Chapter Twenty: Blast From the Past

I was furious when I finally got an audience with Redwood Falls' mayor a half hour later. With one of my own Marines now dead because of some stupid mistake - either because it was something we hadn't been warned about, or because the explosive had been planted there by someone on purpose - my attitude was very much changed. I was prepared to hear the mayor out, but at the same time, I vowed that this would not happen again. And I'd make sure he knew that as well.

"Major Cooper?" his secretary said. "Mayor Laraza will see you now."

Stepping inside his office without a word, I turned on the mayor as soon as the door shut behind me. "Do you know what the fuck just happened?"

Laraza immediately held his hands up from behind his desk to try to placate me. "Major, please. I am sure that whatever has occurred, we can - "

I shook my head at him, standing right in front of the table now, gripping my helmet in one hand. "You don't get it, do you? One of my men is dead, Mr. Laraza. D-E-A-D. Dead. I saw his body. Or rather, what was left of it." I gave him a look of pointed disgust. "Have you ever seen what a close detonation does to a person, Mayor? Because I saw damn plenty during the war, and unpleasant doesn't even begin to describe it."

"Major...Cooper, is it? Please, have a seat, and we can discuss this in a more civilized manner."

"No," I replied firmly as I leaned forward. "I want an answer. Now. Why the hell is there concealed ordnance on our build site, and why were we not forewarned about this? I accept that there's inherent risks in any construction job, but that certainly does not include bombs."

It was the mayor's turn to fix a hard stare at me now. "You were not warned, Major, because I did not know. No one did. How could we? These places I have asked you to help us rebuild have not been touched for four years. Some longer. We did not have the resources ourselves to fix these things on our own."

"Yeah, I know that," I snapped. "That's why we're here. What about the ordnance?"

He shrugged very carefully. "Possibly left over from when the Covenant demolished the place. Maybe whatever you happened to have found simply did not go off then and was instead triggered now by all the movement."

"These weren't old Covenant explosives, Mayor. They were human tech."

"Then perhaps the Jackals got a hold of it and planted them there. Either way, I can assure you it is not us."

That was definitely a possibility, I had to give him that. Yet still, if there was any chance at all of foul play here, I wanted to make it clear that it would not be tolerated. "I really hope that's true, sir. Because in case you ever start to forget, Mr. Laraza, we're the ones helping to rebuild your entire infrastructure single-handedly. Us, the UNSC. The nasty, intrusive government you all seem to hate so damn much."

To his credit, the mayor at least had the decency to look stunned by the jab. "I hate no one, Major. Least of all those who have so kindly come to our aid. I assure you, I am nothing but appreciative for the hard work you have agreed to perform here on Khan for us. We - "

I was suddenly tired of this. I cut him off. "You know what? Spare me. Let me just say that I am the only one willing to give you the benefit of the doubt right now. But if one more Marine gets killed - my own, or any others - then that is it. When my men and women are endangered, that's where I draw the line." I straightened as I turned to go. "Tread lightly, sir. And don't fuck this up."

Later in the afternoon, when I'd returned to the MagLev train station site to check on how things were progressing, I found that the ordnance sweep I'd ordered done had recovered nothing else so far. Upon hearing the news, I started to wonder if I'd been a bit too harsh with the mayor earlier - but in the end, I decided that what had happened here had warranted it. I had one dead Marine and three injured from a blast. It was not acceptable. Not like this, and especially not if it could have been prevented.

Seeing that things were under control with Captain Harris at the helm, I left the site again to return to the outpost - this time, to check up on the wounded. Columbia's medical wing was a modest one, like the rest of the place, but it was well-stocked now since our arrival, and there were no Marines inside save for the ones who'd been hurt today. So it was easy to find them - and so was Doc Reynolds.

I took a moment to speak to the two men with minor injuries, then made my way to the back where Reynolds was busy treating the Marine with the shrapnel wound.

"Hey, Doc," I said by way of greeting.

The medic glanced up from checking the young Marine's vitals on his datapad. "Major Cooper, ma'am. Good to see you. What are you doing here?"

"Wanted to stop by real quick to see how everyone was doing." I nodded to the Marine, PFC Daniel Neeson, who was sitting up now in his cot with a bandaged forearm. "How's the arm, Private?"

He looked surprised I was even addressing him, but also gratified. "I'm...okay now, ma'am. Hurt like a mother when I got stuck, but Doc here...he patched me up pretty good. Got some morphine, too, ma'am. I feel fine now."

"Glad to hear it."

Reynolds looked up at me again. "The piece went into his left brachioradialis, Major. It'll be hard for him to flex his arm for a while. Won't be able to bend it from the elbow, either, till that torn muscle heals up."

"We'll put you on limited duty then, Marine. Just until you can move that arm again."

"Yes, ma'am. Thank you. And thanks for coming by to see me."

I gave him a faint smile of encouragement. "No problem, Private."

The remainder of the day passed quickly at the site. By the time I got back, the ordnance sweep was complete, and work resumed. For today - and probably most of tomorrow, too - that included clearing more debris, but I thought we'd be far enough along by late the next day to start laying down a new foundation. After taking a quick lukewarm shower once we got back to the outpost, I stopped by the mess again to eat dinner. Then, it was time for a briefing with my company commanders to discuss the day's events, and how we'd proceed from here.

It was 2134 hours when I finally got to my quarters. Surprisingly, even after everything that had happened, I didn't really feel all that tired yet. I thought about looking through the blueprints again or checking up on some battalion items, but after a while, I found I just couldn't concentrate. I set the papers and my datapad aside and turned out the lights.

I lay awake in my bunk for a long time, wondering what it was that I was missing. Some things pointed to the Jackals being the problem here on Khan, others more clearly to the locals - and some part of me still refused to believe it was the people. Maybe I just didn't want it to be them, like Hayden had implied yesterday. I really didn't know.

Whatever it truly was, I knew I probably wouldn't be able to tell for sure until something else happened. And I dreaded that.

I didn't remember drifting off to sleep. When I woke up, startled, I wasn't even under the covers or undressed. The only things missing from my person were my boots and my weapon holster, but I was still wearing my battledress uniform. For a moment I tried to recall what I'd been doing before falling asleep as I rubbed my eyes. But before the memory came back, I heard the nearby sound.

Gunfire.

I was on my feet in an instant, alert and heart hammering inside my chest as I tugged on my boots fast. This was it. I felt it and I knew it in my gut. This was the last straw we'd been waiting for - something to show us what the real threat was out here. I still didn't know yet whether the gunfire was our own or from any locals, though. I scrambled to pull on the rest of my gear so I could jam outside to see.

My aide, Staff Sergeant Joshua Porter, happened to be right outside my door when I rushed out.

"Major Cooper? Jesus, I - "

Wearing all my armor for the first time since landing, with a fully loaded DMR in my hands, I interrupted and said, "Porter. Focus. Just tell me what's going on. Who's attacking us?"

"It's the rebels, ma'am."

"You're sure?"

"Positive, ma'am. Major Hayden announced it on the general COM freq five minutes ago."

"Shit."

"Ma'am?"

I gripped my rifle tighter, stifling the impulse to rush headlong into the skirmish myself. "Where's Hayden now, Staff?"

"I don't know, Major. Probably close to the fight. The rebs attacked our roving patrol first, then we caught 'em trying to get inside the outpost."

"How many?"

"Not sure, ma'am. It's got to be a small unit, maybe a squad or so. They weren't attempting to assault us head-on."

"All right. Josh, I want you to stop whatever you're doing and go make the rounds. Anybody still asleep in either barracks, wake them the hell up and get everyone out here. Now. Regardless of enemy presence, we need a show of force."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Send me updates through the COM if anything else happens in this part of the outpost. In the meantime, I'm going to go see what we're up against."

"Major, with all due respect, I advise - "

"Forget it, Josh. I'm heading out. Let Captain Harris know if you find him."

Porter released a sigh. "I will, Major."

"Okay." I slapped him once on the shoulder. "Good luck."

As I'd always done in the past, I sprinted towards the sound of the fighting. Yet unlike the other times, I knew this wasn't going to be to keep any extraterrestrial beings at bay. This time, it was fellow human beings. People. Though the idea still disgusted me on many levels, I hoped I wouldn't choke.

When I got to the main entrance of the outpost, just below the observation platforms Oliver and I had stood on this morning, I saw that Staff Sergeant Porter had been right. There was a group of Marines already engaged in a fierce firefight with a number of crouched figures in the dark. Hidden amongst the trees and other greenery, the rebels were hard to spot, but as soon as I flipped on the night vision in my HUD, I could see it all clear as day. I watched long enough to see one of the enemy fighters get tagged in the chest, and then I was on the move again myself, quickly making my way to a better location to take cover.

Bullets suddenly flew past my head in the dark. It was a sensation I'd only felt when fighting human Flood forms before - not real humans. It was new and different and strange, yet I didn't stop to rattle off a returning burst of fire. I kept going until I'd reached the rear of the forward-most line of the skirmish, then crouched behind Hayden's Marines. I would've liked to have been at the forefront, but knew I shouldn't risk it.

From behind a large red tree trunk, painted green like the rest of the forest in the cool night through my night vision, I tapped my HUD to zoom in using my weapon's 3x scope. After sweeping the gun slowly from side to side, I found a target, outlined in white through the DMR's targeting reticule. My finger was inside the trigger guard, ready to fire, but I didn't. I watched the rebel move and look down his own sights, but the aversion to inflicting harm on my own was strong.

He's aiming at Hayden's Marines, a part of my mind told me. Maybe even at Oliver himself. Do you want to find out your best friend died because you couldn't pull the trigger?

I was still trying to psyche myself up when something jarring barreled into me. My helmet flew off from the impact, and I suddenly found myself in a scuffle with someone. A rebel. Before I could react, the young man punched me hard in the face, eliciting a loud, guttural groan from me. Pain spiked through my nose, and I felt blood starting to pour from it.

I found I couldn't breathe through my nose anymore, but right now not even oxygen intake was my primary concern. I needed this reb off me. I needed to knock him out.

I could've pulled one of my combat knives on him, but I was afraid of killing him. Using my gun was out of the question, too; I couldn't take out my pistol in time, and my DMR was somewhere beside us on the forest floor, no longer in my possession. So instead, I shoved my left hand in his face while I brought my right up and hit him back.

The young reb grunted, momentarily pushed back from the punch, and that was all the opening I needed. I'd trained in hand-to-hand combat situations the whole ten years I'd been a Marine, and tested my skills numerous times in real fights against the Covenant - and the Flood. A person seemed like little in comparison.

I threw him off me easily after that and quickly gained the upper hand when I punched him again, this time on the side of his head. He reeled from the blow, and that's how I was finally able to pin him down. Straddling his chest now, I pulled my arm back to give him the K.O. when I stopped.

Blinking to make sure I was seeing straight, and breathing hard through my mouth since blood continued to fall in gobs from my nose, I sat there in a daze for the longest of seconds. He was supposed to be dead. But I realized it fit. It all fit. The rebel's young age, his short, light brown hair, even the deep brown eyes he looked up at me in frozen confusion with. All of it finally forced me to relent. And then the question came out.

"Matthew?"

I watched as the kid tried to squint at me in the dark, his lip split and bleeding from where I'd hit him - and suddenly, there was a flash of recognition in his eyes, too.

"Natalie?"

That was as far as we were able to get with the introductions. Or reintroduction, as it were. I heard a pair of heavy boots pounding the dirt then - a figure on approach. I turned and saw it was Doc Reynolds, come to see what a mess I'd made of myself this time. Ignoring the reb, he came to a halt a few feet away and gave me an incredulous stare.

"Ma'am? What are you waiting for? Capture him."

I glanced down at the kid as I shook my head. "No. Treat him, Doc."

Reynolds almost scoffed. "I'll treat you, Major. Not that."

"I said treat him," I repeated firmly. "That's an order. And make sure he gets fixed up before I do. He's my brother-in-law."