Chapter (36) Death From Above! (6)

(Mc Pov)

"You are ready for launch, sir," A flight technician said on the floor outside of the cockpit. I also looked at the panel in front of me to double check and it also reflected a full tank of fuel. According to my HUD given by my helmet, I was fully reloaded as well.

I nodded and waited for all flight crew technicians to get a safe distance away. I asked over the comms again, double-checking before throttling up and putting my engines at full power causing the jet to rocket forward.

Once at the proper take-off speed, it began climbing in altitude leaving the temporary runway that was placed at a newly set up FOB. The landing gear was retracted and he continued climbing until he reached an acceptable cruising altitude.

"Gamma Actual this is Warthog One. I am done with R and R and on standby for close air support, over," I spoke informing the ground forces commanding officer and unit.

There was a pause before my set of orders came in, "Roger that Warthog One, we have a squad of marines evacuating a nearby village, but they can't get airborne," There was a pause over the comm, "Apparently they are pinned down by fuel rod fire coming from a newly set up shade turret on a hill outside the village. We know it's a bit overkill but would you help those soldiers out?"

(Fuel Rod Shade Turret)

"Affirmative, I am moving to assist," I responded, nodding my head and banking to my right. The waypoint of the village was displayed on my HUD and was placed at about a two-minute flight.

'Good I am close. Time to knock some heads,'

…

..

.

I soon arrived just outside the immediate fighting area of the waypoint. I slowly began coming out of the cloud layer circling the battlefield to get a grasp on the situation. Looking down I spotted a near uninterrupted stream of green fuel rod shots soaring to ruined houses below. I also spotted flashes of yellow fire at the ruined buildings meaning that the troopers below were still alive.

As I looked down my HUD also updated showing multiple red boxes highlighting enemy infantry making their way down the hill. From the light given off by the ammunition of the weapons, they must be using strictly plasma-based weaponry.

"November One Niner standby for close air support," I gave a warning to the squad leader as I continued to circle the combat zone.

A quick burst of static came through the comm before the Sergeant began speaking. In the background of the transmission, I could hear gunfire as well as impacting plasma, "About time! I have already pulled my guys back to the houses. No one else should be left out in the open so you are free to engage Warthog One,"

"Copy that," I said in acknowledgment. Now that I have confirmation of all friendlies pulled back I finished the arc that I had been flying before beginning my approach.

My plan was simply to mow everything down in one pass with the guns. So I switched my guns to two thousand rpm and I held down the button on my stick.

*brrrrrrrrrrrr*

The autocannons sounded like buzzsaws as they fired uninterrupted for all of seven and a half seconds. I swept the nose of my aircraft like a brunch on a canvas from the bottom to the top of the hill. Five hundred bullets rained down and impacted anything unlucky enough to be in their paths while obscuring the surrounding area with smoke and dust.

After the dust kicked up by my HE storm cleared I could see the result of my handiwork. The rounds fired had obliterated every hostile on the hill. There weren't even corpses left, only blue and purple smudges with the odd limb or entrail scattered among the newly dent-filled dirt mound.

"Nice fucking hits Warthog One! You're a lifesaver," The Sergeant exclaimed in appreciation through the comm. I gave him my thanks and waited till the shuttle along with two falcons and a hornet got off the ground and had left the combat zone. I escorted them every step of the way to be certain of their safety.

…

..

.

I climbed back above the cloud cover and began cruising waiting for any calls for assistance to be issued to me by command. I stayed loitering around the same area for about fifteen minutes with no updates before I decided to opt for 'independent action'.

"This is Warthog One changing status from loitering to Seeking and Destroying any and all enemy forces, over" I informed before pulling myself back below the cloud layer. I began checking for any immediate visual contact with enemies and found none. I then switched my VISR to pull up the INTEL (Intelligence) of allied forces to the right half of my HUD.

'Let's see… Covenant Ghost squad no. Covenant Draugr…Hell no I am not looking to die with all that plasma being fired,' I began sifting through intelligence in region Gamma. I was a bit picky in deciding what I was going to target because I didn't want to waste time and munitions on something that could be dealt with by something like a well-placed rocket.

I was about to decide on going and looking manually for targets until I found a piece right up my alley, 'Hmm a team of Covenant Phantoms spotted with heavy armor flying towards sector Gamma Two. That just so happens to be only a couple of miles away? Well sign me up,' I thought as I began to adjust my heading.

As I adjusted my heading also increased thrust opting to push out at a higher speed. I was in a hurry because I was planning to catch the Phantoms before they could drop the armor and troops they were carrying. If I could knock out a tank and twenty troops worth of reinforcements for the price of two to three sidewinders then I was happy to make that trade.

In response to my increased thrust, the whine of my turbine engines behind me became noticeably louder. It took no time at all for me to reach the point where the Phantoms were last spotted and I began heading in their last known direction at over mach one nearing twelve hundred miles per hour for a short burst.

'Found you,' I smirked as I spotted four purple blobs hovering together in a diamond formation. I slowed down and maintained a high elevation as I stalked their movement watching from behind them.

(Phantom Dropship)

From my elevation and position in reference to the group of drop ships, I couldn't help but feel like a hawk sitting on a power line watching a rat try and make its way across a field. Even though I was maybe two kilometers the pilots did not notice me or they at least didn't make it known that they had picked me up.

'Seems that stealth coating the SeaBees painted this thing with really works,' I thought thankful for the support the technicians gave me.

I tracked them for maybe a minute before deciding to begin my ambush. I switched from thirty-millimeter autocannons fire control over to my AIM-15 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles. I then began closing the distance and lining up the targeting system on the lead Phantom carrying a Wraith.

*BEEP*

Soon the missile lock on alert began blaring that I was ready to fire. I did one last sweep over my radar checking to see if this was actually a trap and found it to be clear. I stayed guarded ready to turn and burn the second this ambush goes tits up.

*FWOOSH*

*FWOOSH*

I fired two missiles at the lead Phantom. Once the missiles were away I immediately began going for a target lock on the second Phantom who was also carrying a Wraith. Just as the missiles impacted the first Phantom I fired the next pair then looked back to get visual confirmation of the kill.

The first Phantom burst into flames from the two-hundred-pound missiles striking into the top armor of the drop ship. One of the explosives had hit one of the anti-gravity generators causing it to begin dipping to one side. It ultimately exploded into a fireball about ten seconds after impact from the ignition of its fuel source. It hurled to the ground in white flame and purple wreckage the Wraith it was carrying underneath was also toast.

After the first aircraft went up in flames the Phantoms got spooked and began to try and scatter but it was already too late. I fired another two missiles for a third Phantom and decided to smart bomb the final with a quick pass.

The fate of the group of phantoms was mostly the same. All four burst into flames and explosions before having a final resting place somewhere on the ground. Though the duration of the white flames and how quickly the ship collapsed in on itself were varying to a degree.

Flying away from the wreckage I couldn't help but shake my head, 'It truly isn't fair… for them that is,'

"This is Warthog One confirm four kills on Phantoms just outside sector Gamma two. On standby awaiting calls of support," I informed over the comms. I began heading back in the direction of sector Gamma Three actively scouting for more targets.

As a couple of minutes of searching went by I was eventually greeted with a transmission from command, "Warthog One we have a call for air support that came in from Sierra Zero Two Three in sector Gamma Four. According to the Chief Petty Officer, you are looking at a platoon of Wraiths and at least half a company of infantry. Acknowledge?"

'Interesting if my memory is correct S-023 is Daisy the most unruly of the Spartan-II's,' I thought recalling her limited appearances, 'I wonder if she has the same personality in the books as in real life,'

"Understood moving to provide air support," I said, accepting the order after pondering the details given.

Slowly the terrain below turned from open grasslands with roads sparsely inhabiting them into an urban city. Though calling it a city wouldn't be very… accurate at this point. The far outskirts that I was flying above to make my way into Gamma Four were mostly ruins with black craters caused by plasma littering the ground. There were destroyed UNSC and Covenant vehicles and I could see numerous piles of rubble stacking up into the middle of intersections.

It was depressing to see that a place once so full of people living a day-to-day normal life had come crashing down. That the humans who called this place home were handed a death sentence just because of a false religious belief in an alien race long since dead… But that is the law of power in the end might makes right and there is no use lamenting things that I have no control over.

I snapped myself out of my moral dilemma and transmitted to Daisy my arrival, "This is Warthog One approaching the target area, over"

A voice came in over the comms. It was calm and somewhat excited and also distinctly female, "It's great to have you back Warthog One,". Though the voice that came through was certainly calm, the way she spoke I was certain that Daisy was most likely grinning like a madman. Most likely due to knowing that the Covenant in front of her was in for a world of hurt.

The small bit of excitement in her voice was infectious and I myself couldn't help but smile replying, "It's good to be back Sierra zero two three. Now let's begin shall we?", I paused as I began to decrease my altitude to get a visual of the enemies below.

*whistle*

'Damn, that's a lot of covies out in the open. And that's not even the entire Company…maybe the rest are hiding in those buildings concealing their numbers,' I thought, looking down at the movements of the Covenant infantry. For the most part, the Covenant ground strategy was always to overwhelm and brute force any attack. That's not to say they wouldn't use strategy, it was just that they opted more for smashing through any defenses instead of using more finesse, 'Maybe that's caused by the races' opinions colliding with each other. The Brutes would always be putting a show of strength above everything else while Elites care more about honor inversely,' I pondered thinking about the enemy's tactics.

"You weren't kidding Sierra Zero Two Three you have got a mess on your hands down there. What are your coordinates? Over," I asked for Daisy's coordinates so that I didn't accidentally drop a cluster bomb in wherever she was hiding on accident. I won't lie, most of the buildings looked the same with the common stone building materials, and once I began my gun runs my vision would be obscured by smoke and dust in the air.

Daisy sent her coordinates shortly after and I decided to take the same approach as the one I had with the evacuation. I would approach from behind the friendly forces and cut down anything in front of me on each pass because I would most likely have to make more than one.

"Coordinates received, standby for fireworks," I said banking to my left. I switched from my air-to-air missiles to rockets and guns. I also turned the knob indicating the GAU-8's rpm from two thousand to four thousand.

As I leveled out and began flying horizontally I was finally in position to begin my aerial attack. I began lowering my nose into a negative angle of attack staring down upon the Covenant forces. The Covenant had already taken notice of me and began to fire their small arms into the air toward me… but it didn't matter.

I held the autocannon firing button and began gripping the stick with both hands for the side effect of firing two thirty-millimeter autocannons at four thousand rounds a minute.

*BRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTT*

A deafening sound even for me in the cockpit was unleashed and everything in front of me was turned into a gray storm of snow. The jet ricketed from side to side caused by the recoil of the seven-barreled guns. The stick was wobbly and most certainly didn't like the hellfire that I had let loose at my targets.

Speaking of my targets there was nothing left. No purple smudges like in the village or strewn body parts and entrails scattered down the streets. There was simply nothing left to identify that there had been an alien there, to begin with. It was almost as if they never existed, to begin with.

Due to my suspicions that there were enemies hiding in buildings, I also aimed at any structure standing. I tore through them and made the houses and stores appear to look like a stone cheese grater. Whatever was unlucky enough to be inside those homes was dead either by the bullets or by buildings crushing them caused by my generous dispensing of depleted Uranium.

I finally let go as I was nearing the end of my pass and began to spam fire rockets aiming for the wraiths and ghosts below. Red fire plumed into the air but was eventually followed by a white light signifying the burning of plasma. Unlike with the Phantoms, I was not stingy with my rockets and handed out the unguided munitions like they were tic tacs.

My actions appeared to be a serious home development initiative brought to a poor area by an unnamed conglomerate. I even beat up the residents to support my actions. But I was far from finished.

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Boom another chapter and it's longer than most.

I am busy so not much to say

Song of the day is "So Cold" by Breaking Benjamin

I hope you all have a blessed day and I will See You Star Side