This chapter is essentially a combination of the end of chapter 11, as well as the entirety of chapter 14 of the original version.
Chapter 8: Landfall
Heliopolis Station, High Orbit, Actium
May 6, 2545
0957
Spaatz
Spaatz mutely watched as the Covenant swarmed around the remains of JTF Byzas. His men were giving it their all, causing countless casualties among the attacking Covenant, but they were quickly becoming overwhelmed. More and more stations and units were going dark by the second as they were destroyed or otherwise rendered ineffective. It was not an easy thing to watch.
But the worse part of it all was, there wasn't anything Spaatz could do about it. This was the plan, after all. He needed the Covenant to break through at a spot of his choosing in order to tie them down to a single location so D'Amboise's forces could then pound them into oblivion. Otherwise, there was no telling what sort of damage they would be able to do.
But to sit here and watch his troops die and not even be able to send reinforcements…
Unexpectedly, there was a brilliant blue flash and his video feed of the battle suddenly disappeared.
"What the hell just happened!?" Spaatz demanded to know.
"Antimatter charge, sir!" Kanin reported. "Sensors are indicating an antimatter charge was just detonated somewhere within Byzas Station! Station is gone!"
Spaatz grimly hung his head, but nevertheless had to ask, "Are the Covenant aware of that fact!?"
"Slipspace rupture, detected."
Spaatz turned back to his tactical display in time to see an entire battle group of Covenant warships emerge just in front of JTF Byzas' area of responsibility. Without hesitating, they plowed into the melee and began firing on all UNSC ships and assets still remaining.
"I would say the answer to that is pretty evident, sir," Kanin mutely replied as all UNSC forces scrambled to reorganize in the face of the renewed assault.
Spaatz sighed.
"Order whatever remains of JTF Byzas to fall back," he commanded as he watched a series of Covenant corvettes pull up and begin launching all sorts of drop pods and dropships to the surface. "And alert all aerial and ground commands: they have a lot of incoming."
XXXXX
Actium, May 6, 2545
1000
"Orbital Defense Command to NORTHCOM, be advised we're picking up massive amounts of Covenant drop pods and dropships inbound to your AO. ETA, two minutes to impact."
"Copy that ODC, we see them too. Interrogative: approximately where are those craft going to touch down, over?"
"Trajectory of all incoming places them as landing within the southern to western metropolitan areas of the city of Byzas within the Thracia Province, over."
"Solid copy, ODC. Any idea on numbers?"
"Uh...satellite network is mostly down, but estimates place Covenant landing force at approximately several thousand strong within the first wave, with far more to come."
"Understood ODC. NORTHCOM, out. Actium Northern Command to all military headquarters: Covenant landings detected in the southern, south western, and western Byzas metropolitan areas. All military commands are hereby ordered to immediately counterattack - do not allow the Covenant to obtain a lodgement!"
XXXXX
Byzas, Thracia Province
Marcus
SWOOOOOOSHHHH WABOOM WABOOM!
The ground shook as more and more Covenant drop pods landed within the city limits. Looking directly south, maybe less than a thousand meters away, Marcus could see smoke rising from where the pods were hitting. The crackling of automatic weapons fire could be heard as the nearest units immediately responded to the Covenant landings.
Marcus hunched down behind the wheel as much as he could. Despite sitting inside a heavy armored vehicle, he had never felt more fragile, more vulnerable in his life. He was still trying to figure out what had happened. One moment, he and his new team were being sent south to the city of Byzas to supply some anti-air units with some more ammo, the next, the Covenant were making landfall less than seven blocks away! How!? Wasn't the Navy supposed to keep them back? Or, if not them, then the Air Force!?
Where the heck were all their ships!?
"Es una cosa muy seria, es una cosa muy seria," Dresden was muttering from the seat next to him.
"THEO! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU SAYING!?" Orlović nervously demanded from his spot in the turret ring.
"It's something old-world American World War Two photographer Robert Capa would say," Dresden yelled back. "'Es una cosa muy seria.' It means 'this is a very serious business' in Spanish!"
"NO SHIT! Goddammit, EVERYBODY, GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY!"
"Marcus, blow your horn, see if you can't get these civilians out of our way," Dresden ordered, and Marcus nervously did as he was told. Dozens - if not hundreds – of civilians were running down the roads and sidewalks in the opposite direction, trying to flee the coming onslaught. Marcus was tempted to join them; and probably would have if it weren't for the fact his HEMTT was currently hemmed in between a Byzas City Police car and several UNSC Army Warthogs.
"This is Major General Alexander Gilbert of the UNSC Army's 53rd Armored Division," the military officer who had drafted them was saying over the radio. "I want defensive lines and road blocks set up on every intersection of 5th Street, Hague Street, and 9th Street! Designate them as Phase Lines Apache, Iroquois, and Mohawk! Use whatever personnel you've got on hand! We have got to contain this situation before the Covenant can get their bearings!"
Glancing in his side mirrors, Marcus could see the two-star general that was riding shotgun in the Warthog directly behind them toss his radio aside, then began angrily yelling something at the person sitting behind him, though Marcus was too far away to hear what it was.
"Oh god, ohgod, ohgodohgod," Marcus couldn't help but mutter under his breath.
"Breathe, Marcus, breathe," he heard Dresden urging him over the sound of his increasingly frantic mutterings.
"Sarge? We're not going to die, are we?" Marcus had to ask, even if he was afraid of what the answer might have been.
"Not on my watch," Dresden replied, sounding so confident that Marcus couldn't help but relax just a bit. "Listen, Marcus, it's going to be okay: we're going to set up a series of defensive lines to hold back the Covenant long enough for every single Shortsword bomber on this colony to show up and blow them all to hell. All you need to do is relax, breathe, and do exactly what I tell you. Can you do that for me, Marcus?"
Marcus took a deep, ragged breath, and tried to relax before bobbing his head. "Yes, sir, I think I can do that."
"Good man!" Dresden jauntily said, giving Marcus a friendly slap on the shoulder just as they heard Gilbert ordering, "Striker Actual to all Striker Victors: halt, halt, halt! We're setting up headquarters, right here!"
"Alright, Marcus, pull the Rig to the side," Dresden immediately ordered. "Grab your rifle and dismount! Orlović! DISMOUNT!"
Bobbing his head, Marcus popped open his door and hopped out, almost falling to the ground as he landed on his wobbly legs. Turning around, he reached to remove his rifle from its mount in the door, nearly dropping it twice in a row, before gripping onto it tightly, as if it could magically teleport him away from this area. He hurriedly moved to join Dresden and Orlović on the sidewalk as the soldiers in the Warthogs began unpacking their vehicles and setting up weapons, radios, computers, and other electronic equipment.
As they worked, Marcus looked around at the intersection they had stopped at. To his surprise, a number of soldiers were already there, setting up a road block barricade made out of a combination of abandoned civilian cars and sandbags.
BOOM!
Marcus nearly pissed himself in fright at the sound of a low explosion going off nearby, and he glanced around only to spot some sort of tank that he had somehow missed when pulling up, sitting in the middle of a side road. The tank's single barrel was pointed straight up, practically at a ninety degree angle, and as Marcus watched, they suddenly fired again.
BOOM!
"160mm mortar!"
Marcus jumped once more as Dresden seemed to just appear beside him. "What?"
"That's an M1121 self-propelled 160mm heavy mortar!" Dresden repeated, pointing at the tank. "It's capable of lobbing a forty kilogram shell that's got more explosive power than a 155mm howitzer some seven klicks away! That's a lot of firepower right there!"
"Fuck yeah!" Orlović cheered from nearby. "Hope these damn cannon cockers kill them all!"
Marcus couldn't help but nod in agreement.
"SERGEANT DRESDEN!"
Marcus flinched and looked around wildly at the call, only to see Gilbert gesturing at Dresden.
"Sergeant Dresden! Put your HEMTT with the rest of the barricade, it's no good to us now!" Gilbert barked, and Marcus immediately moved to obey, but Dresden quickly stopped him.
"Its okay, Billy will get it!" he yelled to be heard over the increasing sounds of fighting in the distance. "You come with me: let's go see what else the General wants us to do!"
He gestured for Marcus to follow him as he stepped off the sidewalk and headed over to Gilbert, who in turn had wandered over to where the soldiers who had arrived before them had assembled.
"General Gilbert, commanding officer of the 53rd Armored! Who's in charge here?"
"That would be me, sir!" among the group setting up the barricade, a young woman raised her hand and she immediately hurried over. "2nd Lieutenant Zahara, 1st Battalion, 109th Infantry Regiment of 1st Brigade, sir!"
"What's the situation here, Lieutenant?"
"I got elements of my mechanized infantry platoon, along with elements of my forward support company! We're hitting the Covenant DZ with everything we got, but those drop pods are hitting the ground faster than we can kill them! Covies have already overrun first, third, and fourth streets, and we're trying to hold fifth! We're setting up a tertiary defensive position here, as well as every single intersection on this road, fifteen blocks in either direction!"
"Alright, as you were!" Gilbert barked and Zahara nodded, before running back to her men. Another soldier, one that Marcus recognized as Gilbert's driver, came running up.
"Sir, with all due respect, I think we're setting up your headquarters a little too close to the frontlines. May I suggest we pull back at least another four or five blocks?"
"Negative, Sergeant Major! We need all the soldiers we can get our hands on manning these phase lines, and that includes us! We also need someone of sufficient rank to pull the chain on all the firepower we can get onto that drop zone and as fortunate has it, the Covenant decided to drop right next to my HQ! No, it's got to be us, but I'll pull back as soon as one of the brigade commanders makes it here and relieve me! In the meantime, tell Colonel Hudgens to get on the radio and start getting all the air and artillery support we can get our hands on! Everyone else, start reinforcing these barricades! BPD!"
Marcus looked around to see one of the Byzas city cops that had been leading their convoy come running up.
"Yes, sir?" the officer said, sounding scared but determined nonetheless.
"Officer Riddle! Get these civilians out of my line of fire!"
"On it, sir!"
Riddle ran off, and Dresden seemed to take that as a sign for him to step up.
"General, sir!" he respectfully yelled. "Where do you want us?" He gestured at himself and Marcus.
"You militiamen got any more weapons besides that gimpy of yours?"
"Only small arms, sir! We're logistical support - 88M. Truck drivers!"
"What about combat training?"
"I've got combat experience, sir, but not my men!"
Marcus could see Gilbert nodded before he gestured at Riddle's wake. "In that case, get your gimpy set up on the barricade, then I want you and your men helping the BPD, Sergeant! Direct these civilians to safety!"
"Yes, sir! Where're we directing the civilians to?"
"Back thataway! My chief of staff has got some buses coming to evacuate them! Just get them out of my line of fire!"
"Sir!"
Dresden grabbed a hold of Marcus' arm and dragging him a bit away. "Hey! I'm going to go help Billy set up real quick, okay! You go help Officer Riddle! I'll be right back!"
"Wait!" Marcus cried out before Dresden could leave. "What am I supposed to do!?"
"Whatever Riddle tells you!" Dresden called back as he dashed away.
Marcus shivered and looked around. Maybe it was just his imagination, but the roar of gunfire and incoming drop pods seemed to be growing louder by the second, while the stream of civilians didn't seem any smaller than it was a few minutes ago. He hurried over to Riddle, who was standing nearby talking to another officer and what appeared to be an armed civilian.
"Where are we supposed to bring them, Kingsley?" Riddle was asking her fellow officer.
"Just get them over the military barricade! We got city buses coming by in a few minutes one block down to pick them up, and deliver them straight to the evacuation zones!"
"Roger that, LT!"
Kingsley ran off and Riddle threw one last dirty look at the armed civilian before turning to run off. Before she could leave, Marcus hastily stepped up.
"E- excuse me, Officer?" Marcus couldn't prevent his voice from cracking and he flushed with embarrassment as both Riddle and the armed civilian turned to stare at him. "I'm, uh, I'm supposed to help you? With the civilians?"
There was a pause before the armed civilian immediately started laughing. "Jesus, we really are scrapping the bottom of the barrel, aren't we? Have your balls even dropped, kid?"
"Shin, if you're not going to help, you don't get to talk," Riddle snapped. She glanced at Marcus, looking him up and down, before nodding. "What's your name?"
"Marcus – I… I mean, Private Olsen."
"Alright, Private Olsen, come with me!"
Marcus nervously nodded his head and followed Riddle as she vaulted over the barricade and ran towards the nearest group of civilians.
"HEY!" he heard her screamed. "EVACUATE THIS WAY!"
She gestured over her shoulder. At once, a group of civilians turned and ran towards her.
"Come on!" she yelled, urging them over the barricade. "Keep on moving this way, this way!"
One young lady carrying a small child in her arms and holding onto the hand of another paused as she ran by.
"Where are we supposed to go once we're through!?" she asked over the sound of her daughter's crying.
"City buses are coming to pick everyone up and deliver you directly to the evacuation zone!" Riddle yelled. "Go down one more block!"
"Thank you! Jason, come with mommy!"
"Hang on, I got you! Olsen, help me!"
Watching as Riddle swoop down to grab the boy, Marcus stared awkwardly at the lady, wondering how he was supposed to help her. Fortunately she seemed to notice his hesitation.
"Can you grab my bags?" she asked as she struggled to hold onto her crying daughter.
Marcus nodded and eagerly grabbed her bags. Together they all dash over to the barricade where Marcus watched as Riddle lifted the boy onto the top and start to lower him to the ground, only she appeared to be too short to reach.
"Hey! Someone grab this kid from me!" he heard her yell. "HEY!"
Someone must have heard her because she abruptly let go of the kid and gestured for Marcus to step up. Marcus hurriedly dropped the bags onto the ground and moved to help the lady and her daughter over, but he couldn't do it with his rifle in hand so he quickly leaned it against the barricade.
"Shin! We got two people coming over: woman and child!" Riddle yelled as Marcus carefully helped the lady and her child over.
"Got her!" Marcus heard Shin yell back.
"You finished?" Riddle impatiently demanded as Marcus quickly handed the bags over. "We got more people to help! Come on!"
Nodding, Marcus followed Riddle as she ran back out onto the street screaming, "Everybody! Come this way! THIS WAY!"
Another large crowd of civilians turned in her direction and started streaming her way as she gestured wildly at them. Marcus stepped aside to allow them room to pass, looking up in alarm as the sound of the fighting in the distance was rapidly growing in intensity.
SWOOOOOOSHHHH WABOOM!
Marcus stumbled as more Covenant drop pods came screaming in, causing everything to shake as they hit the ground and sent plumes of smoke up into the air. Looking up, he saw a number of civilians fall to the ground, including one older looking lady who dropped the suitcases she was awkwardly carrying, one of which burst open upon hitting the ground and spewing its contents all over the road.
"Crap!" he yelped and glanced at Riddle for guidance, but she was distracted helping someone else. Realizing it was up to him, Marcus dashed over to the lady to help out.
The lady was on her hands and knees, desperately trying to recover all her stuff, but it wasn't easy as another crowd of civilians were running by and on the verge of panicking, they kept accidently kicking her stuff out of the way.
Shoving his way through the crowd, Marcus dropped to his knees to try and help the lady out. The lady looked up, noticed Marcus' uniform, and seemed to perk up.
"Thank you, Soldier!" she yelled.
"No problem, ma'am!" Marcus automatically yelled back, until he noticed what he was actually throwing back into the lady's bag: squeaky toys, fancy costumes, cans of designer dog food...
Looking at the three suitcases the lady was carrying, Marcus realized that at least two of the three appeared to be packed with all the same things.
"No offense, ma'am, but I don't think you're really going to need all this stuff!" Marcus hesitantly told her.
"Oh, they're not for me dearie, they're for Mr. Pickles!" the lady lifted up her last bag, causing Marcus to realize it wasn't a suitcase like he had originally thought, but some sort of carrying bag for a small lap dog.
"Ma'am, I don't think there's going to be that much room on the transports," Marcus said, frantically racking his brain, trying to remember all the movies he had seen that involved evacuation transports. "I don't think you're going to be able to bring all these bags with you!"
"But Mr. Pickles needs them! You see, he's got a very weak stomach, and can only eat specific types of food, so this bag has all his grain-free salmon that he loves so much! We don't know if we're going to be sent somewhere cold or someplace warm, so I had to bring his jacket that he looks so cute in! And –"
SWOOSH SWOOSH SWOOSH!
Marcus reflexively dove for the ground, and then looked up as two military VTOLs passed by overhead, firing rockets in the direction of the landing site. Emptying their rocket pods, they started to turn away, but then a bright green streak came up from the ground and smashed into one of them. The VTOL immediately caught fire and went spiraling to the ground, disappearing behind some of the buildings and Marcus could swear he heard screaming.
The other VTOL immediately made a hasty retreat, and Marcus shivered in terror and turned back to the old lady in time to hear her say, " – and these are his treats for being such a good boy!"
Marcus stared in disbelief at her. Here they were, in the middle of a full scale invasion, and she was talking about dog treats?
"Ma'am!" Marcus found himself yelling, cutting the lady off. "Listen to me! You cannot take all this stuff with you!"
And then, in a terror induced fit of anger, he grabbed her bags and hurtled them to the side.
"Take your dog and run! NOW!" Marcus demanded.
The lady drew herself up in a huff.
"How rude," she chided, instantly making Marcus feel guilty, but thankfully, did as she was told. Gathering her pet dog, the lady ran off in the direction of the barricade.
Marcus wasn't able to dwell on his guilt for long as the sounds of the fighting continued to grow, not just in intensity, but proximity. And yet, somehow the stream of civilians headed his way had yet to die down. In fact, their numbers seemed to be growing. How could there be this many people in the city?
"SIR! SIR!"
Marcus' head snapped around as a young man, who looked to about thirteen or fourteen, came running up to him.
"Sir, give me a gun!" he demanded. Marcus stared blankly at him.
"What?"
"Give me a gun, I want to help out!" the man, or rather boy, eagerly demanded. "I can help!"
"Er… I don't… think I can do that, kid," Marcus hesitantly replied.
"TOMMY! TOMMY!"
Another man came charging up the street with a young girl in tow. Based on how similar he looked to the boy, Marcus felt it was safe to assume this was the young boy's father.
"Tommy, what are you doing? We have to leave, now!"
"You leave dad!" Tommy insisted. "I'm staying! I can help out! Just give me a gun! Granddad showed me how to shoot a gun once, I know what I'm doing! I can help!"
"Tommy, these are professional soldiers out there and they do not need a little kid running around distracting them!"
"I'm not a little kid, dad! I'm fourteen; I'm probably going to be drafted soon enough, so why does it matter if I start a few years early?"
"God dammit Tommy, this is not up for discussion! We are leaving, right now!"
"Tommy, we need to leave!" his little sister cried out.
"No!" Tommy insisted. "I. Can. Help! Sir, just give me a gun!"
"Sir, no!" Tommy's dad yelled before Marcus could say anything. "You cannot give this boy a gun! I am his legal guardian and I am not giving permission for him to get drafted!"
"It's not up to you dad!"
Marcus stared at the two civilians as Tommy continued to argue with his family. He wasn't sure of what to do. Honestly, he was half tempted to give Tommy his gun and let him fight on his behalf, and Marcus knew that thought should have filled him with shame, but the truth was it was taking all of Marcus' resolve not to start running for the evacuation zone right now.
Fortunately, it was at this point Riddle came running up.
"What's going on here?" she demanded to know and Marcus gratefully ceded control.
"Officer, give me a gun! I can help fight!" Tommy immediately said before his dad could say a word.
"What? Are you out of your mind? No!" Riddle immediately said without hesitation.
"But I can help - !"
"LISTEN!" Riddle loudly said. "I don't have time for this! Kid, no I'm not giving you a gun! This is not a video game, you don't have the training or the equipment to hope to stand against the Covenant! Go with your dad and get out of here!"
"Tommy, come on!" his sister insisted, tugging on his hand, but Tommy refused to relent.
"I don't have to have a gun then!" Tommy persisted. "I can help out in other ways! I can be like, a stretcher bearer or something! Or a… a powder monkey! Yeah! I can give you guys ammo and stuff when you run out!"
"No means no kid!" Riddle screamed, even though Marcus couldn't help but be a bit jealous at the kid's resolve.
BRAKKABRAKKABRAKKA!
All five of them jumped in surprise at the sound of a very big gun overhead. Marcus looked up to see some sort of military attack jet ejecting flares and pulling out a strafing run.
"You see that!?"
Marcus turned to see Riddle pointing at the jet. "That's what we need more than infantry! So unless you can fly one of those things, the only thing you're going to be is a liability! GO! Get out of here!"
Marcus could see Tommy's resolve was weakening, but to Marcus' surprise, rather than give in, he turned to look at Marcus with a questioning look on his face.
"Whoa, don't drag me into this!" Marcus automatically blurted out.
The look of pure incredulity Riddle gave him immediately made Marcus regret his answer, but Riddle didn't say anything and instead, shouted, having evidently lost her patience, "Kid, get out of here. NOW!"
At that, Tommy finally gave in and allowed his father to drag him away. As soon as they were out of earshot, Riddle whirled around so quickly, Marcus found himself reflexively jumping back.
"Are you serious? That was your answer?" she angrily snapped. "Are you out of your mind!? We're not letting a kid fight for us!"
Marcus stammered but fortunately didn't have a chance to say anything as Riddle's head suddenly snapped up, and Marcus instinctively looked to see what she had saw.
The stream of civilians was finally slowing down, but in their stead, a large amount of uniformed soldiers were coming down the street. It was getting a bit harder to see as all the smoke and dust from the landing site was beginning to filter through the streets, but as they drew closer, Marcus could see they were all wounded in some way or another.
"Come on!" Riddle yelled and without a thought or care for her safety, ran towards the incoming soldiers.
"Come on guys, come on!" Marcus heard her yell, but Marcus, frozen in fear, just stood there as the soldiers began streaming past.
All sorts of soldiers were being carried on stretchers, or their buddies' backs. Others were capable of walking, but they had to be supported by their comrades. Some of the soldiers' injuries had already been dressed and bandaged up, but many of them hadn't. There were all sorts of third degree burns, vicious gashes, and there was at least one guy whose entire leg had been blown off. Marcus tried to avoid staring at some of the more horrific wounds, but given how many of them there were, it was almost impossible to avoid.
"CAN I GET SOME HELP HERE!?"
Marcus looked up to see Riddle run towards two wounded soldiers, one of which was leaning heavily on the other, staggering down the street. She grabbed the other arm of the wounded soldier and wrapped it around her shoulders, trying to pick up some of the weight, but she was too small and the three of them nearly fell over.
Feeling immensely guilty, Marcus forced his feet to move, hurriedly dashing over and tapping Riddle on the shoulder. She quickly moved out of the way to let him take over. The wounded man, whose face was covered in blood and had a number of bandages wrapped around his abdomen, barely reacted.
"Thank you!" the other man called out, and Marcus glanced in his direction, only to almost immediately puke: he hadn't noticed at first, but evidently at some point, the soldier had been hit in the side of his face, causing his eyeball to pop out of its socket, but not severing it, leaving it to hang off the man's face by the optical nerve.
"How bad is the fighting?" he heard Riddle asked as he did his best not to lose the contents of his stomach.
"I don't know!" the soldier admitted. "It's getting harder to see! All those drop pods keep throwing more and more smoke into the air!"
"RUN! RUN!"
Marcus jerked in alarm, only to see a crazed looking soldier staggering down the street, blood streaming out of his ears, screaming at the top of his lungs.
"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" he was screeching. "THEY'RE GOING TO MURDER YOU! THEY'RE GOING TO MURDER US ALL! THE REAPER IS HERE! DEATH HAS COME FOR US ALL! THE APOCALYPSE IS UPON US! RUN! RUN!"
Marcus could see a couple of medics emerge from the barricade and run towards the soldier. Together, they managed to tackle the man, and began to quickly dress his wounds.
"RUN! SAVE YOURSELVES!" the man hollered, even as one of the medic injected him with something.
"REPENT! REPENT!" he continued to sob as Marcus walked past.
"Shin! I need help!" Riddle called out as they reached the barricade. Marcus could see Shin extending his arms and he quickly passed the wounded soldier over to him, waiting until he had grabbed him before letting go.
"Thanks! Good luck guys!" The other man called out, even as he clambered over the barricade.
"You too!" Riddle yelled at the departing soldier's back.
SWOOOOOOSHHHH WABOOM!
Marcus let out a loud squeak as another few Covenant drop pods came screaming in, this time coming the closest they had yet so far. As he threw a nervous glance down the street, he was startled to find that the stream of wounded soldiers had ended, and instead, there were now unwounded soldiers running down the street.
"Fall back!" he heard one yell while another turned around and fired an extended burst from the hip back up the street. At this point, the smoke had reached the barricade, making it impossible to see what the soldier was shooting at.
"Marcus!"
Marcus jumped as a hand grabbed his shoulder, and he turned to see Dresden standing behind him.
"Come on, we got to get behind that barricade, the Covenant are coming!"
Marcus nodded and tossed himself over the barricade, and found himself wedged between Dresden and Lieutenant Zahara.
"Copy that Hoplite 1-1!" the woman was yelling into her radio. "Fall back to tertiary positions, now! General Gilbert! Secondary defense have fallen! There's nothing standing between us and the Covenant now!"
"Got it! All soldiers! Take up firing positions! Ready your weapons, but don't fire until I give the word!"
Marcus looked around as a number of soldiers dashed up to the barricade and began setting up, including Orlović, who threw himself onto the ground on the other side of Dresden.
There was a loud shriek of metal on asphalt, and Marcus looked up to see the self-propelled mortar that had been sitting on the side road lower its cannon and immediately back up, retreating down the road.
"Look at this bullshit!" Orlović screamed. "The fucking tank is leaving us! It's fucking abandoning us! FUCKING PUSSIES!"
"It's not a tank, it's a self-propelled mortar, and even if it wasn't completely out of ammo, it still wouldn't do us any good on the frontline!" Dresden yelled. "No, we're on our own for now! Get your weapons ready and prepare to defend yourself! …Marcus! Where the hell is your rifle!?"
Marcus started and racked his brains.
"Um… I don't remember," he sheepishly admitted. Dresden and Orlović stared at him.
"Are you fucking serious, dude!?" Orlović exploded. "We got Covenant less than two blocks away – what were you going to do, shout at them!?"
"Orlović, enough," Dresden insisted though Marcus was terrified to see he was frowning. "Give him your rifle."
"You need both hands for the gimpy," he snapped before Orlović could protest, "and we need all the guns we can get. Give it to him."
"I better get this fucking back, dude," Orlović grumbled. "Don't fucking drop it!"
Marcus mutely took the offered rifle, doing his best not to drop it with his shaking hands. He opened his mouth to offer his thanks when Gilbert suddenly yelled, "MAKE READY!"
Feeling like his heart was suddenly in his throat, Marcus quickly looked downrange. The street was now completely covered in smoke and dust, limiting visibility to maybe about fifteen meters. The sound of fighting continued to ring out, but it was muted, as if it was taking place several blocks away. Even the sound of the incoming drop pods seemed to have died down.
"Steady!" Gilbert yelled out, but his voice seemed somewhat tempered.
Marcus strained his ears, praying upon praying there wasn't anyone actually coming, and that this was just one giant mistake. Somehow, it didn't make him feel any better when he realized he couldn't hear anything but the sound of blowing wind.
Then, he heard it: the rhythmic thumping of hundreds of feet charging straight towards them...
"raaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Emerging from the smoke came all sorts of monstrous creatures from deep within the Covenant Empire! Howling, screaming, and waving all sorts of weapons around, they charged headlong straight at the assembled UNSC forces.
"FIRE!"
The entire line exploded as every single soldier simultaneously opened up with everything they had!
Marcus immediately dropped Orlović's rifle to slap both his hands over his ears as the noise of all the gunfire alone left him devastated. He found himself automatically curling up in a terror-struck ball as fighting exploded all around him.
"Billy! Get that Jackal on the right!" Dresden was screaming.
"Oh shit, Elite, ELITE! GET THAT SON OF A BITCH!"
BAM! BAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAM!
"GRENADE!"
"Argh! I'm hit! MEDIC!"
Screams and gunfire and explosions all began to intermingle around Marcus, so much so he couldn't figure who was saying what and who was shouting. A small part – a very small part – was tempted to get up and see what was going on, but that part was drowned out by the rest of his brain, urging him to find some covers to hide under.
"I want fire superiority!" he heard Gilbert screaming in the background. "Pour it on them!"
"Get that slippery bastard with a grenade!"
"Jesus Christ, they keep coming!"
"Die motherfuckers, die- ah, shit! Theo, I'm reloading! COVER ME!"
"FRAG OUT!"
There was a muffled explosion and Marcus could feel the heat on his face. Then, someone grabbed his shoulder.
"Come on, Private! Stand up!"
The face of Lieutenant Zahara suddenly appeared over him.
"Get on your feet, soldier!" she was screaming. "Get up, Pri- GUK!"
Marcus let out a loud scream of terror as a pink needle suddenly speared Zahara right through the throat, and exited out the other side. Blood began gushing from both holes as Zahara bonelessly collapsed to the ground, a look of surprise and shock plastered across her face.
"NO! PLEASE, NO!" Marcus screamed. He smelled something foul coming from himself and he was pretty sure he just soiled himself, but he couldn't bring himself to care. "I wanna go home! I WANNA GO HOME!"
"Gah! I'm hit low!"
"Fuck, fuck, he got me in the arm, that fucking prick!"
"Sniper! Red compound, on the roof, on the roof! Behind that snow bank! Nail his ass!"
"Mama Goose, Mama Goose, fire mission, over!"
"Get some! Get some! RAHHH!"
People continued to scream and shout and cry and fight all around Marcus, but he couldn't bring himself to help out, frozen with fear as he was. Out of the corner of his eye, he was vaguely aware of someone running up and awkwardly dragging Zahara's body closer so that she was in the shadow of the barricade, before that same figure turned to Marcus and said something, only he couldn't hear what it was so he shook his head and refused to move in the hopes that the monsters wouldn't get him, they wouldn't get him, ohgodthemonsterswerecoming-
The left side of his face exploded in pain and he felt his head snapping to the side. Touching his face, he suddenly realized he'd been slapped, and he stared in astonishment at Officer Riddle, who was crouched right in front of him.
"Hey!" he heard her yelled sounding surprisingly calm despite the situation. "I'm Officer Selene Riddle, Byzas Police Department! What's your name, Soldier!?"
"O… Olsen. Private Olsen." Marcus was tempted to point out this wasn't the first time they were meeting, but his brain refused to formulate the words.
"Hey, nice to meet you Private Olsen! Listen, I need your help! I don't have the medical training to deal with this!" she yelled, pointing at Zahara. "We got to get her to a hospital, otherwise she's going to die, but I can't pick her up by myself! I need your help! Can you do that?"
Marcus blankly stared at her. For some reason, it felt like his brain was suddenly made of molasses.
"'A hospital?'" he asked, feeling like that was a word he should know but for some reason, his brain wasn't making the connection.
"Yes! A hospital! You know, a, uh... a MASH?"
Marcus blinked. Wasn't MASH a TV show? Something about an Army hospital unit? Why was Riddle bring this up now, of all times? What did she want?
"Do you mean… a hospital?" Marcus hazarded a guessed.
For some reason, Marcus got the feeling Riddle really wanted to roll her eyes just then, but she somehow refrained. "Yes! A hospital! Come on, we need to go!"
A hospital. Hospitals were in the rear. The rear was where it was safe. Yes!
Marcus leapt to his feet and ran over to Zahara.
"Grab her shoulders!" Riddle commanded, grabbing Zahara by the legs. Together they lifted the body up and started heading down the block. They were making good headway when the sound of heavy thumping filled the air.
"HUNTERS!" someone screamed and Marcus turned around to see several massive creatures charging down the street straight towards the barricade. Each creature looked like one of the armored knights from old, only these things were about three to four meters tall, had bright orange skin, were completely clad in dark blue armor, and while they had some tower shields strapped to their arms, instead of swords, they had humongous arm cannons.
The soldiers manning the barricade all scattered as the Hunters smashed into it, cutting through the cars like a hot knife through butter. One unfortunate soldier found himself landing right between one of the Hunter's legs, and he quickly raised his rifle and emptied the magazine, only to have all the bullets bounce off. In retaliation, the Hunter lifted his shield and swiftly brought it down on the man's head. All Marcus heard was a terror-filled scream before it was abruptly cut off as the shield literally cut the man vertically in half.
At that sight, Marcus lost whatever resolve he had left.
"FUCK! THIS!" he screamed, dropping Zahara's body and running in the opposite direction. Behind him, he could hear the Hunters firing their weapons.
BOOOOSSSSHHHHH! BOOOOOSSSSHHHH!
"MARCUS, LOOK OUT!" someone screamed.
Marcus glanced over his shoulder. The last thing he saw was a stream of radiative green fire headed his way.
BOOOOOSSSSHHHH!
General Notes:
Old-World American: in canon, the United States of America no longer exists, having been absorbed into a new political entity known as the "United Republic of North America," which not only consists of the remains of the U.S.A, but also that of Canada and Mexico. Because of that, I figured in speech, "American" would refer to citizens and residents of the new URNA, whereas "old-world American" would refer specifically to citizens of the former United States.
Robert Capa: is a real historical figure. As a war time photographer, he is most famous for being the only civilian photographer to land on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944 (D-Day) where he managed to capture eleven photographs of the fighting that took place on Omaha Beach that day. According to Capa himself, he actually captured over a hundred pictures that day, except all but eleven were accidentally destroyed during the developing produce by an overly excited staff member. However, that claimed has been called into question in recent times, and it has been suggested that Capa only actually captured the eleven photographs, and the story regarding the staff member is false.
M1121 Self-Propelled Mortar: this is not a canon vehicle. As the name implies, it's intended to be a self-propelled heavy mortar with a single barrel and turret mounted on a Scorpion MBT chassis similar to the real-world Soviet Union 2S9 Nona or the Finnish NEMO system.
A note on the 160mm mortar: in real life, there have only been three countries that have built and or operated 160mm mortars: the Soviet Union (and Russia,) Finland, and Israel. There admittedly isn't much of a point to them in the current era because while they are capable of lobbing a shell with as much explosive power as a 155mm howitzer, 160mm mortars don't have nearly the range nor accuracy, and the entire system still weighs close to 2500 to 3000 pounds (about 1170 to 1300 kilograms) which, while making it lighter than most 152/155mm howitzers, is still too heavy to move around easily. However, they seemed cool to me so I decided to throw them in.
Gimpy: nickname for a "general-purpose machine gun," or "GPMG." This is actually a British Army term.
MASH: in the US Army, MASH stands for "Mobile Army Surgical Hospital" that was first developed in August of 1945, but it didn't see major use until the Korean War. After the war, a surgeon by the name of Hiester Hornberger Jr., under the pen name of Richard Hooker, decided to write a novel using his experiences in a MASH unit during the war titled MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. The novel was adopted into a film titled M*A*S*H in 1970 that proved to be a critical hit, and was later adapted into famous TV series M*A*S*H. As for the actual MASH, the last MASH unit was deactivated in 2006 and replaced by a similar unit known as a combat support hospital (or CSH.)
In the Halo Universe, I figured there was probably a remake of the classic show at some point, just updated so it's set during the Human-Covenant War (and containing far more ONI approved propaganda,) even if the UNSC Army itself probably doesn't use the term.
Change Log:
Marcus:
- Officer Selene Riddle, Shin, and Kingsley have all been relegated to "cameo" roles.
- Marcus is in the city of Byzas proper, as opposed to being south of the city.
- The first two-thirds of the chapter is essentially a copy of chapter 14, updated so it reads from Marcus' POV as opposed to Selene's.
- Colonel Paxton of the Provincial Militia has been replaced by Major General Alexander Gilbert of the 53rd Armored Division. One of things I felt I was doing wrong in the original version was that I was, in a sense, "de-emphasizing" the role of the UNSC Army's 53rd Armored Division in the battle. Given that the 53rd AD is one of the only canon Army units that actually has a major backstory in the extended Halo universe, I decided that wasn't the most appropriate course of action so I decide to merge some minor units under the 53rd AD blanket.
Given the grand scale conflict I have in mind for this story, the division will inevitably adopt a smaller role (as a single division isn't going to cut it,) but for now, I'm going to do what I can to insert them here and there.
- Instead of background character "Private Wilks" having a mental breakdown, its Marcus.
- Instead of Selene getting knocked out at the end, it's Marcus.