Chapter Thirty Five
October 26, (Military Calendar) /
Manhattan (Midtown), Earth, Sol System
There was a silence in New York, one the city hadn't experienced for over a week. Not one gun shot was heard. The moon illuminated the city a ghostly pale glow.
In mid town all was quiet. A lull in the fighting had set upon the forces of the UNSC and Covenant. Both sides simply stopped fighting to reclaim their dead and muster their forces.
Lieutenant Dyke sat with Sergeant Pavlov on the second floor of the apartments. Both were leaning against the walls heads resting against the wall.
Pavlov took a drag of his Sweet William, and then offered it to Dyke, "Sweet William LT?" Dyke took the offered cigar and smoked a drag before saying, "You know, when I joined the military they offered me smokes, but I said no thanks I don't smoke."
Pavlov raised and eyebrow, "That's… a really interesting story sir." Dyke let out a hearty laugh; the first in a while, "You don't have to lie Sergeant."
Pavlov smiled, "Haha just trying to make conversation I see?"
Dyke nodded. There was a few minutes of awkward silence. All around them marines were busy checking their ammo and making final preparations for what they all knew would be the Covenants final assault on their position.
"I come from a planet called New America. It was one of the few Inner Colonies that escaped being glassed by the Covenant." Pavlov was unsure of what he was talking about until he realized that he was telling him a story about his home. "I lived with my mom and dad and had two brothers and a sister. My two brothers were older then me and went enlisted as soon as they could. Both were killed in separate campaigns in 2548. My sister became a nurse in the MedCorp and she is currently on some back water planet in the Inner Colonies last I heard. What was it called Lexus or Nexus or something like that. Last I talked to her though was well over a month ago. I went and followed in my brother's footsteps much to my parent's dismay, but I felt it was something I should do."
"Chyort, did you talk to them recently?" Pavlov asked. Dyke nodded his head, "No, once I enlisted I had never spoken to them again, and this was in 2550. Anyways I went through basic then I went into Officers Training and came out a Lieutenant. I was stationed on garrison planets that had never been attacked yet."
"Then how'd you end up here leading us?"
"I wanted some combat experience so I asked to be deployed to Earth, where rumors were spreading of an impending Covenant attack. I got here only three days prior to the Covenants attack." Pavlov recalled it well when command of the platoon had been given to Dyke. They had thought he was some snot nosed rich Marine officer who thought he had what it took to lead them.
But Dyke had more then proved himself by leading the troops through this campaign and if it weren't for him then none of them might not be alive.
"LT you have done more then we could have ever hoped for, and without you we would be nothing right now," Pavlov admitted. Dyke smiled trying to stop himself from blushing, "Thank you sergeant, I just hope I can get us all out of here." Dyke raised a hand to shake and Pavlov shook it.
A nearby explosion interrupted the moment. A trio of marines led by Private Chen ran by downstairs ready for action. "Looks like it is time. Are you with me?"
Another explosion rung out, this one shaking the dust off the ceiling. Pavlov smiled, "To the death." The pair took up firing positions at the vacant window space. Window space was an over statement. At this point there were so many holes in the walls of the building that there were barely any recognizable parts. Just a three story husk of a once proud building.
The platoon had been reduced to sixteen marines. Plus the newly acquired downed pilot, who Dyke had assigned to defending the wounded so that Corpsman Coney could act as a frontline troop. Also Joe Watson had come up to help fight. Duke could tell by the fire on his eye that he was ready to die to protect his family and there was no turning a man like that down. Dyke armed him with a M7 and sent him on his way.
Pavlov sighted through the scope of his BR turning on the infra red. He nearly gasped when he saw the scores of Covenant coming at them. "They are really coming out of the wood work now."
But Dyke didn't hear him, "Illumination flares now!" No sooner had he finished saying this then two flares popped up from the demolished roof of the apartment. The flares glowed bright silver and was nearly blinding to look at. They flew out and hovered over the landscape surrounding the apartment.
There the platoon could really get eyes on what they were up against. Scores of grunts and jackals flanked by their brute overseers surrounded them like an ocean would an island. With their distinct features and alien skin they looked like something out of a horror film.
The Covenant stared up at the pair of flares as if mesmerized. That's when Dyke took his opportunity.
"Open fire!"
As one every person with a weapon fired. The Covenant was taken by surprise. Dozens of grunts and Jackals fell under the first volley. The flares slowly died out as they descended to the ground, shrouding the area in darkness again. The darkness didn't affect the Covenant however. They knew where the enemy was and charged forward.
The night air was illuminated with the light of plasma and the sound of fighting. Bullets and tracers crossed paths with one another like some weird twisted light show. Multiple marines fell but even more Covenant did.
Dyke sighted on a brute minor and pulled the trigger till it didn't get up. Shell casing s spilled all around him, but it didn't matter. It was just him and the Covenant he killed.
Next to him Pavlov lay prone. He was firing on mostly brutes, his BR's stopping power was much more then that of the assault rifle. He would leave the unshielded grunts and the easier to hit jackals to the others.
All the other marines were fighting just as hard. Chen led Dietrich, Woods and a few other marines in the defense of the bottom floor. They fought valiantly but they were quickly overrun. Chen and Woods were the only ones able to make it into the basement and hold the line there, though they were cut off. The rest including Dietrich and Corpsman Coney had fallen.
The Covenant had effectively split the defenders. Grunts suicide charged up the rickety stair case to the second floor. They just threw themselves at the humans to waste their ammo.
The Jackals came next. With their energy gauntlets they were a much tougher customer to handle. Dyke had grenades throw into the Kig-Yar's midst then marines armed with shotguns move in to clear out the stragglers.
Dyke bashed a grunts skull in with the butt of his rifle then sprayed into another group of jackals. Private Webb made his way through the slaughter, firing his MA5C as he went. He motioned to the radio on his back with excitement, "Sir I got command on the horn, they are sending a convoy to pick us up. It should be here in less then five minutes!"
"Thank god," Dyke putting a burst through a Jackals throat, "We just need to hold out till then."
Up above the apartment complex two AV-14 Hornets hover in place. The lead pilot broadcasted to his wingman, "Switch to thermals." Both pilots switched over to their vehicles thermal vision. The Covenant then appeared showing up as a whole lot of solid white figures, with the landscape being a dull gray.
"Looks like we got ourselves a whole lotta' bad guys down there?" One pilot said. The Wingman chuckled and said, "Looks like we have to clean house before the convoy arrives."
"Right," the lead said, "I'm going in hot!" The two Hornets dipped and flew full speed at the mass of Covenant strafing them with .50 BMG rounds and missiles. The aliens yelled out in agony as the rounds ripped into them creating geysers of multi colored blood.
Down in the basement Flight Officer Ripley fired the last of her SMG ammo into the grunt that popped its head around the corner. Its body flopped down onto the pile of previously killed grunts.
She sat on top of the trap door where the civilians were held. She promised herself that if she was going down she would go down on top of the trap door in attempt to hide the door.
Chen and Dietrich were on either side of her in much more covered positions firing on the Covvies that came down the stairs. But then the brutes came.
Ripley watched helplessly as both Chen and Dietrich fell under the on slaught. She felt a sharp pain in her arm and looked down to see a spike protruding from it. She never got to see more, the butt of a rifle knocked her out cold.
Dyke fought like a man possessed. He moved like a Spartan through the mass of Covenant. Firing his rifle with one hand and slashing out with his knife in another. He was pulled out of the brawl by Pavlov, "Sir we have to fall back."
"We are cut off damn it!" Dyke shouted back, he was beginning to lose his cool. Pavlov looked around at the window and smiled, "Found a way out."
"Are you serious?" Webb groaned next to him. "Very," Dyke answered back pedaling towards the window space. He fired as he went. He took one look at the ground and then jumped. He landed in a tuck and roll and came out unscathed. Five figures landed around him, what was left of his platoon. He had no clue what had happened to the men on the first floor or the civvies, and he didn't have time to worry about them. Right now he needed to get his remaining men out.
Dyke and his five men picked themselves up off the ground and were met with a horrifying sight. At least two score Covenant surrounds them in a semi circle. The golden armored Brute Ultra leading them had a wicked smile across its face. It raised its hand to signal attack.
Suddenly it and half of the forty present were ripped to ribbons by machine gun fire. Dyke glanced up and like angels descending from heaven; two AV-14 Hornets flew down and were upon the group of Covenant.
To their right they heard the sounds of engines and the flashes of headlights. "It's the convoy!" one of the marines exclaimed. Sure enough the first vehicles in the convoy, two Warthogs came barreling down the street, running and gunning down any Covenant in their way. Following the pair of 'hogs were a line of Scorpion tanks followed by a trio of Armadillo APCs and a few more Warthogs.
The first warthogs and most of the tanks went past them running over the few Covenant in front of them. They went on to surround the building, effectively cutting them and the Covvies off.
The ramp to one of the Armadillos opened and a squad of marines came out. At their head Dyke recognized marine Sergeant Howard. Howard's men turned and fired at the multiple Covenant firing down upon them from the buildings, though with all the firepower coming from all the vehicles and the countless other marines, the aliens didn't have much breathing room.
Howard casually walked over to the cover Dyke and his men were behind and stretched out a hand, "Lieutenant Dyke?" Dyke shook his hand with exasperation in his voice, "Sergeant Howard, glad to see you guys made it."
A smile cracked across Howard's face; something rarely seen with the serious man, "Glad to be here, how about we get you guys outta here." He eyed the rest of his men, "That it?"
Dyke shook his head, "I had some more men and a handful of civvies on the bottom floors, but I don't think they made it." Howard looked at Dyke with a sullen face, but then suddenly glanced up at something behind Dyke, "Well i think some of them made it."
Dyke turned around to see one of the elderly men holding a MA5C and firing into a group of grunts yelling, "Oorah!" The women followed behind him, carrying between them Ripley and an injured Chen. The other elderly man came out firing a BR, covering their retreat.
The group made their way over to his position and Dyke cocked an eyebrow at the two old men; "Where the hell did you guys learn to shoot like that?"
One of them raised up his left sleeve to show a picture of a flaming HEV pod with a skull on the inside of it. "Ex- ODST fought in the Harvest Campaign and most of the 2530's before they discharged me at fifty eight."
The other one nodded and said, "I was their for First Contact on Harvest as part of the militia then enlisted right afterwards. Fought in Harvest before they discharged me as well, got my fair share of training from Sergeant's Johnson and Byrne."
Dyke stood their in a mixture of bewilderment and admiration. A beam Rifle shot nearly taking his head off snapped him back into reality. "We need to move!"
Howard nodded, "Right follow me." The procession proceeded forward towards the waiting APC's. They formed a circle around the civilians and wounded as they went. Pavlov took out the Jackal sniper that had zeroed in on their position out with a precise shot from his BR.
They piled into the last Armadillo. Howard tapped the last of his men defending the ramp on the shoulder signaling for him to come in. The ramp closed and the group was in complete darkness for a second before red emergency lights came on.
The Armadillos were equipped to hold around a dozen people. This one was stretching with about fifthteen thrown in, but it was worth it to save every life. Dyke looked around at the faces and noticed that the civilian man Hank was missing. "Hey where's Hank?"
The two little kids; who Dyke just noticed had puffy red eyes, suddenly broke out in tears. The older women bent down and comforted them as Chen explained. "He sacrificed himself to save us," Chen's face turned into dismay as he continued, "We were going to be overrun, then Hank came out from his ambush spot under the stairs and blasted his way through the Brutes. He told us to get the women and children out of here, he would lead them away. That was the last we saw of him."
The kids had stopped crying but Dyke felt their pain. He had originally come to this area with over thirty of the bravest men and women he had ever fought with. Now he was down to six, and all for what a simple apartment building. He would ask this question well after the battle of Manhattan, after the battle of Earth, hell even after the entire war was over. Was it worth it?
Authors Note: Alright let me start off by saying, I am so sorry for not updating for so long. My X box experienced RROD in mid October and I had been without a xbox for almost two months. I recently got it back in mid December and I got Call of Duty Black Ops as well. So put two and two together and you have one teenager too distracted with video games, school and regular teenage life to write fanfics. But fear not I am back. I will finish this Fanfic if it kills me. It is nearing the end and it shall be a good ending.
On another note I want to also apologize for the bad writing quality and shortness of this chapter. I guess playing too much video games makes a person lose their reading and writing skills slowly, but do not worry I will get back into the swing of things soon and I will probably rewrite this chapter in the near future. Once again thanks for reading and REVIEW!