engines you see are the hard work of me and my crew. Spent a few weeks on this. It's been in the making since before the cease-fire between us and that outcast Covenant was established, and in research for much longer. Those FTL engines are prototype stage, which is the main reason why I'm aboard."
"Where's your stuff? You know, guns, ammo..." Chuck trailed off.
"Loaded before you got here. And on your question, those wings are made out of the toughest alloys we have. Also when the Pelican is about to enter FTL the wings go back for the entry. When the pressure lowers in FTL flight they return to normal. One more thing before we lift off. Feel under the armrest. When you feel a button, hit it." He suited action to words by pressing his seats' button. The chair revolved around to face the front. Fox and Merker followed. Chuck felt, couldn't find the button, so he felt under the seat, leaned over to take a look, and inadvertantly triggered the chair, which spun around so fast he hit his head against the wall.
"Owww...." He rubbed his head and drew away blood. He got out of his seat to go to the medical case. It was at that moment Martez was finished with the pre-FTL and started the main engines. They powered the Pelican a few feet forward very fast before Martez engaged the brake. Chuck flew back and landed in his seat. "It can wait." He decided. Martez pushed the throttle forward gently, easing the Pelican out of the hanger. He raised the nose a little, raised the Pelican to 700 feet, stopped, turned the Pelican, and hit the switch for the FTL engines. The engines glew red, then white with heat, growing rapidly louder, until they became a strident scream. The Pelican inched forward. Martez engaged the main engines, hoping to help the Pelican. The engines died sputtered, then caught up again. This time they worked, and Martez was sent farther back into the pilot's chair's cushion then he had ever been before. The tachometer and speedometer on the sensors maxed out. Sensing this, the computer inside the Pelican retracted the wings. The Pelican shaked violently. Martez was in a full sweat now.
"Just a little more..."
O'Conner was getting worried too. If those engines blew, well, it would kill them probably, and waste billions of dollars and thousands of man-hours. Suddenly the horizon behind them started fading to black. They were going too fast for their eyes to catch the light of the sun. Suddenly the entire sky became black. They had entered FTL travel, the first for a craft of its size. Outside, the Pelican winked out of site. Everybody aboard heaved a sigh. Martez looked at the special instruments for the engines.
"2,000 more degrees and they would have blown." It came as a shock to him. A few seconds more and they all would have died. It felt funny to him to know that his death was that close. He lowered the speed of the FTL engines and cut the main engines entirely, just enough to keep them in FTL. He had piloted battlecruisers before, and knew that there was no sense in wasting the engine. The entry was always the most taxing, after that, it was normally smooth flying.
*****************************************************
A button on the cockpit's control panel flashed red and a siren began to blare. Martez quickly hit the switch by reflex. The area of black in front of him colored in and then the Pelican was out of FTL travel. The decelaration caused him to be be pulled tight against his straps. Blood rushed to his head. He heard crashes behind him of things that hadn't been strapped down. He looked at his diagnostics display. It showed the left FTL engine as being disabled. He swore and banked the ship left to avoid a tree. The rest of the world caught up with the Pelican and Martez rested back in his seat. O'Conner came rushing into the cockpit.
"What the hell did you do to my ba...it!?"
"Left FTL went out." He tapped the diagnostic touch screen to bring up more information. "Hydraulics and cooling are down. Fixable?"
"Yes, but for me to even get to the problem I'll have to spend hours dismantling the thing."
"Get to it when we land. Tell everybody what happened."
When O'Conner got to the hold, he found Chuck tossed into the near wall amist the parts of his gun, which he had been cleaning. Fox and Merker were picking up chess pieces. Merker was the first to speak up.
"Now what happened?"
"Left FTL engine went out. It's gonna take awhile to fix." O'Conner headed over to the place where his gear was housed, and took out the bag made for this situation He braced himself near the door, ready for landing.
Martez circled around looking for a spot to land. He found a clearing, and landed in it. Before the Pelican had settled down on its wheels O'Conner jumped out and headed to the engine. Martez did an accelerated power-down and jumped out of his seat and headed for the bay. When he entered he saw Chuck in the corner, just waking up, and Merker and Fox restarting their game.
"C'mon ladies this isn't a rest stop. There could be enemies. Get your shit and start a patrol." He said without missing a step toward the exit. He flung open the door and walked to the end of the cargo/secondary hold and jumped down from the hold with Chuck, Fox, and Merker following. Chuck and Fox went to the southeast, the highest ground, to cover the clearing, while Merker started partrolling the near area.
"Well, any progress?" Martez asked O'Conner.
"Like hell there is. You gotta give me more time!"
"Fuck." Martez walked back into Pelican. He walked to the galley and got out a shot glass and a bottle of Russian vodka. He decided he would need it that day. He poured a shot and threw it down his throat. He sat down and poured another.
************************************************
O'Conner laid down the tool and sighed. It had been 2 hours, and he had just gotten ready to pull off the outer casing. He gripped the casing and pulled. It came off with a good amount of difficulty, but it was off nontheless. He turned on a flashlight and took a peek inside. It took him a minute, but as he scanned for the problem he noticed something. Where there should have been a group of wires, very important wires, there was nothing but a few specks of dirt or something and a blob of goo. He picked up the goo. It had a hard center. He called to Fox, who came running over.
"Hey, what does this look like to you?"
"Some type of explosive."
"From who?"
"I don't really....oh shit. It's Covenant manufacture."
"Great. Just great!. How could this have gotten in here?
"The same way you took it out.
They didn't need to say anything else. Both knew what had happened. They had been fooled. O'Conner took another look inside. He spotted something and picked it up. It was a restrictor plate that had been melted off.
"I think that bomb was a back-up. Look. This type of thing, if it had stayed on, would have not allowed the engine to go to FTL travel, so the engine would have blown up and killed us all."
"It must have fallen off early. That would explain why the engine sputtered and then caught. Go get Merker and Chuck. Meet me and Martez in the bay. We need to contact the base too." Fox ran for the hill where Chuck was and O'Conner went into the Pelican.
"Martez! Get over here!" No answer. "Martez?" He looked in the cockpit. Martez wasn't there. He looked in the right wing living spaces. Nobody. He looked in the first part of the left wing. Nothing. He moved onto the galley. Martez was sitting at the table, passed out, with his bottle of vodka spilt on the floor. O'Conner ran to him and shook him. Martez's eye opened.
"Whaaaa...?" He asked, obviously drunk.
"Why the hell did you do this?"
"I...........couldn't........take......it........."Martez slurred his words. He passed out again.
"Damn." He ran out to the bay where everybody was waiting.
"Where's Martez?" Chuck asked.
"Passed out in the galley."
Everybody rushed into the galley at those words.
"Damn............" Merker said.
"Alright you guys get working on him, I'm going out to fix that damn engine. Fox, contact Base and tell them the situation." As O'Conner left the galley he overheard Merker saying "He is gonna have one helluva hangover. Two-Thirds of a vodka bottle..."
Once O'Conner got outside he immediately went to work inspecting the engine. He found nothing. To be safe, he inspected both the other FTL engine and the main engines. Nothing. Suddenly he heard Fox swearing. He looked up as Fox stood next to him.
"What's up?" He asked.
"The radio is dead! The crystals were replaced with fakes that made the radio look like it was working, but no messages can be sent or received." Fox said with more then a hint of anger.
"Great."
"Yea, just great."
"Somebody sabotaged this one good. Do we have any backups?"
"Stolen."
"Damn. Hell if I have any idea on what to do. Ask Chuck. He is the Commanding Officer now."
"I did. He said we should try to continue on while that transmitter is working."
"Whatever he says."
Fox left, so O'Conner started working on the wiring that had been lost. "Thank god I have enough spares." He thought. Soon he was done. He then double-checked his work and inspected that engine again. The last thing he needed now was another failure. He packed up his tools and went back inside. He saw Fox and Chuck, who was decked out in pilot's gear, waiting for him.
"Hey, how's he doing?" O'Conner asked as he put his tools in the storage locker.
"He woke up, then we gave him some medicine to calm him down and put him back asleep. He was delirious." Fox said.
"I ain't heard about hangovers like that since college."
"Thankfully, Chuck can pilot to some degree."
"Basic Pilot's Training at MacDill a few years back for crosstraining." Chuck chimed in. "Is the engine fixed?"
"Yes."
"Good." He got up and walked to the cockpit. "Liftoff in 10 minutes."
Chuck sat down and looked at the controls. "Oh dear God what have I got myself into?" He muttered under his breath. Gauges hadn't been like this on the training plane he had flown. He looked around for the start-up checklist screen. There had to be one. He checked the ships internal computer and found it. Thankfully, while searching for it he found a file that was made for occasions where trainees had to fly it. He activated it. It gave specific instructions on how to operate the Pelican. He followed them, and eventually got the Pelican powered up. After making sure everybody was secured in, he lifted off. When he cleared the treetops he set the heading into the computer. He hesitated, then hit the FTL switch. The engines caught the first time and the Pelican went to FTL without a hitch.
************************************************
Chuck made sure everybody was strapped in just in case the decelaration was as bad as the last re-entry, then hit the switch to bring them back to sub-light speed. When the process was complete, he checked his radar. No Kaani. Fox rushed in.
"Where is he?"
"I don't know. Hold on." Chuck changed the screen to show the transmitters location.
"He's near the halfway point between here and Caracas."
"Shit. He's heading to another capital."
"My thoughts exactly." He swung the Pelican to the left to put it on a heading in the direction of Kaani.
"How's Martez doing?" Chuck asked.
"He's doing fine. He should be able to fly us back."
"Good. Get back in your seat." Fox ran out of the cockpit. Chuck set the flight plan to have them exit FTL travel just a little ahead of Kaani's current path. It would an 8 hour trip. He put the Pelican into FTL travel as fast as he could.
*************************************************
It was Martez who took the Pelican back out of FTL travel. He had recovered fast from his binge. As he took the Pelican back to sub-light speed, he kept his eye firmly on the tracking screen. They were going to revert to sub-light at a low altitude, so he had to be aware at all times. The Pelican snapped back to sub-light speed and a blip appeared on the screen at the Pelican's 6 o'clock. Martez pulled the stick as close to his chest as far as he could. The altitude gauge flew upwards. Close to 600 feet, Martez heard a crash to his right, and the Pelican inverted and started flying downwards. He looked up at the ground.
"Shit! That sonuvabitch can jump!" He commented on Kaani, who was just returning to the ground after hitting the Pelican mid-jump.
Martez looked at the diagnostic display. It showed his right wing as gone, not just not working, gone. He didn't need to think much about it to realize half his power and steering was gone. Normal Pelican's could fly under this kind of situation, because they were light. The version was easily 4 times as heavy. The Pelican started dropping. Martez looked for a possible, and safe, landing zone. There wasn't a clearing to be found. He kept looking. He found a good spot in a cave not too far away. He aimed for it, and prayed the Pelican could not only reach it, but fit in the cave too. He put the flaps to full, reversed the engines, and extended the landing gear. He had to fight to keep the Pelican in line with the cave. The cave lept up and filled the windshield even though the Pelican was only going at 50 miles per hour, relatively slow.
"Brace for impact!" He yelled into the microphone. He braced, and then saw the pillar of rock sticking up in the cave's mouth that he hadn't seen before just before the Pelican hit,and ducked. The rock shattered against the Pelican, and chunks blew threw the windshield, sending glass and rock all over the cockpit and Martez. Half a second later the left wing hit and was ripped off by the side of the cave. The force that was exerted on the Pelican to rip off the wing transferred to the fuselage and spun the Pelican a few degrees and sent the Pelican into the wall. The Pelican then bounced off and down, into the other wall and then ricocheted at an angle, turning it 90 degrees and it flew down the cave's length sideways. It hit one more time against a wall before crashing into the back of the cave, then falling to the bottom of the cave. It rocked a bit, then finally settled in at an awkward angle, upside down and on an incline from cockpit to engines.
The Pelican didn't move for an hour.
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