23 November 2359
1833 Hours (Helghan Local Time)
Visari Square
"Ahh, fuck." The words were simple enough, but they conveyed everything anyone needed to know about the situation. Our Intruder, struck by one of the arc towers we were meant to disable, was set on a crash course into the side of a building. Through the dark smoke and embers, I was able to spy a high-rise building approaching on our right. It was the perfect height for us to jump to.
"Al, we need to get off this thing!" Istomin yelled over the roar of the wind.
"We might be able to jump over here." I pointed at the building coming at us. The Intruder shook viciously, sending pieces of sheet metal and railing toward the ground.
"Alright, we're getting off this thing. I don't care how. Follow Zack's lead." I nodded quickly and tried to brace myself against the near-useless safety rail.
"About 10 meters!" I heard someone call, not sure who. I checked to make sure my M82 was secured to my vest, then stepped precariously up to the railing. With my head above the black smog, I could see the rooftop immediately below me.
"Go, go, go!" I pulled the others to their feet and watched as they leaped off the Intruder. As Al left the riding surface, I found that I was running out of rooftop, and fast. I cursed and threw myself off the Intruder. Thick smoke and flames stung at my eyes, and I could barely make out the edge of the building. With outstretched arms, I was miraculously able to snag the outer edge of the roof. The thunder of an explosion rocked me soon after, threatening to toss me away from the building. After a couple of attempts at finding a foothold, along with a display of upper body strength I didn't think possible from myself, I finally pulled myself up and rolled across the very real boundary between life and death. Al was the first to run over to me. He simply pulled me to my feet and slapped me on the back.
"Jesus balls, man," Jekyll panted. "I think that just topped any kind of combat I might ever see."
"Alright, we need to move." Al had already forgotten what had happened with the Intruder. At least, he acted the part. "Weapons check?" We all replied positively. "Well, then let's go make sure that never happens again." We followed Al through the building's cramped hallways and stairwells, weapons at the ready the whole time. The building was clear, and after a few minutes time we found ourselves in Visari Square. Al started to trace out a plan of attack.
"With our Intruder in the toilet, we're going to have to split up. I'll attack the west tower. Z, you're with Istomin on the east. Jekyll, go find yourself a perch and cover my approach." 'Sir's were exchanged in reply and we all split off toward our objectives.
23 November 2359
1856 Hours (Helghan Local Time)
Eastern Visari Square
"How's that MG feel?" I asked Istomin as we moved through the dirty Helghan alleyways.
"It's a little big," he replied, dripping with innuendo that I painfully ignored. The bitter Helghan winds kicked trash and dust around in the cramped alleys. Metal beams and concrete outcrops covered the sky, which was dark and clouded. I lead Istomin toward the arc tower platform.
"How are we going to take this thing down?" Istomin questioned.
"Firstly, we're gonna try and plant some charges on the platform to try and just knock the thing down. If that doesn't work, we go in and cut off it's power."
"And if that doesn't work?"
"We'll probably be dead," I said dryly.
"You're pretty frank about it," Mike replied with a hint of disappointment.
"There's no reason not to be. Plus, if you expect to get killed around every corner, you're usually pleasantly surprised. It keeps your spirits up." As we hit the next turn, the massive support columns for the arc tower platform came into view. "That's our main target," I said with a point. We hurried across the paved clearing toward the platform. I drew a C4 charge from my satchel and handed it to Istomin, then pulled out another for myself.
"I always wanted to be a demo guy," Istomin joked. The charges attached to reinforced concrete easily enough, and soon we were behind cover with detonators in hand. I counted down from three and hit the detonator. The shaped charges went off, blowing the supports away. The groan of the massive steel platform was soon replaced by the scrape of metal against concrete as the arc tower started to collapse.
Right on top of us.
"Shit! Zero, get clear!" I pushed Istomin out of the path of the crumbling behemoth, then sprinted down the clearing toward the alleyways.
"Look, right there!" I managed to hear a Helghast soldier shout over the scream of the falling arc tower. Concrete started to splinter as the soldier fired at us. I shoved Istomin to cover, then turned and started firing back. The first burst tagged the Helghast in the shoulder, and the second punched through the Helghast's metal respirator. The arc tower smashed into an adjacent building, breaking it open with as much effort as it takes to open a jar. It finally came to rest halfway to the ground, suspended across the chasm by thin wires and cement.
"This is Zero, the eastern tower is down," I heard Istomin call into his radio as I scanned the rooftops for more Helghasts. I spotted two trying to climb down to the ground from the arc tower. I dropped to a crouch and placed the hazy green sight over the first Helghast. Two shots missed by a few inches, but the third hit squarely on his hand. The dark suited man lost his grip and tumbled to the ground, impacting with a crunch. The second paused to draw a pistol, then turned and started firing at me. I spun and darted behind cover.
"Care to change that zero to a one?" I asked Istomin. He grinned, readied his M224, and leaned out of cover. I watched as he sprayed wildly, still firing even after the soldier had fell to the ground. I grabbed him on the shoulder.
"You're done!" I shouted into his ear. The weapon clicked empty. Istomin turned back to me, smiling widely.
"I finally got one, man!" he cheered.
24 November 2359
0012 Hours (Helghan Local Time)
Visari Square
"Do we still get to call you Zero?" Jekyll asked as we toasted to another successful suicide mission, and to a kill. The group laughed, even Al, and we downed our drinks. We huddled around the single electric lantern, exchanging stories about both today's and past campaign's events.
"...And so now all of a sudden a hundred and fifty tons of steel are falling on our heads, and Z here starts shouting and pushing me." Istomin, completed with flailing arm movements, was recounting the events at the arc tower. I tuned it out; I was there, after all, and tried to enjoy the modicum of peacefulness.
"What about you, Z?" I was interrupted by Jekyll. "You got any crazy Vetka stories?" I sat up and thought for a moment.
"Well, there was the time I took a tank for a joyride, got caught by a Hig attack, and took them out single-handedly." Al chuckled, but the other two looked at me with eyes that said 'you're a liar and I know it'. Al, of course, laughed because he knew it was true.
"Tell me something else I won't believe," Jekyll laughed.
"How about the mile and a half headshot? You believe that?" Jekyll scoffed.
"Al would never lie to me. What've you got, Sarge?" Al pondered the question.
"Nothing that would catch your attention," he replied, with a glance at me. Whereas Jekyll wanted to hear the heroism and the flare of combat, Al only remembered the true grit and horror stories. The ones that cement the visions of dying comrades in your memory forever. I tried my best to shake mine off. After a few minutes of silence, Istomin looked at me.
"Why did you join the Marines anyway, Z?"
"Hmm?" I mumbled.
"Well, you aren't the flag-waving patriot that Al is, and you served in the Vetkan campaign, so it wasn't for the same reasons we joined." We being Jekyll and Istomin.
"Believe it or not, I am actually a flag-waving patriot, but I don't wave the flag too much," I joked.
"Seriously, Z. Why did you enlist?" I sighed and laced my fingers together behind my head.
"My great grandfather served in the First Extrasolar War. Both my grandfather and father enlisted in the Marines after that. Add to that the ever-present knowledge of Visari and his epic perpetual war machine looming just next door and I think you find reason enough. I actually enlisted after we got word of the incoming invasion. I hadn't planned on making the military my career. I was studying to become a teacher, believe it or not."
"A teacher with impeccable aim."
"Yeah. I could've hit misbehaving kids with paper from the other side of the lecture hall," I retorted with a smile.
"Well, you're only twenty-six," Jekyll chimed in. "You could still do that."
"But see, you're assuming that we're going to make it out of here alive."
"Sergeant First Class Zack Davis and his infinite pessimism," Jekyll groaned.
"At least he's realistic," Al mumbled. We were all quiet for what felt like an hour, listening to the howl of the wind. Jekyll broke the silence.
"Is war really that bad?" Al and I looked at each other.
"Yeah."
24 November 2359
1006 Hours (Helghan Local Time)
Visari Square
"Go get 'em, boys!" Jekyll shouted as the rest of Team Gamma thundered over our heads. An empty Intruder lowered from the cloud and landed next to our camp.
"Need a ride, darlings?" the pilot called. We climbed aboard and the Intruder lifted up again.
"Good work on the arc towers, Delta," Colonel Alberts crackled over the radio. "We're moving everyone into Pyrrhus now." Our Intruder quickly climbed to meet the rest as they filtered through the crowded space.
"What's our objective in Pyrrhus?" I asked.
"We haven't gotten a report back from our recon teams, so for now we're just establishing an operating base and hoping for the best."
"What do you think about all this, Al?" Jekyll asked.
"Gotta say, the Helghast disappointed me a little. I was expecting more of a fight." I nodded in agreement. "Either we're better at this than we thought, or they've got something big up their sleeves."
"I hope it's more the first than the second."
A/N: And yet another chapter of Delta is complete. I'm trying to write more about the characters and less about the action, so hopefully that's working out alright. Leave a review if you feel the need.