About 200 meters into their trek Flagger gave the hand signal to freeze and 3rd platoon stopped dead in their tracks while Moto sneaked over to him. They stayed there for a bit pointing and peering through Flagger's sniper scope while Jameson looked around at the rest of the men, then suddenly realized they were targets just standing in the middle of the woods and motioned with his left hand for them to take a knee. His mind began to wander "I wonder if she made it out." He thought. "she" was Jameson's ex girlfriend, Kelly Scott. Kelly had broken up with him in April and while he thought he had gotten over her, every once in awhile he thought about where she might be. "She's probably dead" he figured, Kelly lived in Manassas, near the space port. Her dad, Lieutenant Commander Hank Scott, worked for the UNSC Engineer Corps and Jameson always got the feeling that he wasn't good enough for Kelly in her father's eyes. "Still he was an important officer, maybe she made-"
"Sir?" Moto had walked up on the young Lieutenant without him noticing "You ok sir?"
"Yeah Gunny I'm fine, what have we got up there?
"Covie patrol from our left on the road, two Elites with 5 to 6 Grunts. I didn't see any Skirmishers or Jackals but I'd be willing to bet they're either out wide protecting the flank, or behind the main patrol providing sniper support."
Jameson quickly looked at the map grinned. The road was 100 meters in front of them running across their path.
"Hasty ambush, sir?"
"Yeah , here's what I want; put Libman, Thorton, Hampton, Arizona, Knight and you online where Flagger is. Put Brooks and Collins on left and right security and Thompson on rear. I'll fire the first shot. After we've eliminated them, you, Flagger and Knight will cross the road and set up front security, while Arizona, Libman and I check the bodies."
"Roger." Moto replied and scurried around giving out orders, Jameson checked his weapon then lined up with the rest of platoon. A few moments later, he saw the patrol and put his cheek up to his M392 DMR. He aimed down his sights, one Elite, probably the patrol leader, was in front then a small gaggle of Grunts, followed by the second Elite, who was probably second in command. No sign of the Jackal or Skirmisher but he trusted Flagger to take him out. Jameson zeroed in on the second Elite and waited for the entire unit to come in the middle of his ambush. The seconds felt like hours, Jameson's right index finger eased down towards the trigger with every step the enemy took. His target's head became bigger and bigger to the point of almost taunting him. Taking a deep breath, Jameson slowly released and pulled the trigger- the 7.62mm M118 round flew out of the barrel or the DMR at 790 feet per second before making a clean entry into the skull and exploding the brain matter within. The target was dead before he hit the dirt. At that same instant the rest of the platoon had opened up and for one minute the sound of gunfire filled the air.
"Cease fire!" Shouted Jameson and the gun fire stopped. "Moto across the road, go!
"Lets go Marines!" He shouted to Flagger and Knight as he stood up from the prone. All three of them rushed to the road; kicking away weapons from dead Covenant as they moved and had almost reached the other side when a shot rang out - Flagger's chest burst with blood from the sniper shot.
"Shit! Flagger's down!" Shouted Knight
"There's the little bastard! 200 meters at one o'clock!" Screamed Moto as he lit up the position where the Jackal had been preached. Knight joined in and the two didn't stop firing until they heard the satisfying thud of a dead enemy sniper falling from a tree.
"Arizona and Libman check the bodies!" Jameson ordered as he rushed over to Flagger. Moto was ripping off his jacket to see where the bullet had hit.
"Shit, it's a lung hit, we've got to seal it or he'll choke on his own blood." Immediately Jameson pulled out an MRE package for a seal while Moto turned Flagger on his side when he stopped coughing.
"Flagger?" No response.
"Flagger?" Again no response
Moto checked for breathing and sighed heavily, "He's dead sir."
"Fucking shit!" said Jameson as he threw the MRE towards the ground. He could've let the patrol go by, nobody would've gotten killed and it would've been fine. But Jameson's lust to kill the Covenant had bypassed his better judgment.
"Mother fucking shit."He muttered"OK, Moto start digging a grave. Libman, any intel on those bodies?"
"I've got a transmitter of some kind and a map sir! But I have no idea what they're saying or what the map reads but it's definitely of this area!"
"Roger." Jameson tuned his radio to higher "Echo 119 this is Echo 419, do you read over?"
"This is 119 go ahead 419 over."
"We encountered an enemy patrol, and have nine Covenant KIA and one UNSC KIA. The leader had a radio on him but we don't know what they're transmitting. Additionally, we found map of our area of operation but again we have no way of reading or understanding the Covenant language. Over."
"Roger that, who was the friendly KIA 419? Over."
"Lance Corporal Flagger,over."
"Sorry to hear that son, but goddamnit this enemy is dangerous! That patrol could've called in an airstrike within seconds its lucky you didn't waste your entire fucking platoon! You would've known that if you had listened to the friggin' op order! Now, we're thinned out as it is so we can't send you any replacements but you still have to carry out your mission, understood? How far are you from it? Over."
"Understood, and we are 200 meters out, over."
"Ok, new intell from other units in the company AO have reported patrols such as the one you encountered except they had heavy armor and air support, so you're pretty damn lucky 419. Continue on you course with all possible speed and give me a sitrep when you have the civies at Texas, over."
"Roger that, Echo 419 out." Jameson looked at the ground when Moto walked over to him
"Flaggers buried sir, when will we move out?"
"In two mikes, make sure they have water and ammo."
"Aye sir." Moto began to turn when Jameson asked "Do you have any cigarettes?"
"I thought you weren't a smoking man sir."
"I wasn't, do you have them or not?"
"Yeah sir," Moto handed him three along with one of Flagger's dogtags and said "I would've done the same thing sir, it's just a shame that Flagger didn't catch that prick when we was doing the mad minute."
Jameson grunted "Either way we're down a man. Have the men ready in two mikes Gunny."
"Roger that, sir."
Jameson took off his helmet and lit up "Fuck, these things are unhealthy for you, but Moto is older than dirt so they can't be that bad." He took a deep breath, being careful to keep the smoke in his mouth. He thought about Moto had said "I would've done the same thing." Well he didn't get any shit from higher." He breathed the smoke out "Fuck me."
"We're ready sir." Said Collins, holding Flagger's sniper rifle
"You know how to use that thing?" Asked Jameson
"Sure sir, put the Covenant's head in the scope and pull the trigger." He replied with a grin and the entire platoon gave a small awkward chuckle.
"Does anyone want to say anything about Flagger before we move?" Asked Jameson
"Good marine, sharp eye." Said Libman
"He was always quiet, but he definitely proved himself with that sniper rifle hundreds of times." Mentioned Collins
"I remember this one time, before the Covenant came, we was drinking… "Remembered Thorton "…and an MP almost caught us, but Flagger was there and he covered for us." Finished Hampton
"He was a good man and a good ODST. Can't ask for much more than that." Said Moto
The rest of the men nodded their heads in agreement.
"He will be missed." Jameson said softly "Ok we've got to move, Covenant are going to start looking for this patrol."
They moved passed Flagger's grave, which Moto had designated by putting a stick on the ground with his ODST helmet and one dogtag hanging off.
"Sorry Lance Corporal." Thought Jameson and gave a last puff of his cigarette and stomping it out on the ground. He looked over his shoulder one last time and put his helmet on. Objective Texas was only 200 meters away and more importantly it was their last mission before being transported off this planet and Flagger's death wouldn't be in vein. Jameson was determined to get 3rd platoon and as many civilians on a transport out of Reach. "I bet Kelly didn't have to put up with this shit, stupid bitch."