The Break of Dawn
It was an hour before dawn and the city of Vellum was dark, only the streets and the odd storefront illuminated. It's streets were empty ans quiet, as were it's buildings and parks save one. At the spaceport and the park in front of it an equal number of human marines and covenant infantry were butting heads in what seemed to be a final push by the aliens. And the open areas of the park were now awash in a random light-show as human rifles and plasma weapons flashed in the darkness.
It was fair to say that the sides were evenly matched in this battle. The Marines were exhausted from a full day of fighting and running through the city but were in a defensible position at the spaceport with some heavy fire support from their few remaining warthogs. The covenant forces, on the other hand, were fresh and well rested by comparison, a good number of them had energy shields and they had entered the fight with two tanks (one now grounded by a daring warthog charge) but had to fight their way through a human firestorm. So this fight was going to boil down to how each individual fared instead of an organized action.
To tell the truth, some were better off than others.
Gunnery Sergeant Eric Donnelley didn't know, or even care for that matter , if he was one of the marines in the clear. Odds are he wasn't, but all he cared about at the moment was being just that much better than any covie that came near him. For the most part he had nothing to worry about, but more and more aliens were moving through the park and the odds were staking against him and the six marines fighting with him in a large group of rocks. Actually it was five now. A jackal he managed to keep it's shield between itself and the humans long enough to squeeze between the rocks and kill a Lance Corporal while he was reloading.
Donnelley had quickly killed the jackal but there was just no time to check on the marine, much less care for him if he was only wounded. The gunny stayed as low to the rock he was laying on as he could and seated another magazine, he had to be running low. Quickly he patted himself down and his fears were true, only one magazine left in his harness plus the one in the rifle. He shrugged, when he ran out he'd slide down the rock and pick up some from the dead LCP. If worse came to worse he could still pick up the jackal's plasma pistol.
He peeked over the edge of the rock and quickly ducked back down as a shot from a plasma rifle passed over his head. He rolled to the farthest edge of the rock, laying almost directly above the path circling the fountain that acted as the park's central hub and took a look from there. The five jackals were easy to pick out in the darkness because of their glowing shields and a group of four or five grunts was quickly moving from under a light post that was near the path. He couldn't see any but he knew that at least one elite was in the group.
He almost shouted in excitement but held it back. The grunts were staying pretty close together and were getting even closer to some of the jackals. On top of that the aliens had lost track of him for a moment. He reached into a pouch on his side and pulled out his last M9 HEDP grenade and kissed it before pulling the pin. He pushed himself to his knees with one hand, made his best guess on how to throw it and flung the explosive into the darkness. It must have landed a couple of meters from the cluster of grunts because only the leading two were thrown off their feet and the nearest jackal's shield died as the alien shrieked in pain.
Donnelley quickly shot each of the two grunts still in the pool of light with a pair of three round bursts each. But he hadn't moved since throwing the grenade and was still kneeling atop the rock, firing like he did was an invitation for a barrage of plasma. He dropped to the rock and pushed himself away from the edge in order to avoid getting hit but he still felt the heat from the shots that melted the rock nearby roll over him. Deciding it was best to move again he pushed himself farther down the rock but paused when a glowing blue orb stuck to the rock where he had just been.
Donnelley's eyes widened and he pushed himself down the length of the rock as quickly as he could, practically screaming "Shit shit shit shit!" the whole way. He was at the base of the rock where it was wedged between the two others that held it up and was dangling his legs over the edge when the grenade exploded. The fireball didn't come anywhere near the Gunny but the shock wave traveled over the surface of the rock and slammed into his chest. He was lucky that he had been far enough away that the concussion hadn't ruptured any of his organs but the blast was still strong enough to throw him from his perch and slam him into another one of the warthog sized slabs of granite.
The force of the impact knocked the wind out of him and when he tried to breath in again nothing entered his lungs. Panic took hold of his mind and he continued to suck at the air to no avail. After what seemed like an eternity of sitting with his back to the rock and clutching his throat, he managed to take a ragged breath and fill his lungs. He took a few more deep breaths, each feeling better than the last, before he stood back up. A wave of dizziness hit him and he had to lean on one of the rocks so he didn't collapse. It took him a few more moments to get his balance back then he pushed off the rock and managed to stay on his feet this time.
Close by was a marine with his back braced against a boulder while he reloaded. Donnelley saw him look mournfully at the weapon then shrug slightly. He stood up and turned the corner of the rock and fired a panicked burst before he fell back with a smoking hole where his face used to be. Stepping over the body and into the rocks was another jackal, it must have been just on the other side of the rock when the marine had moved. Now it was inside the rocks and putting its shield between itself and Donnelley.
On the other hand it was now all but locked in a confined space with an extremely pissed off marine. Donnelly's rifle couldn't break through the thing's shield, so instead of firing he charged. He must have taken the jackal by surprise because it didn't fire. He stuck to the jackal's left side as he brought his gun down onto the shield as hard as he could, managing to knock the alien back. Letting go of the rifle he grabbed at the shield, hoping to pull it away, just to have his fingers slip off as though he was trying to grab slick ice.
Now the jackal was turning, trying to get Donnelley in front of it's pistol. Running out of time he pulled his right arm around and smacked the shield away and punched the now vulnerable jackal in the eye. The alien stumbled backward from the strike and Donnelley pressed his advantage and stepped closer so it couldn't bring it's defense back up while delivering a right hook. Now he planned to grab it's head and knee it where he thought it's gut should be, but he forgot all jackals have quills on the back of their heads and they punctured both his hands causing him to jump back with a yelp.
The jackal quickly took a shot that crisped the armor on his thigh. With a roar of mixed pain and hatred he rushed at it again and slammed it into the rock. The bird like alien squawked in surprise and clacked it's beak trying to bight off a chunk of Donnelley's face. He managed to get his left arm in front of it's throat and pushed it back against the rock while his right hand fumbled over his harness. At last his fingers brushed what he needed and pulled it out. There was a brief second where he wondered if the jackal's eyes were good enough to see the steel blade in the darkness before he stuck it in the alien's eye.
The jackal screamed and struggled for a minute or so longer before it finally died. Donnelley pulled the knife out of it's skull and wiped the purple gore off on his sleeve before sheathing it again. He had to fight back a gag as he pulled the marine's body away from the opening in the rocks. Feeling around on the ground he found his MA5B, and after making sure it was still functional put his back to the rock and peeked out the gap. He quickly ducked back behind the rock and took another look. There were still four more jackals in the open, but three of them were busy dealing with fire from the other three marines. The fourth was much closer but as Donnelley raised his rifle a large shadow ran across the light of the shield. The elite.
He pulled his head back just in time as blue bolts of plasma filled the gap and melted some of the rock. After the barrage had subsided he pointed his rifle around the rock and held the trigger down, hoping for the best. Forty-eight rounds later the rifle clicked empty and Donnelley pulled it back quickly before it could get slagged. He pulled out the last magazine from his harness and scowled at it. It was tough enough to kill an elite with two other guys firing at it, his sixty rounds weren't going to cut it. He had to figure something out.
His options became even more limited when the sound of snapping wood cut through the firefight. He needed to know what was going on so he risked poking his head out one more time. The group of marines on the other side of the trees were still firing but sporadically and panicked shouts filled the gaps. A bright blue-white orb was visible through the gaps in the trees and when that orb hit something it exploded in a flash of blue light that killed Donnelley's night vision. That had to be a wraith, they were royally screwed now. Pulling back behind cover he heard the tank plow it's way through some more of the smaller trees and pushed off from the rock.
"Fall back!" He bellowed. "Out of the rocks and to the port, fast!"
He suited words with action and juked his way through the rock pile and into open ground where he did a quick about face and covered the path while the four remaining marines ran past him. The last one was nearly out of the rocks when the tank fired and screamed as the blast consumed him. Donnelley wanted to scream, wanted to cry. The death toll was enormous and it was only going to climb. But now was not a time to lose focus, or even pause to mourn otherwise he would certainly be on today's butcher's bill. He snapped back into focus just in time to see a jackal come around the far side of the rocks and fired a burst to make it duck as he ran for the trees.
He passed right by the marine that had stopped to cover him. He ran straight through the trees, the branches snagging and searing his BDUs. He ran with wild abandon, never slowing down, never looking back. Even with his heart pounding like a jackhammer in his chest and his lungs screaming for more oxygen he ran. He ran through more trees and out onto open asphalt and still didn't even slow until he passed the line of warthogs and had to slam into the wall in order to stop.
He put his back against the wall and slid down. He sat there panting heavily with his head between his knees. Once his heart slowed down a bit and his breathing became easier he looked up and found a canteen shoved right in front of his face. He looked at the marine holding it and smiled as he recognized Mixer. Accepting the drink he noticed she looked even grimmer than when they had crossed the city, she must have lost more troops. She was probably kicking herself for letting at least one of the tanks get close enough to fire. He searched his exhausted, adrenaline fueled and oxygen starved brain for something to say. He couldn't come up with anything, honestly he felt like shit too.
…
Mixer stood watching Donnelley drink. He looked on the verge of passing out and she couldn't blame him. He had been run ragged the day before, even after being blown up, and had probably gotten just as much sleep as she had, which was none, just to be thrust into the fight again. The man deserved a break, maybe more so than most of the other marines, but he'd have to settle for sitting down for a few minutes and a canteen of lukewarm water. While the SNCO was busy drinking he couldn't talk but the way he had come barreling out of the park spoke volumes.
"Sergeant." She said turning to Kostoff who was standing behind her, looking over a warthog. "You said the wraith went into the park?"
"No ma'am. I said it might have."
"It's in there" Donnelley said still panting. "Right on our heels."
"It's their last one." Lai put in looking down from the gun mount of the nearest hog. "And after what we did to the other one I doubt it will even come close to this much firepower."
"So why the park?" Mixer asked herself out loud.
Not realizing she wasn't asking for input Kostoff chimed in. "First off probably to take care of our skirmishers."
"Didn't need the help. We had our hands full with the infantry. Damn shields."
"So maybe not that. But it is a mortar tank, the smart thing to do would be to call-" The overhang of the building shook over their heads and they all ducked as a massive boom bounced around the front of the terminal. A section of the overhand thirty meters away gave way and fell on the marine unlucky enough to be beneath it. "Call in artillery" Kostoff finished in a hushed voice.
"I hate it when you're right."
They saw another globe of burning energy rise over the treetops and reach the apex of it's arc before the overhang blocked their view. Mixer backed away from the warthog and pressed her back against the wall, if it was going to hit above her head she didn't stand a chance. The plasma mortar landed just a few inches from the warthog closest to it's initial shot and the blast tore the vehicle apart and slammed the burning bits into the terminal wall.
Mixer opened her mouth to say something but was cut off as Lai fired the chaingun at something on the other side of the jeep. By the time mixer looked over the hood a grunt and a jackal were lying dead on the asphalt and plasma was flying out of the treeline. She rested her assault rifle on the hood and aimed at the origin of several green bolts. She put fifteen rounds into the area the alien had been but couldn't see if she had actually hit anything and was forced to duck behind the warthog when a line of pink needles flew her way.
More and more marines joined in and soon everyone in front of the terminal was using whatever they could to shred the brush in the park. But the fire coming from the covenant's end was just as heavy and several marines fell with plasma burns or pulling at glassy shards before they exploded. She was crouching behind the front tire with kostoff leaning out from behind a column to her right, Donnelley had scrambled behind the rear tire and Lai was still laying down a hail of fire from the warthog's gun. The gunny from 3C looked at her sheepishly.
"Spare a mag?"
After sliding him a spare magazine she turned around the front of the jeep and put a burst into a grunt in red armor that had panicked and run across the open entrance to the park. She had to shield her eyes as another mortar round landed ten meters to her left. She felt the explosion in her chest and put her back to the tire again. Looking across the human line she saw another burning warthog and a marine rolling on the ground in an attempt to put out the flames
"That fire is too damn accurate." Kostoff growled.
Donnelley squatted back down after firing a short burst past Lai's leg. "They have to have a spotter calling in the strikes. We can't reach the tank but we may get the spotter."
"They have a hundred spotters!" Mixer retorted. "But we need to do something or the warith will tear us apart while the infantry keeps us from moving."
"Any Ideas ma'am?" Lai asked between bursts.
"One. But first we need some rockets."
Donnelley nodded. "I'll get the rocket jockey's down here"
Her ear piece emitted a burst of static then Dephi's voice. "The ground crews are preparing a shuttle on every space available on the tarmac. We just need to hold out until a little after dawn. But we still have a tank problem. Mixer?"
"We're working on it Major."
"Better hurry Lieutenant". He said as another mortar rose through the air.
…
About two minutes later PFC Nasri and the two other remaining heavy weapons specialists from Charlie company were crouching in front of the Lieutenant. By then another two warthogs and a group of marines had been hit by the mortar and most of the hogs were now being driven around small sections of the road to prevent being targeted. And even with that, admittedly small, amount of time to think no other plans came to mind. But three specialists was a perfect number.
"Who wants to blow up a tank?" All three of them raised their hands, so she chose the middle one at random and pointed at him. "You're my man for the job. What's going to happen is Gunnery Sergeant Lai will stay on this hog's gun and you're riding shotgun with Sergeant Kostoff. When he pulls out I want you two" she pointed at the other two rocket jockeys" to each fire two rockets on either side of the hog. I want twenty meters of that treeline flattened."
"So it's another hog charge?" Kostoff asked from behind his pillar.
"Yes."
Kostoff worked his jaw but nodded once and went back to shooting. She knew why he was hesitant, he last charge at the tanks had cost the battalion the lives of eight marines and three hogs. But she was glad he didn't say anything. But she couldn't tell if he actually thought the plan would work or if he was grudgingly following the chain of command. She looked to Lai to see what he thought but he was still busy manning the gun. Instead Donnelley caught her eye and gave her a smooth nod that said she had his support.
"Alright, mount up" She said before spinning and firing around the front of the jeep. Both the Gunnery Sergeants opened up on a section of the treeline as well to cover the rocket jockey as he climbed into the warthog and slid into the passenger seat. Once he was in Kostoff pulled himself up and into the driver's seat and kicked the vehicle into motion. He turned and accelerated strait for the park.
The two heavy weapons specialists that had been behind the hog both fired, nearly in synch, first one rocket parallel to the hog's path then their second farther along the treeline. The rockets wooshed past the moving vehicle on either side and blew a single massive hole in the covenant's line. Save for one small area in front of the hog that hid two grunts cowering behind a bush. The pair of aliens were turned into paste as the multi-ton vehicle entered the park and was soon out of the battalion's sight.
The warthog's big tires ate into the soft dirt and threw the ground up sod behind them. They were past the covenant's main force but were still taking a small amount of fire from behind and individual aliens that were farther back. But it was up to Lai to take care of anything that poked it's head out to shoot at them. Not too far into the park the marine riding shotgun spoke up.
"I hate to ask this now but how do we know where the tank is?"
Kostoff glanced over at him but quickly looked back at the darkened park. "Since the tank isn't taking any fire it wont move, makes it easier to re-aim." As if to confirm this statement another mortar round rose above the trees, practically in front of them. "Get ready."
A few seconds later the warthog burst through another line of trees and Kostoff had to immediately swerve in order to avoid hitting the tank. The covenant had learned their lesson from earlier that morning and put a gunner on the plasma turret. Now as Kostoff tried to drive around the wraith it was turning with him as it's turret poured blue fire out like it was water. Lai responded in kind and unleashed a stream of .50 caliber rounds that mainly sparked off the front armor, but a few hit the gunner and Lai was rewarded with the sight of an elite's shields flaring.
"Shoot it already!" The Gunny screamed.
The rocket jockey aimed the launcher across the top of the warthog and fired the first rocket so close to Kostoff's head that it would have burned off all his hair if he'd any to begin with. He waited for the barrels to spin and fired off the second rocket just before the first hit. The 102mm rocket hit just low and left of the gunner, killing it almost instantly and blowing off a chunk of armor, exposing the driver's cabin. The second was aimed in the same area as the first and went right through the whole and exploded on the outside of the cabin. The explosion broke through the thin wall and consumed the driver and blew out the back.
With a hole blown through the tank Kostoff was satisfied that their job was done and circled around the wreck and followed the path the created going in. They started taking heavy fire from infantry again and the Sergeant turned left to avoid a tree and drove right into a blast from an overcharged plasma pistol. The plasma did little damage to the hog's armor but when the magnetic envelope that carried it burst it fried all the electronics and stalled the jeep.
Lai swore, he couldn't turn or even fire the gun without power. He let go and hefted his MA5B, firing at anything that shot or moved. Kostoff hit the ignition over and over and nothing happened. Then the engine rattled and roared to life. Lai grunted as Kostoff hit the gas pedal and they flew through the park, smashing through the tree line and back onto the road. After hastily parking he and the specialist quickly bailed out, but Lai took his time.
The Gunnery Sergeant was leaning heavily on the gun and holding his chest, blood seeping between his fingers. Mixer was in the bead and next to the Gunny before Kostoff even saw the blood. He and Donnelley moved around and were standing next to the bed.
"Lai, what happened? How bad is it?" Mixer asked, panic thick in her voice.
"The hog stalled." He whispered, head pressed against the gun. "Carbine got me, obviously missed my heart. Just need some biofoam."
"Just hold on."
"Be gentle." He said as she wrapped his left arm around her shoulder and lifted him off the gun. She pulled him to the edge of the bed and lowered him enough for Donnelley and Kostoff to lower him the rest of the way. Once he had his feet on the ground he tried to put weight onto his legs and screamed as an intense wave of pain radiated from his left calf. Looking down he saw that his whole lower leg was so much charred and torn meat, and as soon as he looked at it it began to hurt even worse.
"Carbine round huh?"
"Might have been from the tank's turret." Kostoff said holding up Lai's weight again and began dragging him into the terminal. "Could have been the infantry. Why didn't you say anything?"
"I didn't feel it." He grunted.
"Shit! He's really bleeding." Mixer exclaimed stepping over the trail of blood left by the leg wound. "Get him into the terminal and to a corpsman."
The Sergeant complied and tried to keep as much of Lai's weight on his shoulder as he could but the gunny was heavier and much larger than him making the task all the more difficult. Mixer followed them through the door to the terminal and past the panicking crowds of civilians. As they neared the area nearest the tarmac that the marine Corpsmen had set up as their small aid station one of them ran forward and helped Kostoff set him down on a row of seats.
"What am I dealing with?" The corpsman asked hurridly.
"Carbine round to the chest and plasma burns on the leg." Mixer replied. Kostoff noted that by now she was choking up.
The corpsman shoved a can of biofoam into Kostoff's hand and said "Put this in his chest" then set about working on the leg. Then he paused and swatted Kostoff's hands away from Lai's chest. "Wait, lift him up and check his back."
The sergeant, now more than a little flustered, complied and lifted the Gunny by the neck of his BDUs so that he was sitting up. There was nothing that Kostoff could see on his back and was about to put him down when it dawned on him what he was looking for. Scanning again carefully he still couldn't see anything so he gently laid him back down. "No exit wound." He ground out.
"Shit. Its still burning inside of him. How long was he standing after he was hit?" He asked not looking up from his work on Lai's leg.
"I don't know. About a minute."
The corpsman didn't say anything for a while. Instead he finished taping up the leg and pulled a syringe from his bag and inserted the needle into Lai's arm. Once finished with the injection he finally took a look at the chest wound. He pursed his lips and grabbed some gauze to wipe away the blood. After a little while he stood up and turned to the Lieutenant, all the hurry having left him. Mixer didn't need to ask.
"The round most certainly perforated his liver but it didn't go all the way through and has been burning it's way downwards and backwards. By now it has to have cut open several blood vessels, and there is nothing I can do about internal bleeding except for biofoam, but the pressure would push the round into even more big blood vessels." The corpsman pursed his lips again and bowed his head "I've given him a sedative so he won't die in pain." He said before walking off to see to another wounded marine.
Kostoff didn't have anything to say so he left in silence. Mixer stood watching her Gunny for a long time. He had been the only platoon sergeant that she had ever worked with. He had kept an eye on her and kept her on track when she was a newbie shavetail Lieutenant. Now the pillar of strength she had come to rely on was bleeding out and there wasn't a thing she could do about it. She wanted to scream, to cry but she didn't have the energy. So she watched as one moment Lai was breathing slowly and the next he wasn't.
She had seen people, marines, die before, far too many in the past twenty-four hours. But of all the days events and all the death, this was by far the most painful for her. She took a shaky breath and walked back to the front of the terminal and tried her hardest to keep a steady pace. She could still hear the firefight raging outside and readied her rifle before pushing through the door. And as she strode out ready to re-enter hell she was surprised to find she could clearly see the trees in the park and the sky overhead was streaked with orange and pinkish light. Dawn had broke.
…
Thanks so much for reading this far. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I do writing it.
And I am sorry I killed Lai. He was a great gunny and someone who could have turned into a great character.
Please rate and respond.
