Chapter 8:
The COM sounded up as the voice of Major General Merrick said the simple word "Go!" The test had begun as Knight Company planned to defend against the two ODST platoons that would attempt to overtake the defenses and steel the VIP who was being played by Colonel Sable. Sykes and Wallace had worked out the strategy and decided on a proper course of action.
"My platoon is ready, Sir. Permission to move-out?" Sykes said as he stood next to his commander.
"Do your worst Lieutenant. And then get the hell back here, God knows they will think something's up if your gone."
"Yes Sir." Sykes turned and walked over to his platoon and lead them out of the fortification. He and the Captain had decided that it would be best to set up traps for the ODST's, and with Sykes's experience he knew exactly how to do it. He had taken half of the Training Landmines that the company had to their arsenal and he had also taken the best shots that the company had to offer. They were going to distract the enemy while they rigged up the mines and bundled grenades. The main thing that the ODST's were expecting was that Sykes would be predicting a normal attack, but that wasn't even near the truth. He wanted to break down Faison's battle plan at its center, and now he had to act in such a way where he would attack and gather Intel all at once.
They worked their way through the dense wood when Sykes first got the feeling that they were not alone. He quickly turned to his platoon XO Master Sergeant Cools and signaled him to stay and fan out under cover, then he signaled Singer and her squad to come forward. Singer had been settled with a good squad, she had more than half veterans and the rookies had shown promises including Private McBride.
Singer approached and Sykes flashed the signals that she should follow him. He stood and began to work his way slowly and quietly up an inclining hill. Sykes then peeked over the hill and saw the scouting squad of ODST's approaching from a decent distance off. Sykes signaled for the platoon to fan out and prepare to fire. He wasn't going to give the enemy a chance to get a feel for the surroundings much less a scouting report.
Sykes signaled to Singer and McBride that they were to form up on him as they doubled back and walked through a blind spot and came out on the scouting squads six. They weren't spotted but they weren't in the most favorable position. Sykes tapped his mic, which was the signal to the Squad XO to open fire. The Squad rose off of the hill and opened fire on the unsuspecting ODST's, one ODST was hit and dropped instantly while the rest of them hid behind the tree's Sykes pulled up his Assault Rifle and Singer matched his motion as McBride pulled up his SMG. They were at a decent range but Sykes wanted to get closer. He waved with his free hand and began to walk and shoot with the two other marines matching his actions. Several members of the squad fell within a matter of seconds as the ODST's were caught in the crossfire. Sykes ran up and shot the last one standing as he was randomly turning between Sykes and the Squad on the hill.
Sykes signaled for the Squad to approach and he tapped his mic three times and Cools quickly approached with the rest of the platoon. "Collect all the rounds and weapons you can and find a more suitable home for them. Any grenades we put into our booby traps." Sykes whispered to Cools.
After the platoon had put the ODST Squad into a safe location they continued along their route which eventually lead them to the main road that the Warthogs would have to take. Sykes had known all along that Faison would try a speed reliant extraction, and that being the case use of the warthogs would be essential. "Three mines; one here, another there and the last there." Sykes said to Cools as he pointed to the location. "Link their position with Nav. markers so we can range the positions."
"Yes, Sir." Cools said as he turned and approached the two men who were designated explosives experts.
The land mines were basically the same in design except the fact that they weren't designed to fragment they were instead designed to discharge a large non-lethal explosion that at very worst could deliver a concussion. The grenades were similar but instead of fragmentation the area where they detonated was painted by condensed TTR Fluid, which was a fluid that would harden around clothing material and would knock the target out cold with the strong anesthetic that it had within the mixture.
"What's the status on those grenade pouches?" Sykes said as he looked closer at the materials that had been gathered from the ODST scouts.
"Detonators are attached, Sir; and the mines are in the ground and wired to explode on activation." Cools replied as he stowed his one remaining grenade.
"Okay I want Sergeant Phelps and his squad to stay at this location and wait for the traffic to start. They are to detonate the mines only on Warthogs and the grenades as needed for personnel." Sykes said as he grabbed a silenced SMG from the weapons pile.
"And where are we going, sir?"
"We are going to sneak farther in. I want to get a look at their base, maybe even leave a message." Sykes said as he analyzed the silenced weapons that he saw before him. This was what he missed about being an ODST, the stealth. Going behind enemy lines without the slightest hint, then taking them out from the inside and that was exactly what Sykes had in mind.
"What kind of message sir?"
"That just because we aren't ODST, we aren't lambs waiting to be slaughtered."
Cools was on point as they approached the perimeter of the ODST fortification. The fort was well armed and manned, just the type of setup they had expected. But they were still arrogant due to the fact that their gate was down and they were walking around freely. They had no fear of a sniper, and that's exactly what Sykes had been hoping. Cools quickly signaled for one of his rookies and gave him the hand signals to stay low and go inform the Lieutenant of his discovery. The young Private ran off and seconds later Cools saw a small group of ODST's walk out of the fortification and spread out beginning to sweep the immediate area.
Moments later Sykes and Singer approached with the two other squads in tow. Sykes was crouched down and leading the group, he of all people was aware that the only way to beat an ODST Helmet Radar was to be lower than the helmet.
"What's the situation Sergeant?" Sykes whispered to Cools.
"We have five ODST's scowering the area; I'm guessing that their scouting party is overdue."
"Okay, I want to take out the walkers first then I want to take down those gunners and the head at the same time if we can. Take down the walkers when they are in a blind spot and not being monitored. I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise." Sykes said as a smirk appeared on his face.
"Yes sir."
"Leave me your sniper and then you take your best and take down those ODST's." The plan had come together. Sykes was holding up his end and was just about to deal the first hit, surprising since they were supposed to be the ones getting slaughtered.
Major General Merrick watched the progress of the exercise from the command center in the Helion Marine Base. Next to him were several officers who watched the advancing of the marines threw the brush and their interaction with one another. Merrick was an old school marine who had earned his way to command through several years of engagement and nearly as many in deskwork. He was a 60-year-old man who had never wanted to be promoted past the point of Colonel but he was given no other choice. "Either promotion or Retirement, it's your choice." But the Corp. was all he knew and he would do anything to stay with it. And now he was watching an exercise that hadn't been performed before. When he was approached about it by Colonel Sable he had laughed at the thought of matching ODST's against regulars in a training simulation, but when he had heard who proposed the exercise it all made sense all of a sudden. Merrick had never personally met Lieutenant Sykes, although he had heard all about him through the years as far back as when he was put in command of the Regiment. It was a reputation that Sykes was living up to as Merrick could see through the officers tactics, he had taken out an ODST Scouting team and now he had made his way to the ODST Fortification without drawing the attention of his opponents.
"Sir?" Major Oslo said as he approached the General.
"What is it Major?" Merrick replied as he inhaled from his cigar while not looking away from the three dimensional display being produced by SATCOM.
"Sir. There are two Admirals outside who wish to be allowed to watch the exercise."
"Who are they?" The General asked now looking at the Major with worry in his eyes. He knew that this was a sanctioned exercise and that there was no risk in its implementation, however the presence of anyone who out ranked him always made him feel uneasy.
"Vice Admiral Cole and Rear Admiral Whitcome, Sir. They said that they had a wager on the exercise and would like to have as close to front row seats as possible."
Merrick smirked at what he was told, it was rare to see Admiral Cole on world but he knew that he had brought a large portion of his fleet back to Reach in order to repair and replenish supplies. Cole was a man who had nothing short of every ounce of Merrick's respect and every bit of it was earned since the two had served together several times through the years and they had a mutual respect for one another that was rare to find between Navy and Marine. Admiral Whitcome was also an admirable man who had been forced to serve as a desk jockey although he too had a great deal of experience in combat especially after he was stranded in enemy territory during the Insurrectionist Wars. Every marine who had been there with him reported that he was an officer in complete command and served with distinction and successfully evacuated almost all who had survived the crash. "Show them both in Major, and offer them whatever beverage and delicacy they would like."
"Yes Sir." The Major said as he walked over to the secure door and scanned his palm on the small monitor, the door opened and the two Admirals entered with cigars lit and smirks holding them in place. The Major quickly saluted the Admirals. "Sirs, Welcome to Helion…"
"At ease son, we aren't on duty we are just here for a good old fashioned war game… Merrick you English bastard how are you?" Cole said in his iconic southern accent.
"Well enough Sir's, just watching a training exercise."
"Who's winning General?" Whitcome asked in his southern drawl that was native to his original home of Texas.
"Well thus far a squad of ODST's were taken out by Lieutenant Sykes's Platoon. So at this moment the regulars are in the lead."
"Not looking too good for you Dan." Cole said as he took a puff of his cigar and picked up a bottle of whiskey, which the Major had just set on the table in front of the men.
"It's just one squad. The ODST's aren't done yet." Whitcome replied as he folded his arms and watched the projection.
"Well it's about to get even more interesting sirs. Look." Merrick said indicating to the ODST indication signs that were going from active to inactive as the regulars silently took out the five who were patrolling the area. A monitor which was to the left of the projection displayed all the ODST Casualties. 23 ODST's down 0 Regulars.
"See what I mean? Regulars can do just as much as an ODST, just these ones are doing it without all the tech that the ODST's have." Cole said as he poured some whiskey into a glass.
"Well Sir, the regulars have an advantage." Merrick said as he watched the two machine gunners go down and two more kills rack up against the ODST's.
"What kind of advantage General?" Whitcome asked with concern in his voice. "Numbers? Weapons?"
"No Sir. Lieutenant Sykes."
"You mean the marine from Oasis?" Whitcome said now very interested in the regulars.
"Yes Sir. While the first and third platoon of Knight Company are still at their fortification. Sykes has led the second platoon through the brush and has made his way to the enemy fortifications; where he is now giving them quite the run for their money." Just as this was said a red light flashed on the projection as seven more ODST Tags showed up on the monitor.
"What does that mean?" Cole asked as he examined the screen.
"It means that they just took down an officer. And from the looks of it, it was First Lieutenant Silva." Merrick said as he smirked with satisfaction about the progress that was being made.
"Well they are in for a surprise. The Warthogs are on their way out." Whitcome said as he noted the three warthogs starting and driving out of the fortification.
Sykes clicked his mic and signaled the retreat, and he turned with his team and ran back into the brush where they would be safe from TTR fire. The three warthogs followed the now visible platoon as they worked their way back through the brush; they followed by the road and didn't even realize that it was a bit to convenient that the marines were on an intercept course with the road. Sometimes the elite trained unit isn't the most intelligent.
As Sykes and the majority of the Second Platoon sprinted away from the ODST Fortification, the Warthogs followed along their crude road every so often the gunners would shoot at anything that looked suspicious. However as anyone who has been in combat knows, sometimes the only thing you see is what your mind hopes you won't. The truth of it was that the rounds didn't stand a chance in hell of reaching a desired target. The facts were simple; Sykes and his team were far enough into the brush where the only means of the ODST's knowing their location was by use of their radars, which were blind at that very moment.
The odds of the nine Hell-Jumpers catching Sykes before he got his team were dicey at best. Although they had been given Intel on the road they hadn't been given Intel on the dense wooded area that the dirt road ran through the middle of. The Captain had sent out a scouting party, but given the fact that Sykes had shown up like he did had led many to believe that the scouting team was most likely down especially if they had encountered Sykes. Sykes had a reputation with the company; he was the finest example of an ODST when he was still eligible. As fate had decided it however a faulty HEV landing had robbed him of almost all of his left leg. Buck sat in the driver's seat of the lead Warthog as he rounded a wide curve; he had been with Sykes from the beginning. Sykes was the sniper, the careful and deliberate one who would take out the enemy before they even had the slightest idea he was there. Buck was the reckless one who charged in guns blazing and took them by surprise, they were an odd couple but a couple that worked well together.
Buck remembered a mission when they were both given the job of clearing a sector all by their lonesome. It was early on in their years as Hell-Jumpers and they were both relatively unknown and they were still trying to show that they were the best team there could be. Faison had sent them and three others to secure the sector on the planet Peladiouse VII. It was a backwater planet that had become a hotbed for the innie's, but that's the way it was in the outer colonies back then. The Drop was solid for Sykes and Buck but two of the others were thrown at least five clicks off course by a sand storm that had just picked up prior to their entry into the atmosphere. The third was burned up in the atmosphere, the price they paid for jumping feet first into hell, sometimes you never hit the ground.
Buck had landed in the same area as Sykes and the two quickly met up and evaluated the situation, Sykes unslung his sniper rifle and examined the area. Three-quarters of a click southeast was a small crude compound that resembled a hermits hut. When he looked closer however he had seen that it was much larger than a hut and it also had a man walking around the perimeter carrying an old M-3 submachine gun and smoking a cigarette. "Looks like we found our target." Buck said to Sykes as he looked at the building with his blind eye. "So what's the best course of action?"
"Well I want to get as close as possible without them seeing us." Sykes said stating the obvious.
"Well I had figured that much but what after that?"
"Oh I'm sorry am I the commanding officer here? Because if I am why don't I just call in a carpet bomb drop or better yet a MAC gunshot directly on top of the building."
"Well since the Sergeant burned up in the atmosphere and the Specialist was thrown into the wind, I guess we are equals. The MAC Gun was a nice idea though but you're forgetting that this damn storm is blocking the transmission even if it is light."
"Alright fine, we go down to that boulder and when the guard walks closer to the wall like he has every 42 seconds I'll shoot him at a level angle and as long as the wind doesn't mess with it he will fall against the wall and make it look like he is leaning on it. Then when he is neutralized we move in and breach the place."
"That is by far the worst plan I have ever heard." Buck said as he turned away from the landscape and looked at Sykes.
"Well do you have anything better?"
"Nope. So let's do it then. But fifty credits say you can't make him lean against the wall with a shot."
"You're on." Sykes said as the two proceeded to sneak across the barren land in the mild sandstorm.
"Okay, don't miss." Buck said as Sykes leveled his rifle and checked the balance sensors to determine if the barrel was straight or not. Sykes zoomed in the scope to its 10x magnification and followed the target for three passes; the man was walking as though he didn't have a care in the world. Little did he know that the cigarette he just finished was his execution courtesy and that he was going to be sent to an early grave with nothing but that protein bar as his last meal.
Sykes fired the rifle and it smacked the guard in the shoulder and spun him as it traveled down gradually until it stopped on the other side of his heart after turning the once beating organ into a bloody popped balloon. The man fell against the wall and looked as though he was leaning thanks to the angle of the shot and the effect it had on his body. Buck shook his head not believing what he had just seen. That's the type of thing Sykes had been known for even then, he could make the most unlikely event happen with just one well-placed bullet. Now as Buck lead the pursuit of Sykes's platoon that's exactly what bothered him, he knew something was going to happen but with Sykes it was hard to say exactly what.
Buck continued to maneuver around the winding road as he saw what looked like something strange hanging from the trees, not sure if it was his imagination or some form of fruit he kept on driving until he heard the detonation. As what was once a view of the road in front of him was now a view of the road that was beneath his warthog Buck knew this was going to be another one of Sykes's strange skirmishes that were settled by the simplest of things. The warthog landed on the ground upside down. If it hadn't have been for the roll cage the occupants would have been crushed.
Buck lay motionless for a moment gathering his thoughts of what exactly had just happened as he heard the roar of a chain gun from a Warthog firing away at a hill to his right. Then all of a sudden he saw the red TTR bullet spatter all over his co-pilot and he knew that he was under attack. He crawled out of the vehicle and saw that two Warthogs had been knocked over including his own. His gunner was out and firing and those who were in the other overturned warthog were also fighting as they crouched behind the overturned vehicles for cover. One had survived because it was just far enough out of the blast radius to not be stunned; it fired recklessly at the marines who were well protected up on the hill. Buck fired his AR at the hill just trying to draw some fire while he wondered how they would get out of this mess.
"It appears as though we have them sir." Singer said to the Lieutenant as they both continued to fire in short bursts at the ODST's.
"So it would seem. Detonate the grenades." Sykes replied. The space behind the enemy was immediately faded out by red as the whole area was covered in TTR fluid. The third warthog had found itself still out of the explosion area and quickly turned around and retreated. One ODST hobbled after it hoping to get back to the base, his leg had been hit by the fluid and was now useless to him. He tried to run and was slowed down even further by the Tree, which was knocked over by the third mine blast. As he tried to climb over the large log Sykes raised his pistol aimed and fired, the ODST fell to the ground cold with a large amount of TTR Fluid on his back. "Scavenge the warthog's and weapons, pull down three more trees right here and then hump it back to base with the goods." Sykes said to Master Sergeant Cools who nodded and went to work.
Sykes had just dealt a heavy blow to his former teammates. He had not only attacked them on their turf but also taken two thirds of their warthogs and taken out so many ODST's that he hadn't even tried to count. Maybe, just maybe, they could win this thing after all.
Sykes jumped down from the overcrowded warthog, which stopped in the middle of Knight Companies Fort. He helped a young private down who had been shot in the leg with a TTR round; his minor injuries to his platoon were well within an acceptable amount. Only five of his marines had been hit through all of his raiding, the worst of which had lost the use of both legs. After the number of casualties he inflicted on Faison's boys he felt that this outcome was more than acceptable. Captain Wallace approached with a smirk on his face as he looked over the warthogs and weapons that Sykes had recovered.
"Sir, I thought we could make better use of these fine machines than our friends over in the ODST Camp could." Sykes said as he snapped to attention.
"Not bad Sykes, what's the enemy's status?" Wallace said as he pointed to Master Sergeant Rhodes to offer a hand.
"Twenty-nine confirmed, as many as 17 wounded. Leaving an estimated enemy threat of 171, oh and I can verify that we took down an officer although I'm not certain if it was Faison or Silva." As Sykes said this a young Corporal named Tolen ran up to the two officers.
"Sirs, we have communications from the enemy fort. They are asking for both of you." The man said as he was distracted by the weapons and vehicles that had been recovered.
"Well apparently you made somebody very pissed off. Let's go see who is still standing." Wallace said as he turned and began to walk away.
"Yes sir." Sykes said as he fell into line right behind him.
Faison appeared on the screen and looked rather pissed as he saw Wallace and Sykes looking at him. This told it all, they had taken down Silva and delivered the equivalent of a bitch slap to the elite class of marine's, even though he knew that this would most likely cause a chain reaction from the hell jumpers Sykes still couldn't keep himself from smiling.
"Well Sykes I hope you're pleased with yourself." Faison said as he showed signs of pouting.
"Very Sir, I'm awaiting your response." Sykes said as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Don't either of you worry, we have a response." Faison reached forward and killed the connection.
"Captain I suggest that we go to high alert and double the guard."
"For what reason?" Wallace asked as he turned to look at his second in command.
"Because sir, that means they are close." Sykes said as he turned and looked at the Captain.
Wallace quickly tapped his mic and began rattling off orders as Sykes stepped out of the COM Room. He looked around the compound and saw the nearly unprotected six o'clock; it was then that he realized exactly what Faison was going to do. The small rock face that lead up from the back of the fort to a cliff at the top was steep and would be next to impossible to jump and survive from, but that would be his plan. "What do you see?" Wallace said as he approached Sykes.
"Sir we need to hide a few squads in the fortification area so that we can counter the ODST intrusion." Sykes said as he turned around and saw the crates that were stacked up along the wall. "And I suggest that we hide some marksman behind those crates."
"What are you anticipating?" Wallace asked as he crossed his arms and raised his right eyebrow.
"They are going to assault the front gate and while we move to counter they are going to repel a special squad to capture the Colonel and then extract him." Sykes said as he looked at his commander.
"Do what you have to; I don't want those bastards within a meter of the Colonel." Wallace said as he turned and walked away. Sykes pointed to Cools and Fujita. The two quickly ran over to him and awaited his instructions.
"Lieutenant you and your platoon are now to take up guard around the Colonel's tent, I will be taking command of the rear defense."
"Yes sir." Fujita said as he turned and ran over to Sergeant Major Billings and relayed the order.
"Cools, I want our injured men on the rear watch where they can be seen. We will make the enemy think we are being lax. Also get the men to move those crates into a cover formation but make it in a box shape."
"Box? Sir?" Cools said puzzled by Sykes request.
"I want our best marksmen in complete cover inside the "Box" they will be next to impossible to see and when the enemy tries to drop in they will have support on the cliff firing down. That will be the marksmen's main targets. Find cover for the rest of the platoon in the buildings, we can't let the fact that we are setting a trap be known."
"Yes sir." Cools turned on his heels and went right to work. The fight was going to get interesting to say the least.
Staff Sergeant Perrin led a twelve-man team through the brush and his destination was the cliff that overlooked the back of Knight Companies fort. The Staff Sergeant was ordered to go in and capture the VIP and extract him, but he was jittery he had just watched several of his fellow ODST's fall when Lieutenant Sykes led a sneak attack on their fort. Sykes was a former ODST one that Perrin had served with, although Perrin never really cared for Sykes he did have to admit that he was a tough bastard. His tactics were solid and he always seemed to be able to see what was going to happen next, and that's what scared him. Sykes knew that the ODST fort would be lightly guarded as they organized for the attack and that's exactly why he attacked; now Lieutenant Silva was out along with 28 others. Sykes was the regular's unfair advantage, especially since he was one of Faison's favorites back in the day that meant that he had the unique ability to predict the Captain's actions just based on what he did to him. It pissed him off that he didn't know if he was walking into a trap, but that's exactly what he felt when in combat with the covenant. Maybe this exercise was useful after all.
"Sarge?" A voice said over his In-Helmet radio.
"What is it Corporal?" Perrin said as he chinned his talk button in his helmet.
"Sir, we have a confirmation that the attack has begun and we have eyes on the back side of the fort."
"Patch it through to my helmet." A small grainy image appeared in the left corner of his helmets faceplate. He watched as it appeared wounded marines were guarding the rear of the fort, this was fairly normal especially since he could see others who were wounded or dead get dragged to the rear of the facility. Sure enough he could see that the rear guards were paying more attention to the front than to the back, and that was a mistake he intended to make them pay for. "Get marksmen on the ledges and prep repelling lines, we're going in for the knock out."
McBride tapped his com with his left hand as he held the captured ODST sniper rifle with his right as he looked down the scope, he had a visual on two ODST sharp shooters who had moved into position and had taken out the false guards who had been watching over the fortifications six. Ropes began to fall over the edge of the cliff and he watched as several ODST's climbed down as quietly as possible. When the first ODST hit the walkway on the edge of the wall, McBride heard two taps over the Com. the Lieutenants signal for attack, he quickly moved his view to the first sharp shooter and shot him in the neck with a TTR round which took the man out of the fight. McBride quickly scanned the other shooter and saw that the man was also down from a shot to the head. At this point the rest of the Second Platoon was running out of their covert positions and were engaging the squad that had just walked in through the back door of their fortifications. McBride focused on his job and began taking down the enemies that were still in place on the cliff.
Sykes charged out of the Long Range Communications Building right after he had given the attack command the sounds of the first two shots that his two sharp shooters had fired were nearly in unison and as he rounded the corner he saw that both of their primary targets were down. Sykes raised his Submachine gun and opened fire on the ODST's who were now falling down the ropes at an accelerated speed so that they would at least touch the ground before they were lit up like a nuke detonation. Sykes caught one man in the leg and another in the chest until he was forced to take cover behind the wall that separated the two areas. Sykes turned to his platoon and signaled for grenades over the wall and immediate fire after. Ten marines moved three steps away from the wall and primed their grenades and let them fly towards the hell jumpers who were taking up position on the wall. Sykes quickly lead the squad around and into the now TTR fluid stained area as he checked to make sure all the enemies were down.
McBride and Terow stood and jogged over to his location. "Good job marines. Now it's time to wrap this up. I want Fire teams A through F on me. The rest of you follow Master Sergeant Cools to the front lines aid in the defense."
Sykes turned to Cools and said. "Tell the Captain that I'm leading a double flank to take out the rest." Cools nodded and ran to the front of the group that was now formed in front of him. Sykes turned to the six fire teams that were now standing next to him. "Singer, you lead D through F to the left flank, I'll lead A through C to the right. We don't stop till the enemy is neutralized. Well don't just stand around looking at me marine's get up those damn ropes." Sykes ran ahead of them and grabbed hold of the rope and began climbing it, the exercise reminded him of basic but his surroundings reminded him of the war. Sykes and Singer reached the top within five seconds of each other and waited for the rest of their teams to get to the top. Sykes nodded to Singer turned and led his marines into the brush and she did the same.
Sykes spotted a group of ODST's crouched behind a log facing away from his fire teams. He thought about grenading their position but the sight of TTR fluid flying in the air would most likely draw the rest of the enemy's attention so he quickly discarded the idea. Instead he handed off his submachine gun to a Lance Corporal and took the man's shotgun, and then he signaled for two of the fire teams to stay in position and watch their backs. Sykes then waved the other team to follow him quietly, as they approached, a Private in the back tripped and loudly smacked to the ground. An ODST turned and saw the Marines bearing down on his position but it was too late. Sykes pulled up the shotgun and from only five meters made contact with two of the enemies using the weapon more like a paint can than a weapon of war. Sykes grabbed a sniper rifle from the firing position then waved the rest of the group towards him. He looked through the scope and saw that the fortification was holding but the enemy was bunkered in well enough to present a great deal of resistance. Sykes then refocused the rifle to see Singer's progress, and as though it was fate he saw a lone enemy approaching her group at their blind spot. Sykes squeezed the trigger and an instant latter the ODST fell to the ground with TTR fluid on his head and chest, Singer spotted the downed ODST and then looked over at Sykes and gave a courteous nod.
Sykes took back his submachine gun and handed the Lance Corporal back his close range paint gun. Sykes moved stealth fully through the woods and he saw another gun pit nearly half way down the hill the enemy hadn't the slightest idea they were their but they were the last of the Flank bunkers and Sykes knew only one of two things could happen after they were taken out. The first being that Faison would notice and order a retreat and regroup, or second the attack would go unnoticed and then they would be free to continue their attack. Sykes decided a quick attack was a more suitable idea that could give him the most time to execute another strike. True the other bunker had been quick and stealthy at the same time but it was in the trees and not visible, this bunker was visible on both sides of the field. Sykes removed his last grenade and primed it throwing it into the bunker. It hit an ODST in the back and the woman turned just as the explosion occurred. Sykes ran to the position and took up sniping position. The lone warthog that he hadn't taken from the enemy was driving in circles firing its chain gun as a distraction piece, true it was a valuable weapon, which could be used to coordinate, reload times but for Sykes it was just an annoyance they could do without. The warthog was making a pass towards his location when he took out the gunner; he then refocused and took out the driver and then the ODST in the passenger seat. Sykes immediately widened his view to 2x and saw one man stand and look at the stopped vehicle. "Gutsy Captain." Sykes said as he zoomed and squeezed the trigger. The round impacted the Captain on the chest and knocked him out cold. From there a few NCOs had attempted to pull it all together but through the sniper fire and the warthogs that rushed the field they didn't stand a chance in hell even if they were jumping.
Sykes Strode into his home the next day with a hangover that could have taken two men out of commission, his eyes were ironically covered by his aviators and he fell on his couch hiding his face from the sunlight that pierced the windows. He had forgotten what drinking with the ODST's did to him, he was as sick as could be but that was the point there wasn't much worth celebrating other than victory. Just then he noticed the light dim and he turned and saw Natalie standing next to the window dimming the shades, she looked ill but had a strange smirk on her face.
"What's wrong?" Sykes said as he rolled to his feet.
"We need to talk Will."
"Well I think that we are at least at that point."
"Does this have a future?"
"Well that depends could you stand the idea of your man being on the other side of the galaxy fighting and possibly never returning?"
"Yes. And could you live with the idea of having a wife and child waiting for you to return home?"
Sykes' jaw dropped and he didn't know how to respond. Natalie took his hand and pressed it to her abdomen. She smiled and he fell to his knees. The whole time he had been fighting he had fought so that humanity could continue to grow and prosper. Now he had become part of that growth.
"Well then there is only one thing that we can do, and since I'm down here it seems like fate." Sykes said as he looked up at her with his red eyes.
She nodded and they embraced, and with that he had become what such a short time ago he had thought was out of his reach.