John-117/Late War: Difference between revisions

Against Cortana's protestations, John unloaded on the trailing ship with the fighter's guns and told her to get him a firing solution for their [[ASGM-10 missile]]s to target its [[plasma turret]]s when the [[energy shield]]ing around them dropped.{{Ref/Reuse|HFS5}} He relinquished fire control to her and proceeded to send the craft accelerating deeper into the debris field after she fired the four that they carried. Cortana took over piloting the Longsword after that and John was able to perform a sweep scan of his own in order to try to find anything that could help them. He decided to finally hail the Pelican and was introduced to [[Warrant Officer]] [[Shiela Polaski]]. The Master Chief urged Polaski to meet them at a NAV point almost directly on top of [[Ascendant Justice|the flagship]] and had Cortana slow their speed so both smaller craft would arrive at the same time. The six cruisers stopped stopped firing at them out of fear of hitting the {{Pattern|Ruma|light carrier}}. Once the Longsword and Pelican were around twelve hundred kilometers away from one another John asked Polaski to hand establish a system link with them so Cortana could take over control of both vehicles to attach them to one another. At three hundred kilometers from the flagship it finally began to bring its weapons to bear on them but their extreme oblique approach angle and speed made them hard to hit. Both the Pelican and Longsword passed the carrier and began a slingshot orbit around Basis and it was at this point that they both met each other at just prior to 1710 hours.{{Ref/Reuse|HFS5}}<ref name="HFS6">''[[Halo: First Strike]]'', ''Chapter 6''</ref> John moved aft to the access hatch connecting both ships and was shocked when the first person he pulled through was none other than [[Staff Sergeant]] [[Avery Johnson]]. John's first reaction was to kick the hatch shut and slam the marine against the hull, drawing Johnson's own pistol and pointing the barrel at his forehead at the same time.{{Ref/Reuse|HFS6}} He had been sure the staff sergeant had been consumed by the [[Flood]], given that he'd last seen him in the footage recorded by Private [[Wallace Jenkins|Jenkins]]' [[Helmet recorder|helmet cam]]. He demanded to know how it was possible for him to have escaped unscathed, to which the man simply claimed that the Flood had passed him by as if it was disinterested in him. Cortana noted that a preliminary readings from Johnson's biomonitors indicated he was free of infection, so the Chief relaxed enough to return his sidearm to him. Three other survivors from the Pelican joined them thereafter. In addition to Warrant Officer Polaski, a [[pilot]] from the [[23rd Naval Air Squadron]], there was an [[ODST]] by the name of [[Locklear]] and finally [[Elias Haverson]], a lieutenant of the Office of Naval Intelligence. John let everyone know that given their lack of slipspace-capable transport, their only option was to seize control of one of the Covenant's nearby ships after they completed their slingshot around Threshold's moon. Though the lieutenant outranked him, John felt comfortable asserting authority over him since he still intended to carry out [[Operation: RED FLAG]]. Haverson, of course, was well aware of RED FLAG and reluctantly submitted to the Spartan's tactical command. John told Locklear to grab extra weapons, ammunition, and grenades from the Pelican while he briefed them on his plan to capture the Covenant flagship, ''[[Ascendant Justice]].

[[File:Polaski cam.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Aboard ''Ascendant Justice''.]]

===''Ascendant Justice''===