Chapter Twenty-Eight: Fight to the Finish

When I finally emerged at the summit of the steps, I instinctively let go of my rifle with one hand and placed it over my chest. My heart was pounding hard beneath my torso armor, which wasn't unusual after the hard sprint up that many stairs - it was the intense pain that came with it that was odd. It felt worse than when Travis had pounced on me inside the chamber to protect me from what he thought was an impending explosion, and I had to say that it had me a little worried.

I hadn't forgotten that only six weeks ago, I'd gone into a trauma-induced cardiac arrest and had been dead for five whole minutes after I'd been shot twice in the back with bullets from a 99-S5 - given to the Jackal arms dealers that had pulled the trigger on me by my favorite local rebel, Laraza. And as I'd said many times before, I was way too young for heart problems...but I guess getting sniped through the chest by armor-piercing rounds would do it.

One of Travis's Marines who'd come out ahead of me saw me stumbling onto the surface as I held a hand to my body armor, and he quickly came to my side.

"Ma'am? Are you hit?"

For a moment I gave him a bewildered look, then I took a deep breath and swallowed, shaking my head. "No, Sergeant. I'm fine."

I kept clutching at my chest though until my breathing evened out and the pain finally began to subside. By then nearly a minute had passed, and now, rather than worrying I was about to have another damn heart attack, I worried about Porter and the rest of his Marines' safety. It'd been too long and they should've come out by now.

"Marines, watch the entrance!" I shouted over the COM, which finally worked out here. "And make sure whatever comes out is hostile before you pull that trigger!"

Acknowledgment lights flashed green, and just as I turned behind me to see where Lieutenant Lloyd and Doctor Leedom had gone, I heard something coming up the steps.

A small burst of relief went through me when I saw that the sound was the pounding of a Marine's boots on the ancient stairs – one of Porter's men. He was followed quickly by another Marine, then another, and a handful more made it out until the staff sergeant himself came bursting from the entrance at a low crouch, SAW firmly in his hands.

He looked up at me with a red face and wide blue eyes as he reached the outside. "Colonel, they're coming!"

I nodded at him and keyed the radio again. "Marines, you heard the Staff Sergeant! Get ready!"

Luckily the two squads already standing guard outside had a thirty caliber machine gun with them – it wasn't as useful as the fifty I would've liked in a situation like this, but it would help for the moment. I hoped.

"Don't fire until I give the order!"

We all stood for several more agonizingly long seconds until I heard the sound again of something rushing up the steps - but this time, I knew it wasn't going to be friendly in the least. I gripped my DMR tight and held the weapon hard against my shoulder, ready to fire off that first burst as soon as the Prometheans came out.

I waited till the very last moment to shout, "All right! Open up!"

The thirty cal was the first to start blazing, followed by Porter's SAW and a couple dozen other guns as several Crawlers bounded out of the entrance ahead of the rest. Against our sudden onslaught, the initial wave had no chance, and by the time the dust settled for the briefest of seconds, six of the doggy robots could be seen lying in heaps of sparking metal in the sandy dirt.

I still had over half my mag left as I stood there beside the rest of the Marines, waiting for the remainder of the Promethean crowd to show up. I knew I wasn't going to be disappointed - in fact, my expectations were exceeded in a big way.

"Oh, shit!"

I turned fast to face the corporal who'd just shouted, then my eyes just about bugged out of my head when I saw what it was. It was a Knight, freshly teleported out of the ruins and standing right in front of us now. I backpedaled without a second thought and shoved the stunned Marine back with me, pulling the trigger of my DMR in bursts as fast as I could.

"Watch it, Corporal! If he gets too close, he'll gut you!" I yelled at the junior noncom. "Don't stop shooting!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Between the two of us we were actually doing pretty good against the Knight, but then one of its protector drones flew over from among the enemy horde emerging from the ruins and put up a shield around him. Knowing the Watcher was about to open fire on us next, I quickly switched my aim from the Knight to the drone and emptied my clip.

Shit, I thought to myself then, dropping the DMR to the ground and pulling out my pistol, since pausing to reload the rifle in the middle of all this would certainly take me to an early grave. This always happens at the worst damn times.

Thankfully though, my aide had recognized our predicament. Moving to cover our flank now, Staff Sergeant Joshua Porter aimed up at once just like I had, finished off the Watcher with a long burst of fire and a mini explosion of tearing metal, then directed his rapid-fire weapon at the Knight.

"Colonel, get back!" he shouted at me. "It's not safe! We need more firepower!"

"I know, Staff!" I cried in return. "We'll get it!"

Scrambling backward, I fired off another few rounds from my pistol, then bent quickly to pick up my discarded rifle and retreat behind the main line of Marines. I hated doing it, but I really needed to reload - my sidearm wasn't doing much damage anyway, and I knew my job was no longer to be directly involved in the fight if I could help it. Instead, I needed to make sure we had ample support here at the entrance now that the Prometheans had made it through one of the portals and seemed pretty hellbent on taking us all on at once. Crouching beside the Marine manning the thirty cal gun, I rapidly holstered my pistol, swapped out mags for my DMR, and then hit the COM again to the closest battalion commander.

"Brewer, this is Lieutenant Colonel Cooper! We need backup, right now! We've got Prometheans crawling out of the ruins fast! More than our guards can handle!"

The reply was almost instant. "On our way, ma'am! We're coming up on your six! ETA one minute!"

"Excellent! Cooper out!"

I ended the call feeling marginally relieved, but knew that the hard part now was going to be lasting amongst this chaos for another sixty seconds. In the heat of battle, even a few minutes felt like an eternity - especially when you were outnumbered and waiting on reinforcements. I knew that from numerous past experiences on a number of different planets. Waiting sucked.

Now that I'd hailed some help, and with my rifle boasting a full load once more, I propped my DMR against our cover and looked down the sights to aid in the fight. I still hadn't seen the spook or the lead doctor and part of me wondered again where they went, but it wasn't something I could stop to check up on just yet. First, this had to be contained.

Just in front of me and to the right, I could see Porter still hammering away at the oncoming tide with his SAW, moving quickly and with precision from a group of Crawlers to the drones and then back to a close-approaching Knight. I aimed at the big baddie myself, hoping to free up the staff sergeant for other targets, firing burst after burst until I watched the robotic bastard disintegrate into nothing.

The number of Prometheans that had come out to play now was huge, though - the largest congregation of them that'd I'd seen so far. Now that we weren't inside the ruins anymore, I figured it was high time to use some explosives.

Pulling a frag grenade off my web belt as I leaned into my gun, I opened a COM channel and said, "Marines, you're free to use everything you've got! We're clear of the main site now, so start tossing those grenades in to disperse the crowd!"

After yelling out a warning to my men, I threw the first pitch myself, making sure I chucked the frag far enough to arch over the line of Marines and fall right into the mixed bag of AI bots. The small explosive detonated after only a few seconds' delay, sending a plume of screeching metal parts, dirt, and sand bursting into the air. I didn't know what it was that I'd hit until I saw fragments of the Fido-bots amongst the debris, as well as an arm from one of the Knights. The big bastard itself was still active, though, but I remedied that quickly with two more bursts from my DMR.

Once the Knight had disappeared with its brief, imploding light show, I took a moment to look over my shoulder to see if any of Major Brewer's Marines were on approach yet. To me it felt like well over a minute had already passed, but that could've easily been the time dilation. I didn't know for sure until I turned back to the fight again, rattled off a burst, and heard the hail come in over the COM.

"Colonel, this is Major Brewer! Help is on the way, but I thought we could use an extra hand!"

I paused long enough to frown and wonder what she meant, but I didn't have to think on that one too long. I heard the large machine stomping around behind us and start to fire up its mounted MGs before I registered what it was. When I did, I grinned beneath my helmet. It was the Mantis.

"Marines, make way! Mantis-one on approach!"

The operator inside had made the announcement before I could, and I gladly relinquished my position to its superior firepower. Porter had asked for more, and we'd certainly gotten it. As soon as the Mantis opened up with its guns and M41 rockets, the landscape of the skirmish changed drastically.

"Mantis-one, watch the heavy ordnance!" I shouted through the COM. "We don't want anything breaking off chunks of the old ruins! Just the AIs!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

With the big Mantis beast at our backs now, and Brewer's Marines coming in behind as well, things looked a lot better than when we'd first resurfaced. But there was still a long way to go, and plenty of Promethean fighters to burn through.

I could only hope the rest of my battalions were still containing the situation on Qamar with the Storm as well. Fighting one of the enemy factions was taxing enough - if we ever had to fight both at the same time, it'd be tough, even with our newly arrived third battalion of men.


The Mantis was still doing much of the heavy lifting when Marines from the 213th started moving in. They were considerably later than Brewer had projected, but since she'd procured us the Mantis, I couldn't fault her for that too much. I knew how things could change unexpectedly in combat, and I was grateful we'd had a formidable stand-in for extra troops while we'd waited. Still, the more Marines the merrier, because things were about to get even worse.

In the blink of an eye, a Knight teleported directly behind one of the sergeants in front of me. I saw him twist to go for the Promethean at the same time I shifted my DMR's aim to help him out, but neither his reflexes nor mine were quite quick enough. The Knight hammered into him with the butt of its weapon, one of the shotgun-like light guns some of them carried, and then used the split-second that the Marine faltered to blast a deep hole in the man's gut. The Marine staggered as I let out a guttural scream of frustrated shock, then his body jerked forward, unceremoniously hitting the tan dirt. With adrenaline pumping into my veins now and raw fury sweeping through me, I ignored my old injuries, my dormant heart condition, and my rank and lunged.

Bounding over the cover with my weapon in hand, I ran up to the Knight and into the fray amid a storm of light rounds and bullets and explosions. I wasn't really sure what I thought I was doing with nothing but a mid-range weapon and a pistol at close quarters, but I was determined to do something about that sergeant who'd died. It could've just as easily been Matt, or my brother, or Cal - and I was done losing friends to aliens and robots and other people alike.

"You son of a bitch!"

I squeezed the trigger of my DMR and fired point-blank, not bothering with the scope since the Promethean was damn well nearly on top of me. The first few rounds were simply absorbed by the large AI-bot - but the next few weren't. The mechanical bastard started to spark, and with that, I watched as it's purple light blade emerged.

It was funny, because I had a blade of my own for it, too. With another magazine spent, I slung my DMR behind my back and pulled out my combat knife, striking first. I wasn't sure how much damage it would do against the robot, but I supposed I'd find out.

I struck what passed for its armor-plated chest and even more bright sparks of light burst forth from the sentient AI. It let out a sort of mechanical wail, then shoved me harder than I thought possible, forcing me on my ass. Realizing pretty quick that I'd made a colossal mistake in trying to take it on so rashly, I scrambled backward, buying time so I could sheathe my knife and pull out my sidearm instead. It almost worked...except the Promethean Knight struck again.

The thing tried to smash into me while I was on the ground, first with its light blade, then with its weapon. It missed the first time when I rolled out of the way, and the second time, I brought my legs up to my chest and kicked the metallic son of a bitch as hard as I could with both of my boots. The Knight didn't even stumble back, but it did relent its attack for just a second or two, and I used that to my advantage. I fired off four rounds from my pistol in rapid succession, hoping to bring it down.

Of course, even though the thing was pretty damaged by now, that still wasn't enough. I could've ended it with another burst from my DMR, but it was left unloaded on my back still and I had no time to change out mags in the moment. I was left in a bind until I heard a trio of bullets from a battle rifle strike the Knight from the side.

Craning my neck to see, I almost breathed a sigh of relief when I saw it was Lieutenant Lloyd. I was glad to see him alive, and I was damn happy to know I wasn't about to die from my own stupidity, too. As the Promethean finally warped out of existence, I sat in the dirt for a minute, breathing hard.

"Damn, Lieutenant. Couldn't've...come in at a better time," I said.

Caleb grinned and stuck out his hand for me to take. "Glad I could help, ma'am. Let's get you up."

I took his hand and let him haul me to my feet; I still felt a little shaky from the adrenaline and close call. My heart was pounding hard in my chest, as always, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary like it had before. I released a long breath, then looked up to take in the rest of the skirmish.

"How're we doing so far, Cal? And where's Leedom and the rest of the scientists?"

"Safe, ma'am. One of the lieutenants from Major Brewer's battalion came and brought them behind the lines. From my understanding, they're with her XO now."

I nodded. "And Brewer herself?"

"Don't know, ma'am. Haven't seen her yet."

I gave him a look and a slap on the shoulder as I reloaded my DMR for what felt like the hundredth time since the Prometheans had shown up, then cocked the rifle and brought it to bear again. I could tell the ONI operative was worried about the 213th's commander.

"I'm sure she's fine, Lloyd. We would've heard if she wasn't."

"Yes, ma'am. I know."

I gestured to what was left of the still forward-pushing AI machines, glad to see their numbers were finally dwindling. "Let's finish this up, Cal, and then we'll see."


Several minutes later, it was all over, at least for now. I had my Marines stay and watch the entrance for ten more minutes just to be safe, to make sure there weren't anymore Prometheans on the loose that had yet to make their way up the stairs, or more that had arrived through the portals. But they didn't. Once the skirmish had come to an end, it was quiet.

"Damn, Colonel," Caleb whispered beside me. "I think we did it."

"Yeah, we did. But not everybody made it out," I replied wearily.

"You're talking about Doctor McGuinness, right?"

"And a handful of our Marines, too. I need to get the full count from Doc Reynolds just as soon as we know the rest of our brains are okay."

With that, I opened a private channel to both Travis and Matthew to make sure my most immediate concerns were quelled. After hearing they were fine, I nodded to myself and started to get underway with all the other things I needed to do. That's when I heard the spent Mantis begin to stomp away, back near the command tent to get rearmed for the next fight...and someone else on approach.

Major Dani Brewer came over to the spook and I with a DMR in her hands, too. Her uniform looked fresher than ours but still a little dirtied from the fighting that had just occurred. And judging by one of the scorch marks down her pants leg, she'd been in the thick of it somewhere within the melee just like us. The 213th Infantry Battalion's CO looked to me first.

"Colonel Cooper, ma'am. I'm sorry we got here a little late, but I hope the Mantis made up the difference for a while."

"It did, Major. Good call sending in our big beast."

"Thank you, ma'am." Only then did she look over at Caleb, and I noticed the two smiling at each other. "Lieutenant."

"Ma'am," Lloyd answered.

"It's good to see you're all right."

"You too, ma'am."

I could tell they wanted to say a lot more to each other after what had just occurred, but neither would do so in my presence. They were too professional for that, something I respected them both for. I shifted my stance and balanced the weight of the rifle in my hands.

"Well, I've got to check up on the scientists, our casualties, and the wounded," I said then. "And see how Harris and Warfield are doing handling the Storm for now. Major Brewer, come find me when things get wrapped up out here."

"I will, Colonel."

I left the two of them standing alone for a moment, giving them some time to say what they really needed to face-to-face. I hadn't gotten the same chance before Willis's bird had gone down, and now, with his prognosis bleak, I didn't really know if I ever would.