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We're Already Dead

Chapter 1

"Destroy them, Lieutenant, by any means necessary."

Major Kyle pulled me aside after the briefing, his grip firm on my arm and whispered in my ear. He had a wild look in his eye, strung out on stale joe and cigarettes, the wear and tear making his face age and sag. I heard he had family on Mindoir once, years ago, before the slavers came.

I nodded. "Consider it done, sir."

The memory flashed briefly in my mind's eye as the bullets flew by, the familiar "pings" and "pops" of a near miss. I motioned to Gunny as he circled around to cover on my right.

"Mighty cluster fuck we're in now, sir." He slid out an empty cartridge and slapped in another one, slamming it hard. "Orders?"

Blood pounded in my ears, adrenaline surging like waves in a storm. Transmissions from the forward command unit had been cut off for the past hour. We were on our own, holding the line with limited support.

Flashes and fireworks lit up the black sky, blossoming in reds, blues, and purples, illuminating the unearthly landscape. Enemy shells thudded in random patterns, accompanied by the screams of the injured and dying. Plumes of dirt shot skyward from the impacts and an idea formed in my head.

"Gunny, I need you to detonate some of your incendiaries on either flank," I gestured sharply for emphasis.

He nodded in understanding. "On your mark, sir."

I looked to my left were two soldiers huddled in cover, popping up sporadically to return fire. I fingered my radio. "Garm, Rollins – you're with me."

I crouched down and half crawled to their position, the sounds of gunfire penetrating the isolation of my suit. We had broken their lines, but the bastards were dug in deep, fortified in an underground bunker. The entrance was armed with AA guns and missile launchers, which had wreaked havoc on the ground team and prevented any aerial support.

"Sir?" Garm asked through the radio, static accompanying the apprehension in his voice. Rollins was crouched low, almost looking as if he was trying to be one with the dirt that sheltered him.

"We're going to hit that bunker entrance, and disable those AA guns – give the fleet something to shoot at." My voice had gone hoarse, uselessly shouting orders into the radio.

"But sir, there's no cover. We'll be slaughtered!"

"Secure that talk, Soldier. Gunny's got us covered. You just stay low and on my six."

"Affirmative, LT." Private Rollins shot up from his hole in the ground, shooting at anything that resembled the enemy.

I ducked deeper into cover as artillery whizzed over our heads, pock-marking the ground behind us. Dirt sprayed over our small fire team and Rollins swore through the static.

"Get ready," I ordered.

Rollins nodded while Garm checked the ammo count on his rifle.

"Gunny?" I keyed the radio again and saw him through the haze. He nodded in acknowledgement. "Now."

A stream of red-orange fire balls burst open on our right and left flanks, kicking up mounds of dirt and haze. Gunny and his team opened fire, mowing down anything and sight and providing us with a much needed distraction.

I ran, Rollins and Garm right behind me. It would have been a short run to the bunker's flank, but the loose sand was difficult to get a foothold on. I heard a muffled noise through the radio and turned to see Garm slip and fall, rolling in a tangle of limbs and weaponry.

"Keep moving!" I ordered Rollins, and turned back to pick up Garm. As I reached for him an explosion of red appeared where his head had been, and his body fell slack. I grabbed his weapon, wiping off the bits of brain and bone from my visor and continued on. Rollins had reached cover behind the enormous AA gun, and I double-timed it to meet up with him, shouldering Garm's rifle.

"Private, I need you to disable these guns so that the fleet can blow this place to hell."

Rollins adjusted his footing, leaning heavily on the AA tower. The crossfire had died down at this end of the field, but the missile launchers hadn't been trained on us yet. We had a window of only a few minutes in which to complete our mission.

"No can do, LT. Even if I had a cutting torch to open these panels, a hack job would only be overridden by the secondary security protocols. We need to reach the main control panel to disable the towers."

Fuck! I kept my mouth shut, maintaining discipline in front of Rollins. It would do no good to let him know how frustrated I actually felt. I moved close to him in cover behind the tower, and used the reflection of my knife to view the battlefield.

From what I could see, Gunny and his crew were still hunkered down behind the AVP wreckage. The rest of the unit was impossible to see, but bursts of gunfire lit up their various locations behind rocks and natural rises. I began to tally the number of dead, but then quickly shoved the thought out of my mind. There would be plenty of time afterwards to take care of that.

"Rollins, there's a missile tower behind us and to the right. Do you see it?" I passed him my knife.

He nodded. "Looks like it's been wired to the bunker."

He passed back the knife and I scanned the field again. Another missile launcher was situated about twenty yards away, both firing repeatedly across the field. A third launcher was positioned on a rise on the bunker's left flank. There was no way we could reach it before Rollins and I were blown to hell, but there were other alternatives.

"How are you at hacking?"

A wry smile spread across Rollins' face as he pointed to the badge on his arm. "Best damn engineer you're gonna find, LT."

Nodding, I sheathed my knife and holstered my rifle. "You're going to hit that first launcher and disable the F/F system. Use it to blow that one on the far side to hell. I got the other one. We hit them before we're spotted – after this next volley while it reloads."

"Yes, Sir!"

The launchers vibrated as they powered up and spewed forth more firepower, a red-orange halo forming around the cannon. I slapped Rollins on his shoulder. "Move!"

It was another mad dash across loose sand, and I felt myself almost lose my footing more than once. Time seemed to slow and my world shrunk down to the sand under me, the shattered black sky above, and the missile launcher that loomed in front of me. Adrenaline surged as the cannon slowly rotated in my direction, and I threw myself at its base, slamming my head against the cold, grey, steel.

Static filled my radio as I quickly glanced over to where Rollins should be in position. He was in place, for the moment, working furiously to hack into the launcher's systems. I turned to my right where the third launcher was, scrambling for cover as I did so. It still had its cannon trained on my unit, in cover across the battlefield.

Well, so good so far.

The launcher let loose another volley, and my ears rang from the auditory assault. I adjusted my position and slung my rifle over my shoulder. Grenade in hand, I popped the top and lobbed it into the launcher's cannon. I was on my feet again, heading to the low rise and cover. I could swear I heard the cannon turning my way, zeroing in on my position. Jumping to cover, I tucked and rolled, sliding down the short sandy rise.

Debris fell around me, and I curled into a ball, arms over my head for protection. Static on the radio again, accompanied by the sounds of marine battle cries. Apparently, a grenade in the cannon did the trick.

I uncurled and crawled up the rise on my belly, wary of crossfire. Just as I glanced at the third missile launcher, I saw that the cannon was trained on my location and preparing to fire. Strangely, I felt no apprehension or surprise, but a cold calm acceptance. Dying was a soldier's job, after all.

A burst of light filled my vision and I readied myself for death, but it never came. Instead, my vision unclouded and I saw a burnt up, broken missile launcher standing not ten yards from me. Another explosive burst to my right, and I saw Rollins making his way over to me, scurrying across the ground.

"Good timing, Private." I tried to keep the relief from my voice.

"What now, LT?"

"By my estimation, we're right over the entrance to the slavers' underground bunker. I say we lob a few incendiaries into that fox hole – " I gestured with my head. " – and flush them out."

"Aye-aye, LT."

We lay flat against the loose sand and prepped our explosives, attempting to keep our heads down as the crossfire continued to surge overhead. I gestured to Rollins and we skittered out of cover, doing our best to keep balanced on the uneven ground.

With the missile launchers gone, the Batarians had lost the artillery advantage, although the AA guns still kept the fleet at bay. I was sure as hell going to make them pay, and motioned Rollins to follow. Crawling on our bellies, we crept toward the fox hole that led to the bunker entrance. I heard the low rumblings of a Batarian slaver as he barked orders to his fellows, and my blood boiled with excitement.

I nodded and Rollins slid up beside me, both of us setting our charges, then tossing them into the hole. Shouts of surprise and dismay rang up from beneath us as we high-tailed it out of there, running for cover behind the ruined missile launcher.

A series of explosions burst forth, shaking the ground and showering us in unidentifiable debris. The base of the launcher shook with the impact and I felt like my teeth were about to shatter.

I slapped Rollins again as I holstered my rifle, motioning him to do the same. "Stay with me, Private."

The fires from the incendiaries burned bright and high, and Rollins and I moved out of cover and into clean-up mode. The wreckage of the fox hole was just that – wreckage. Strewn about the small area were unrecognizable bits of metal and biological carnage, nothing had survived.

I fingered my radio. "Gunny, we're in the clear here. Missile launchers are out of commission and the entrance to the bunker is clear."

"Way to kick ass, LT. We're on our way."

A/N: I usually write in 3rd person, but I thought I'd try out 1st person and see how it felt. As always, thanks for reading and feel free to post your reviews.