Here it is, chapter six. I should warn you it's a short one

...

Any Port In A storm

The second and third platoons of Charlie company and the ODSTs had made it to the spaceport shortly after eleven PM and the patrols had all been accounted for an hour after that. In the time since everyone had started heading back no one around the port had seen hide or hair of the covenant force. So Major Delphi decided to call together his remaining officers. Now three lieutenants and the Captain from Bravo company, three Lieutenants from Alpha and Lieutenant Mixer representing Charlie company were all standing in a semi-circle around the Major in the back of the terminal.

"First off, unfortunately, is the casualty report." The Major started. "Bravo here at the spaceport has lost thirty-one people with another four critically wounded. Most of these are from Third and Fourth platoons, but Second and First are both down six men. Fourth is pretty much part of third now and lost Lieutenant Mambaddah. Alpha?"

"We lost Captain Walsh and Lieutenant Del La Cruz with pretty much all of First platoon." Detrich reported, obviously uncomfortable saying it. He shifted uncomfortably then continued. "The only member of first we know survived is PFC Vik who is now with the medics. Third was hit a bit and lost four and second took three casualties. Fourth though, hit a few ambushes around the city and lost nine people. Forty-one dead and two pulled by the medics all together."

The Major looked Detrich in the eyes and nodded. "I see, and I'm sorry Lieutenant." He hesitated. "Charlie?"

Mixer tried to look the Major in the eyes but couldn't take her gaze off the floor. She had the worst news to give out of all of the gathered officers and she didn't know how the major would take it, or even how she was going to say it. She hesitated for a heartbeat thinking about that before deciding that even if she managed to get off the planet her career as a marine was pretty much over, so what was one more negative opinion? "Charlie Second and Third are down to nineteen people, all functional. That's twenty-seven dead, not counting the four wounded that were taken here when we entered the city. I don't know the status of First and Fourth, Sir."

The gathered officers stood in silence for a moment before the Major cleared his throat. "Charlie First and Fourth responded to the recall order and reported that the platoon of ODSTs that dropped in the west had made it to their station." He paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "They rolled into the terminal about ten minutes ago with nine Helljumpers and six marines. That brings Charlie up to seventy-five people out of action."

Mixer's eyes widened and it felt like someone was crushing her heart. The pressure was so great it was almost impossible to breath and the room went out of focus. Seventy-five? That's not a company anymore, it's a platoon. How could we have even lost so many? She managed a ragged breath before she could see the room again. The major was still talking and everyone was so focused on him that they hadn't noticed her reaction.

"-will cover the tarmac while the ODSTs and Bravo Second cover the terminal. I want Alpha Third to switch out with the guys from Bravo that are still on watch in four hours. Everyone else get some sleep, we all need it. Oh, and I want to see you all again in four hours. Dismissed."

The gathering broke up as the officers headed off to find their platoons to relay their orders. Mixer put distance between herself and the others and just started walking. She wanted to find a dark corner somewhere and think. She found herself walking past massive windows that looked over the tarmac, now bathed in dim yellow and white light. The ground crews were pulling another shuttle out of a hangar across the tarmac and she watched from her dark perch as the flight crew tested the engines. She had to have been watching the crews work for a while because hundreds of civilians were lead out and into the shuttle.

She smiled faintly as they boarded the craft and prepared to leave. In a few moments nearly six-hundred people would be headed out of the atmosphere and to safety. She stood there thinking about all the lives that were on that flight, and all the other flights that had already made it off planet. Thousands must have already been evacuated by now. That wasn't even a significant portion of even the city's population, but it was still a lot of people. And if the marines had traded a hundred and fifty lives for those thousands, it was worth it in a way. That took some of that pain away. Her marines hadn't died for nothing, their lives hadn't been wasted, and now she could see what they had died for. It was worth it.

"Ma'am?" the voice was soft and came from right behind her. She jumped from the surprise but managed to turn the sudden jolt into a movement that spun her around. Donnelley was standing behind a row of chairs in the darkness. He was almost invisible save for the light from the window that hit his face. His shoulders were down and no where near as tense as they had been all day, and his eyes shined in the soft light. He looked genuinely worried.

"Yes?"

"You disappeared after the meeting so Lai and I ordered everyone to stand down."

"That's good, we're off duty for at least the next four hours." She forced a smile. "A little sleep sounds like heaven right now."

Donnelley raised an eyebrow. "Whats wrong ma'am?"

"I'm just tired Gunny."

He sighed and walked around the row of chairs and right up to Mixer. He bent down so that he could look her in the eyes. His tone was hard and even when he said "I'll be frank, that's bullshit. You're not new to this game and Lai hasn't had to hold your hand through it. But I am asking, begging you to keep your head on your shoulders. You are an amazing officer and it would be devastating to lose you now. The men have been through too much today to take that on top of it all."

She gave him a genuine grin and couldn't help but laugh a little. "You're a little late with your pep talk Donnelley, I'm already back to reality and tracking. All it took was looking out a window." She turned so she could look back out at the shuttle as it prepared to take off. "We've already managed to keep thousands of people safe long enough for them to leave. I think everyone we lost would be proud of that."

She couldn't see him smile, but he did anyway. They stood together and watched as the ground crew cleared the tarmac and the shuttle rose off the ground and into the air. Mixer felt much better knowing that a boatload more of civilians were safe. With her feeling a little more confidant and her head clear she turned back to the Gunnery Sergeant. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"You've been in the Corps a long time, just how have you stayed sane?"

"It hasn't been easy." He said with a sigh. "But it boils down to motivation and stress management. It used to be about killing every alien son of a bitch I could see. But I've seen that end in agony and mental destruction too many times to even think its a good idea. Now a days it's all about the lives I can save. And when I lose a marine I just think about all the people they worked to save in their life, and about all the covenant they killed. I remember that each one of those bastards that are dead means one less human murdered." He stopped for a second and laughed. "Ok, so the killing is still a part of it, but it's not my main motivation anymore."

"That makes a lot of sense. Maybe it's about time I checked in with Lai."

"That's a good idea ma'am." He said as she stepped away from the window. "And please try to sleep."

…

Lance Corporal Jonah Nelms had been on top of the terminal for most of the day shooting any covenant he could see. Now it was the middle of the night and he was still laying on his stomach watching the streets. He was tired, running low on ammo, and he was pissed. Now he and Bailey, their platoon and twenty-two ODSTs were the only ones guarding the plaza outside the terminal. He knew that the other companies, and even the other platoons in his own company, had been beat to hell, but he wanted to sleep.

What made it worse was that he had even more responsibilities than most of the marines still awake. He could see farther and better than anyone else because of his scope and it's night optics. He'd heard that the ODSTs had light amplifying equipment in their helmets but as far as he knew it was up to the three snipers to be their advanced warning system. But ever since the sun had set the covenant had become more and more scarce, and no one had fired a shot in over two hours. But the enemy was still out there, in the city and probably fixing their ship while the humans slept.

He looked to his left at his spotter. The big marine was laying on his stomach and was looking through his spotting scope. But he wasn't moving. Nelms' had known his spotter for nearly three years and knew that he couldn't help but fidget when he stayed still this long. He was still breathing, so he wasn't dead, and that left only one possibility. So Nelms punched the marine in the arm and watched him jump in surprise.

"Hey Bailey, wake up."

"Wha?"

"You dosed off you idiot. You're supposed to stay awake."

"Screw that." The spotter mumbled.

"At least stay awake for me."

"Screw that." He said again.

Nelms punched him in the arm as hard as he could without moving from behind his gun. "It's only another three hours." Bailey grunted and rubbed his shoulder before looking through the scope. Nelms watched his partner, making sure that he didn't go back to sleep. Satisfied that he wasn't going back to sleep just yet Nelms sighted down his rifle once more and watched everything he could. Two hours passed before either of them said anything.

"Hey Jonah?"

"Yes?"

"I'm getting a little worried. It's been what? Four hours since we've seen any covenant? It just makes no sense. We're all in one place, we're exhausted and extremely undermanned. Why aren't they hitting us?"

"I have no godly idea. They could believe there are more of us here at the port, which is good. They could be gearing up for a big attack, which is bad. Or they could be concentrating on fixing their ship, which is really bad."

"I'm sorry I asked." The spotter said sounding honestly regretful.

"Look at the bright side John, We'll be asleep in an hour."

…

Most of the terminals were packed with civilians waiting to leave but one near the maintenance access to the roof and right next to the front door was dark. In it nearly a hundred marines were sleeping, or at least trying to sleep. Most were out cold from exhaustion, but Roman Kray sat with his back on one of the walls and just watched. Men and women were stretched out everywhere, it looked almost like the aftermath of one massive party to him. But instead of empty beer cans laying everywhere there were rifles, helmets instead of lampshades. The comparison made him smile, at least a little.

There were other marines still awake, and most of them were trying to fall asleep. But there were a few that gave up on that and were walking around trying to find something to do, or sitting and thinking like he was. He watched as Lieutenant Mixer crossed over to the windows and stared out at the tarmac for the fourth time. He felt sorry for her, her company had become a platoon and she was the one in charge. He'd love to know how she dealt with that many deaths, he couldn't get the images of Neves', Lopez's and Conklin's deaths out of his head.

He reached down and ran his hand over the shotgun he had taken from the dead police officer and swore to himself, again, that he'd stop letting good people die. Civilians were the worst, they hadn't done anything to provoke an attack and yet they are slaughtered like animals. It was true that the ones that died trying to protect them were easier to rationalize but it still made his blood boil. He took an oath to protect humanity when he joined up and now he was making another one. He wouldn't let anyone or anything threaten his people ever again.

He ran his hand over the shotgun once more then crossed his arms ad looked around the room. Lazlo was dead to the world, Mixer was still at the window, and that red haired Gunny was keeping an eye on her while pretending to sleep. That guy was really looking after everyone left in Charlie company and was trying to hide he was doing the same for the LT. The Major was off in a corner smoking a Sweet Williams cigar and Kray could tell he was really thinking hard. And stretched out near the wall of windows were the serious wounded were attended to by overworked medics.

Sitting on a chair on the end of a row was Ariel Vik. The marine had been thrown from a moving vehicle, crossed half the city on her own and saved his life with a bump on the head that probably would have caused him to forget everything about his life. If that wasn't a sign of a pure badass, then he didn't know what even counted. The medics had confirmed she had a massive concussion, given her some water and checked up on her every fifteen minutes. She was sleepy eyed but still awake, she had to be. So Kray walked over and sat down next to her.

"Vik isn't it?" He asked quietly. She looked over at him and squinted in the darkness to try and see his face but still seemed confused after a few moments.

"That's me, but I'm not sure I know you."

"PFC Roman Kray." He said sticking out his hands without thinking. "I'm one of the guys that you saved in the courtyard. They seriously would have gotten us if you hadn't shown up."

"Wasn't too much of a problem. You were the first living people I'd seen in hours." She smiled at him and shook his hand. Her grip wasn't as firm as he had expected, but then again she wasn't fully focused on anything right now. "And you did most of the work. I just followed the bodies to the rest and picked up a few stickies on the way. I knew I should have looked for grenades before I left the plaza."

"What? You mentioned something like that before."

Her smile vanished. "I was knocked out in the police plaza. I had to pull weapons and ammo off of bodies before I left. I made it a few blocks east before I thought about finding a few grenades. Stupid mistake."

"I wouldn't say that. You were hit on the head and loopy, you shouldn't be blaming yourself for that. Hell what you did was damn impressive."

"I guess you're right." She said shrugging. "Uh, Kray? Why are we still shaking hands?"

He looked down and saw that neither of them had let go and almost reluctantly let go of her hand. She smiled at him again and he couldn't help but laugh lightly. The two of them sat there laughing for a while, until Kray realized that both of them were nearly hysterical. He calmed himself down before he woke up the marines around him. He suddenly felt all those hours of fighting weighing down on him and he was unable to hold up his head anymore.

"Do you mind if I sleep here?"

"Not at all."

But her response went unheard as his eyes closed and his foggy mind closed out anything but his own thoughts. This time instead of seeing the faces of the dead or picturing the ambush for the millionth time his mind was blank. It was in the company of marines, fighters, that the days events finally took it's tole on Kray and he drifted off to sleep.

…

Two kilometers away, in the police plaza, another phantom dropped off another load of troops. The grunts, jackals and elites joined the already large crowd of covenant that had formed in the plaza. Over a hundred infantry were checking their weapons and equipment. Grunts were stumbling around, fidgeting nervously and checking their methane levels while jackal snipers were already moving out. But the elite general overseeing the preparations paid close attention as engineers made some final touch ups on the forces two wraith tanks.

Looking around the plaza, he saw that everything was as ready as it was going to be. He clicked his mandibles together in a shrug and gave the order to his aid. Within minutes the tanks were on the move followed by the bulk of his troops. He felt a jolt of pride as he watched them march forward. There were humans to kill and the covenant was marching to war.

…

Thank you again for reading this far.

I felt it was a good idea to step back from the battle for a chapter and clue in readers about the changes in psychology affecting some of the characters.

Please post a review.