Chapter Twenty: Hide and Seek

I remained at the center of the formation as we set off behind Captain Leo Stangørd and his Golf Company, surrounded by my security detail on all sides, plus the Marines of G. It was already hot in the desert at mid-morning, so while helmets were a must on the combat patrol, each of the Marines had opted to shed their uniform jackets in favor of strapping their torso armor on directly over the T-shirts they wore underneath. I was no exception, and I found myself quickly starting to sweat through that layer of clothing, too.

I suddenly thought of the late Major Hayden and what he'd said about the weather back on Khan, a while before he was killed – it was probably going to be the only place either of us had ever been stationed at that had had comfortable temperatures.

"Coming up on the forward OP now, Colonel," Captain Stangørd said to me over the COM then. "Orders?"

"Send them a confirmation hail, Captain," I responded, holding my battle rifle loosely in my arms across my middle. "We don't want to get off on the wrong foot."

"Yes, ma'am."

This was the first day the observation post I'd ordered placed outside the outpost had been up and running. They weren't used to seeing friendly patrols out yet and were likely jumpy because of the unknown, so I wanted to make sure they were well aware of our presence.

The confirmation took all of fifteen seconds, and with a green flash of light across my HUD indicating that we were all good to go, we continued on into the rocky landscape. I had to admit, there was a certain rugged beauty to Requiem – at least what I'd seen of it so far. The knowledge that we were currently caged in on all sides by various enemies, though, made it seem treacherous and foreboding.

"So how long are we going to be out here, Nat?"

I turned and faced my brother-in-law for a moment when he spoke, but quickly returned my attention to our surroundings, just in case. "I'm not sure yet. I guess it depends on what we find. Why? You nervous?"

"Maybe a little."

I smiled slightly. "Good. That'll keep you alive. But don't let the fear overtake you, Matt; you've fought before and did just fine on Khan. And you're a Marine now, Private."

"I know," he replied with a chuckle. "It's just…Khan was my home, you know? I felt comfortable there and I knew the city inside and out. Here everything's different. It's all new to me still – not just the terrain, but the people I'm with, too."

"Have you been fitting in okay with your squad?"

"Yeah," he answered fast, but didn't sound totally convincing. He seemed to sense it in his voice and amended, "Well, sort of. There's already a rumor going around that I used to be a reb, so I get grilled about that sometimes. A couple of my fireteam members are cool with it after I explained it to them, but others…I don't think everyone trusts me."

Glancing down at the dirt, I said, "Well, I can't say I'm surprised by that. The Corps' a tight group and if we feel like anyone's gone against us in the past, it can be very hard to let that person into the club. But I know you, and the fact that you never hurt anyone in your time as a rebel on Khan. You were just trying to find your way in your adopted world, and that seemed like the only choice for you then. In time, they'll start to see that, too."

"I hope so."

"Till then, just be yourself and keep your guard up, okay?"

Matthew nodded. "Right."

Gripping my gun in my left hand, I reached out with my right as we walked and squeezed his shoulder. "Speaking of, you should get back to your squad. They'll need you to have their six in case something breaks out."

"What about you?"

I flipped a thumb to my detail behind me. "Don't worry, I'm covered. You don't have to be scared of facing Will's wrath if I don't make it." I gave him a pointed look. "I do if something happens to you, though, so stay sharp."

"Yes, ma'am."

The younger Hawk flashed me a quick grin before jogging up ahead to rejoin his unit. I was stupidly watching his progress when we entered a large, rocky overlook and shots rang out from below.

I brought my weapon to bear in an instant as my security detail formed up tighter around me. Keying the COM, I shouted, "Sitrep!"

Captain Stangørd replied, "We hit the hornet's nest, ma'am! Storm!"

"How many?"

"At least a platoon's worth, Colonel! And they've got support. Two Ghosts and a Wraith!"

"Shit." I switched to a general channel and said, "Heavy weapons, you're up, now! I want MGs along the ridgeline and snipers covering their six! The rest of you hold position and open fire if you're up front!"

Much to the dismay of my team, I broke formation then and ran towards the fighting myself, hoping to get up close to see what was going on. Staff Sergeant Derek Lynch was hot on my heels as I ran across the hard, dusty golden plateau, no doubt cursing behind me.

"Colonel, wait for us! The area's hot!" he called.

"I know, Staff! That's why I'm going!"

The sounds of gunfire and incoming plasma rounds grew louder as we rushed through the column. I heard the whoosh of an outgoing rocket somewhere on my flank, the steady rattle of the machine guns in front of us, and the occasional sharp cracks of the sniper rifles already doing their jobs. Some of the Marines close by with mid- or long-distance guns also opened up, but the rest stood tense and watched, guns held at the ready but not yet in range to do any good.

I got to the ridgeline just as a second rocket streaked through the air below, connecting with one of the Ghosts at the bottom of the half-moon desert floor and exploded, blue sparks and alien parts flying. It was good one was already out of the mix, but up here, that wasn't the vehicle type I was most worried about.

"Heavy weapons, concentrate fire on that Wraith! We don't want it to – !"

No sooner had I started to say the words than the large enemy tank set its sights on us. I grabbed hold of the top of the closest Marine's torso armor and pulled him back, making him rise to his feet as he gripped a rocket launcher in his hands to turn and run.

"Mortar incoming!" I yelled out, stumbling back. "Spread out!"

The terrifying schwoop from down below signaled that the heavy round was already on its way. I'd thought the extreme angle might be tough for the Wraith to handle, but it seemed the operator was a good one. The huge, glowing blue round burst moments later against the top of the ridge, while some of the MG gunners were still scrambling to get out of the way. I heard their screams as several were consumed in the blast, while an unlucky few fell to their deaths as a sizable chunk of rock broke off the face of the cliff, right out from under the boots of Marines who'd been slower to react.

For my part, I'd leapt towards the ground as soon as I'd sprinted away, Staff Sergeant Lynch following a split second later to crush me to the rock to protect me. I'd groaned at the sudden added weight, but when he finally got off and offered me his hand to help me up once the danger was gone, I felt grateful.

I could tell by the state of my aide's uniform and armor that chunks of debris had rained down on us from the large detonation. Lynch was still brushing them off when I moved past him to assess the damage, ignoring the stinging pain from various small cuts on my bare arms as I went.

"Stangørd, what's our status?" I barked.

"Half of first squad of first platoon is gone, ma'am," the captain responded. "They weren't able to move in time."

"Dammit." I stepped up and moved forward with the Marines holding rockets, not wanting to place them in harm's way if I wouldn't go myself. "Heavy weapons, we need to get back on it! Aim at that Wraith, now! We need it destroyed! MGs and snipers, hold for now and move back in the second it's gone!"

Acknowledgment lights winked green across my HUD, but in the moment I barely noticed. Instead I crouched beside one of the rocketmen and aimed down the sights of my BR85HB using its scope, spotting targets while they managed the Wraith. I fired off a series of rounds at one of the Elites below, while I heard the Marine to my right let loose another streaking rocket. To my left, a second did the same, as did a third further down the line.

The trio of heavy rounds impacted the Wraith tank one after the other below. I thought it was done for until I saw that the final rocket had just clipped its side, barely missing. I cursed under my breath as the rocketmen ducked to reload, hoping the now-smoking and sparking behemoth didn't still have enough power left to launch another round back at us.

Unfortunately, it did.

Schwoop!

"Marines, move!"

This time it was Staff Sergeant Lynch who yanked my armor from behind, forcing me backwards before anyone else had even had time to get to their feet. Our luck seemed to be getting better, though, because the big mortar round ended up falling short; we never saw it come up against the ridgeline, but I felt the quake beneath my boots as it hit the cliff face several meters beneath it.

"It missed!" I cried. "Get those rockets in the tube now and take it out!"

One of the Marines who'd been next to me earlier sprung up to be the first to the ridgeline, holding his heavy weapon at the ready. A second later he suddenly pitched forward off the cliff with a muted sound – and a messy spray of blood – as a sniper round from the Storm went straight through his helmeted head.

Now decorated with splotches of bright red on my fatigues, I stopped short before shouting, "Enemy sharpshooters below! Be cautious and make it quick!"

I dropped to my stomach beside the heavy weapons crew then, inching forward to the edge of the ridge to keep from becoming the next victim. I needed to see where the fire was coming from to try to keep the rocketmen safe. Zooming in with the scope, I spotted a faint glint Willis had taught me to look for when I'd learned counter-sniper tactics at the Naval Academy. Though my scope wasn't powerful enough to get me a clear picture from this far away, I fired off a blind pair of bursts, hoping something hit – even if only to keep the Jackals' heads down until I could move in our own snipers to dispatch them.

Meanwhile, I heard two more rockets get released next to me while I did my best to keep the sharpshooters busy. As the heavy weapons crew moved back again to keep out of the way, I fired off one last burst before turning to watch the rockets' trajectory. Both burst right on top of the smoking Wraith tank at once, forcing it into a half a dozen large pieces of burning scrap metal around a hulking ruin.

Yes, I thought, pounding the side of my fist on the ground. I quickly picked up my battle rifle and crawled back from the edge. "Nice work, Marines! Now let's tag the rest! MGs and snipers, you're up! Let's take out their long-distance shots and chew up their remaining defenses! Heavy weapons, get rid of that last Ghost! Then we move in!"

After the skirmish I stood on the desert floor with my security detail, walking around with the rest of the Marines to take care of the stragglers, and see if we could find any intel on the Storm's presence in the area – like what their total numbers might be, and whether or not they had a permanent outpost of their own somewhere near ours that they were coming from. Judging by their numbers here, I figured this might've been a bigger version of a forward OP for them.

Captain Stangørd came up beside me just as I was firing off a round from my sidearm into a dying Jackal's head. The creature had a blood-smeared beam rifle beside it, even before I put a hole in its cranium; he'd been one of the snipers that had killed nearly a squad of my men on the ridge.

"Colonel, that's the last of them. What did you want us to do now?"

I holstered my pistol and slung my rifle behind my back, which I'd been holding onto with my other hand. I wished I could wipe the sweat from my forehead, but even with the immediate threat eliminated, I knew this was still no place for me to pull off my helmet just yet. "Form a perimeter and keep a sharp eye on that ridge, Stangørd. We can get ambushed from up there just as easily as the Storm did, and we don't have the benefit of vehicles and armor to help us."

"Yes, ma'am."

"After that we sweep this location. I want to know what the Storm were camped here for."

"Right away, Colonel."

The captain made himself scarce then as he went to carry out my orders. In the meantime, I started to look around myself, my detail in tow. We walked around the still-smoking but extinguished ruins of the Wraith tank, and one of the Ghosts not far beyond. I glanced up at a few of the purple structures set up down here, too, where the Remnant troops had mounted a few of their own plasma guns on the circular platforms on top. A dead Grunt was slumped over one, its sky-blue blood spilled and now drying on its MG.

"War isn't pretty, is it?"

I turned at the sound of the voice and felt a spike of anger go through me. "What the hell are you doing here? Do you have some kind of hearing impairment or a death wish or something?"

I wished my team had been warned against allowing Ethan Ackerson to approach me. But being technically considered a "friendly", he'd slipped right in in his black ONI fatigues and stood close by now, arms folded across his chest as he quietly observed what I did.

He scoffed at my rebuff. "I'm one of two Intelligence operatives on this mission, Colonel. I have a right to come along on a patrol if I feel I can gather useful intel from it."

"You were supposed to stay at the outpost," I snapped back. "You know I don't want you here."

"The UNSC cares little what you want, Cooper. I felt it was time for me to see firsthand what was out here, just like you."

It was my turn to snort this time. "Right. So why weren't you along for any of the combat patrols before now? You only decide 'it's time' to come when it's me?" Though he'd actually kept a respectable distance from me as he spoke, I broke that now and got closer, jabbing a finger in his direction. "Don't forget that I'm the one in charge of the outpost and this operation now, Ethan. I can send you packing so fast – "

"I'm also here because of the kid."

"What?"

Ethan turned to look at me then. "PFC Matthew Hawk. Your husband's brother, right? I know he used to be a rebel in the not-so-distant past, so I want to make sure he's legitimate."

At that I bristled. "And why wouldn't he be? It's not like there's rebs for him to consort with out here anyway. And I doubt he'd want to fuck things up for us light-years from home because I'm sure he doesn't want to die on this shield planet." It was only then that a lightbulb went on in my head. "This is because you still have some kind of grudge against Willis, isn't it? Going after his brother because you can't go after him? Because he deigned to treat me with dignity and respect all those years ago, unlike you?"

My ex didn't take the bait. Instead he turned away again and replied in an even tone, "Think what you want, Natalie. That's in the past."

"Is it really? You still haven't told me yet how it is you're alive. I saw your dead body in Lienz, Ethan, transformed into a Flood form with your dogtags hanging off it. And yet you're here, clearly alive and well and just as much of a sick bastard as you used to be. Care to explain that?"

Our gazes met and I felt a subtle shift between us, though I couldn't figure out what it was just yet.

"It's ONI, Natalie," Ethan said matter-of-factly. "Don't believe everything you see."