Chapter Thirty-Five: On The Run

The lines between factions blurred the deeper into the forest we went. It was quiet at first, which I found strange, as I knew around us several hundred Marines were currently maneuvering to get into position – Mullen's batt to the left of us, Delaney's on the right, and Murphy's engineers coming in dead center. But the thickness of the trees here dampened the sound.

It was only when we reached the clearing that I saw why.

Torran and his Elites had no reaction. My aide, though – Gunnery Sergeant York – gave a small whistle beside me. "Can't say your plan didn't work, Colonel. This is…damn impressive."

"Thanks, Gage," I answered low, almost absently, because I wasn't even sure that was the correct response.

It was now that we got to truly see the effects of Willis's air strike earlier. Broken bodies and black craters and dark wisps of smoke filled the field ahead of us. Bits of metal were interspersed between the pools of red as well, indicating we hadn't just decimated the rebels in the area – many Prometheans had gone down, too.

The plan, despite its uncertainties, had been successful. So far. But although I was grateful for that, the gory scene of carnage made celebration impossible. Even though we'd succeeded, it was still terribly sad.

I paused for a moment at the thought – it wasn't something that would have even crossed my mind right after my captivity, and what I'd experienced at the hands of the rebs back on Puget. Maybe there was hope for me, for change, yet.

"Colonel? Are we to press the charge?" Torran asked, coming up on the other side of me.

Still a little lost, I nodded, gesturing to my security detail as well. "Let's move forward, Marines. We've got plenty of mop up to do. Stay sharp."

I nearly gagged inside my helmet when the sour air finally hit the filters. It took a moment for our systems to compensate. It made me queasy, if nothing else than because of how sick I'd been recently, controlled only by my periodic doses of meds. I had to swallow hard to keep the bile at bay and continue on.

Still awaiting targets from my husband, I hailed him again. "Hawk? How's it looking?"

"Almost done. Uploading hot spots now." I heard him take in a breath. "Be careful down there, Cooper."

"Will do."

I knew better than to let my guard down just because things were going well for us for once. This still wasn't over – the portal could change the tide of this fight at any minute. We had to finish this now, before any reinforcements arrived.

The hotbeds of enemy activity popped up on my HUD then, right on time. I motioned to my security detail to form up closer around me and pulled in Torran's team as well.

"We'll wait here for Major Murphy and his battalion before we head in, while we still have some cover," I said. Then I hailed the 8th Engineer's commander. "Jack, how's it looking?"

"I've received the updated map from Hawk, ma'am. Coming up on your six now."

"Excellent. We're on the move, then."

We pushed forward again just as I heard the sounds of Murphy's battalion – my former batt – moving in behind us. In short order our three groups had integrated, as we all slowed to make it through the field of bodies and debris. The Elites were quicker than us, taking longer strides through what was just alien corpses and torn metal to them.

"Do you feel for them, human?" Torran asked me suddenly.

I was caught off guard. "What?"

"These humans. Your brothers and sisters. Does their death upset you?"

I couldn't very well stop to collect my thoughts in the middle of a warzone, so I frowned. "I…I don't…it's complicated."

I'd told Sennu otherwise. I'd told her I wanted them dead, for what they'd done to me and Cal and others. But it was still hard.

Surprisingly, that seemed satisfactory to the Sangheili warrior, as he said nothing else.

By then, we'd reached the first pockets of survivors.

"Marines, take cover! We've got incoming!"

I shouted the order just as I ducked for cover myself – a large pile of robot-AI debris beside a shallow crater. It was odd to see the earth inside blackened and destroyed, while just a few feet away the bright grass and sparse flora remained. It was not unlike soldiers fighting in a war – some lived and some didn't, and the difference between them was often nothing more than dumb, blind luck.

I didn't have time to wax poetic in my head, though – the light rounds came in fast, almost quicker than I could slide in behind cover. What surprised me most wasn't that the rounds increased as we fired back – it was that they changed in type as well. Bullets. That meant rebs.

"They're really fighting side-by-side?" Murphy shouted over the COM channel, astonished.

"That's the idea!" I called back, crouching now as I brought my rifle to bear and squeezed the trigger.

My first target was a Crawler, racing through the beaten landscape ahead of the rest, leaping deftly over the wreckage in its path. I put an end to it mid-air with two tight bursts from my battle rifle. The metal sparked and exploded, becoming just more rubble crowding the field. It did stop the next enemy from approaching, however – it was a reb, human, who clearly hadn't been expecting the small detonation. He tripped over the remains of the blast, cartwheeled, and landed face-first in the grass. I shot him in the head before he could get back up.

As I searched for the next target, I saw Murphy suddenly come up beside me to share my cover. I turned to look at him.

"Murphy, what are you – "

"No worries, ma'am. Just passing through," he said, right before he waited a split-second for a pause in the firing to rise up again, sprinting away.

I watched briefly as he ran ahead, gunning down a string of smaller Promethean enemies with his SMG before ducking to reload, then taking down a trio of insurgents in quick succession. I looked over to my left and saw Torran doing the same on the other side of the small group we'd come upon. Guess there wasn't too much of a difference between humans and Sangheili after all. At least, not those two.

The thought made me grin.

"Marines, push up!" I yelled into the fray. "Follow Murphy and the Elite!"

For my part, I chose to stay back for now – I still had my own role to play, and I understood that that wasn't getting right into the thick of things anymore. Well…to a reasonable degree. I did keep an eye on the 8th Engineers' and Torran's team's progress on my HUD, however. After clearing out this pocket, they were headed on to the next.

On our flanks, Delaney and Mullen's batt were finally pushing through as well.

From my position, out of the main fighting now but still in the debris field, I didn't dare stand yet, or take off my helmet, but I did sit down in the dirt with my back up against the barrier. Rifle still in hand, I shut my eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. This was all still far from over, but I finally felt the weight of what had just occurred. Of what I'd orchestrated, and what we'd all accomplished together as a unit.

We'd damn near eliminated a whole joint rebel-Promethean force in a single, devasting attack. And once these pockets were gone, we'd finally reach the portal. And that would significantly turn the tide here on Sanghelios in our favor.

I came up to the site of the portal when all was said and done. It'd taken the rest of the day to clear the areas of the map where Willis had indicated resistance remained, but my battalions and Torran's group were quite thorough. Nothing breathing – besides us – was left on the field.

Rifle slung over my shoulder, I stepped over a large pile of broken robot-AIs – Crawlers and a few Watchers, from the looks of things – and went to stand beside the Sangheili team leader, Major Murphy, and Major Delaney – all of whom were already in conference.

"Well?" I asked when I arrived. "What's the hold-up here? Why isn't this place getting rigged?"

My XO said nothing, but Murphy gave Torran a hard stare. "Four Jaws over here doesn't want us to blow it up."

Torran scoffed. "We do not have four jaws, human. We have a four-hinged jaw."

"It's an expression, red belly."

Delaney piped up, "Actually, Jack, it's his armor that's red, not - "

"Oh, for fuck's sake! Stop it!"

All eyes – alien or otherwise – were suddenly on me. I ran a hand down my face to compose myself. Then I sighed and held out my hands at my sides.

"None of that matters, all right? Torran, would you please explain why you're not letting us blow this shit to kingdom come? I already cleared it with Sennu."

"Sennu does not have jurisdiction over this. It is a military matter. I am in charge."

"Okay. But my question still stands. Why?"

"This place…it means much to the Sangheili. To the keep. We must find a way to deactivate it without - "

I quickly shook my head. "There is no other way. I'm sorry, Torran, but we can't leave this backdoor open. You know that. It's bad news for you and for us."

"I cannot allow its destruction, Colonel."

The tall Sangheili warrior stepped closer – I supposed to be as intimidating as possible, but I refused to let it work. Instead, I looked up at him, meeting his gaze with an equally hard stare.

"Torran, if you want to make sure Vettel Keep is kept safe – that it remains thriving and alive – you don't have a choice." I gripped my rifle tighter. "Tomorrow, next week, an hour from now…hell, five minutes from now, a whole new unit of Prometheans or rebs or both can come walking through that portal." I threw my hands up, frustrated. "If we don't get rid of it, I don't know what the fuck we're doing here. Or why we just went through all this. More will come, you can bet on it. They'll replace the ones that fought today and we may not be able to get past them again."

"Fine. Propose something other than explosives."

"There is no other way," I repeated forcefully.

"The lieutenant colonel's right," I heard someone say behind us, and I turned to see my brother, dressed in ONI fatigues. He stepped forward, getting subtly closer to me in case things went sideways without warning, and added, "I discussed this previously with you and with Sennu, Torran. This was always the plan. We've got to do this now."

The Elite stared hard at both of us for a while before he spoke. "We have already lost much because of these attacks. Our sacred temple is gone."

"I know, Torran. So does my brother." I gestured back to Mark, then faced the Sangheili fighter again. "The thing you have to ask yourself is, are you going to end it?"

Finally Torran took a step back and let out a growl, and though I didn't lift my weapon, the sound alone made my hackles go way up. I didn't know if he was about to defy us, and Sennu, and our precarious alliance and attack, or if it was just a sound of borne of helpless anger – him venting frustration because he knew we were right.

"I do not wish to see more harm done to my world, nor to the keep in the future, if it should come to that," he responded. "Besides your rogue humans and their metal pets, we also have traitors among our own to think about. We cannot fight this war on so many fronts.

"So, you are correct, humans. It is better we end this part here, now."

I was relieved that the veteran Sangheili was able to see reason. I finally loosened my grip on my gun, then exchanged a concerned glance with Mark. We'd just dodged a bullet – diplomatically and maybe physically, too. Before the Elite could change his mind, I keyed my mike to enter the general channel. "Marines, let's rig the portal to blow and prepare to move out. Double time."

I could feel anxiousness building inside me as one of the demo teams from the Eighth Battalion finished getting the portal ready for detonation. Memories resurfaced of my time on Khan, where I'd been posted three years ago with my younger brother – when I'd ordered his group to do exactly what Murphy's Marines were doing now, and how I'd almost lost him. How even when we'd miraculously found Travis alive, so, so many others had remained dead and buried amongst the ruins.

I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey. You okay?"

I didn't answer right away. Instead I moved slightly out of reach and folded my arms across my chest. "Fine. Just…remembering some things."

Mark sighed and came to stand beside me, arms also crossed now. "Travis told me, you know. Once he'd recovered enough to send us a message." My brother reached out again, this time to pull me in for a quick side hug. "He never blamed you for it. Allison and I didn't, either. Said you did what you had to do that day, and that he was proud to have done his duty, too. I just wanted you to know that, you know, in case he never said." He released me and lifted his chin in the direction of the Eighth's Marines. "They'll be fine."

I nodded but didn't say anything for a time, until I thought of something. "What about Laraza?"

Mark shook his head. "I checked with Lloyd just before I got to the portal site. Not today, little sis. But we'll get 'im. This may be the last of the Prometheans, but we know it's not the last of the rebs."

"They'll be that much harder to find now, but I don't think this will stop them."

"No." He let out another sigh and bumped my shoulder good-naturedly. "You did good here today, kid. Enjoy the victory for a while."

And I did, truly. What we'd accomplished here today was nothing short of amazing. But with so many things still up in the air – personally, professionally – I found it hard to relax.

The tension in me didn't ease until the portal to Puget finally went up in smoke, in a great flash of red and orange and yellow and black. Although I didn't let it show in front of my detail, and Torran's group, I held my breath until I finally got the terse all-clear from Major Murphy.

"Colonel, we're done here. Heading to the RV."