Chapter 7
Highway 270, Thracia Province, Actium
May 6, 2545
0900
Tariq(1)
CLANKCLANKCLANKCLANKCLANKCLANK!
The sound of nearly fifty armored vehicles traveling at high speeds down a concrete highway filled the air. Like a predator on the prowl, they moved without hesitation, without slowing down, and without regard to any obstacle in their path, and woe be it to any man or beast foolish enough to get in their way.
Leading the column was the tank Lillian and her crew. The front of any convoy was no place for a company first sergeant to be, but unfortunately, due to a fuckup in the formation, that's how things had ended up. Because of that, Noble and Corona were sitting at their stations, concentrating on maneuvering down the road while Tariq sat at his, watching his monitors and gun sights, searching for potential threats.
"Driver, proceed along this route for twelve klicks, then we'll take exit two seven alpha. Exit will be on the left side," Noble ordered over the intercom.
"Exit two seven alpha on the left side, yes First Sergeant," Corona distractedly replied, sounding very much like an automation. Tariq silently snorted to himself.
Turning his attention back to his main optics, Tariq slowly did a three hundred sixty degree turn, looking at what was around them. At this point, the roads and the highways should have been cleared of all civilian traffic; Tariq had heard the governor's announcement, as had everyone else, and he knew all civilians had been ordered to stay put. But because they were civilians, naturally, they didn't listen. Because of that, the entire I-270 highway was full of bumper to bumper civilian traffic, stretching for kilometers in both directions. Now, technically, the city Superintendent should have been able to force them all to go home via the self-driving software that was present in every vehicle. But then again, that was so easy to override, it might as well not be there. Hell, Tariq had done it more times than he could count when he first starting driving.
The thing that kind of baffled Tariq was: where did all these civilians think they were going to go? He knew for a fact no evacuation routes had been established because as of yet, still no one knew what the Covenant intentions were. So what was the point of freaking out and trying to flee the area before the Covenant landed? For all these people knew, the place they were fleeing to would end up being the one place the Covenant landed. And Tariq knew a lot of these civilians had to be fleeing, unless everyone in the general area simultaneously and spontaneously decided to move on the same day.
Tariq mentally shrugged. Oh well. Civilians would be civilians and do civilian things and there wasn't much Tariq could do about that. Just as long as the civilians stayed out of their way.
Of course, with the highway as filled as it was, that wasn't exactly easy, which is why instead of traveling down the main lanes, the entire column was rolling down the break down lane on the edge of the highway instead. In made for a bit of a rougher ride because the lane wasn't as big as the actual travel lane, and plus they were driving through all the snow that been shoveled off the highway. Because of that, the tank was actually tilted to the side, forcing Corona to be extra careful least he accidentally fly off the road.
The real problem was when they approached the on and off ramps to and from the highway, as with traffic being the way it was, often times the tanks found their way blocked by civilian vehicles. Fortunately, most of the time the civilians would move out of the way when they saw a seventy metric ton hunk of metal rolling towards them at a little over seventy kilometers per hour.
Most of the time.
Tariq looked up as he felt Lillian beginning to slow down. Before he could say anything though, he heard Corona announce over the intercom, "There's a car blocking our way."
Tariq glanced at his forward periscopes. They were coming up onto an acceleration merging lane. Dozens of cars were emerging from the entrance ramp, trying to make their way onto the highway, but at the sight of the approaching Grizzly tanks, most of the drivers had pulled to the side to allow them to pass. All except for two: a small blue car and a slick red SUV.
Tariq rotated his gunner's sight around so he could get a closer look as Corona crawled towards them. By the looks of it, the car had rear-ended the SUV, destroying the bumpers on both vehicles but aside from that, there didn't appear to be any other damage. Though, rather than move to the side of the road and deal with it, both cars had opted to remain in the middle of the lane, blocking all traffic. As Tariq watched, the driver of the SUV quickly exited her vehicle, walked over to the car, and knocked on the driver side window. As soon as the window was lowered, the SUV driver began screaming, though, sitting behind almost half a meter worth of composite armor, Tariq couldn't hear what was being said.
"What sort of chickenshit circus is this?" Tariq heard Noble mutter. Over the intercom though, she ordered, "Driver, halt."
Lillian grinded to a halt, allowing Tariq a chance to study the drivers of the two vehicles. The driver of the car was an older lady, with hair that was beginning to turn white and wrinkles that were beginning to form on her face. She had a kindly look to her, reminding Tariq a bit of his grandmother. The driver of the SUV, on the other hand, reminded Tariq of the "can-I-speak-to-your-manager" type of person Tariq used to encounter all the time when he was in high school, doing summer work at the local amusement park. The lady had short, bleach blonde hair with a tannie haircut, oversized sunglasses, and a fake tan. Immediately, Tariq decided he hated her.
"What the fuck," Noble repeated.
"First Sergeant, what should I do?" Corona asked.
Tariq could see Noble looking around, trying to figure out if there was a way to go around. Unfortunately, they were hemmed in, with highway traffic to their left, and a high retaining wall to their right. Noble sighed.
"Hold here gentlemen," she ordered. "Let me see if I can get these idiots to move."
Unbuckling her crash harness, Tariq watched as Noble popped open her hatch, causing him to involuntarily shiver as a gust of freezing air came blowing through the tank. She then stood up so that the upper half of her body was sticking out of the tank.
"HEY!" she yelled, catching the attention of both drivers. "YOU NEED TO GET OUT OF THE WAY! MOVE YOUR VEHICLES TO THE BREAKDOWN LANE SO WE CAN PASS!"
A look of relief passed over the old lady, and Tariq could see her shift her car into gear but before she could go anywhere, the blonde reached into the car and grabbed the steering wheel with one hand. Keeping a grip on the wheel, the blonde lady then turned to Noble and began shouting something, while shaking her head and gesturing widely with her free hand.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Noble incredulously exclaimed. "Gunner, cover me! I'm going to see what their fucking problem is."
Tariq waited until Noble had pulled herself out of the hatch before scooting over and taking her place. He grabbed a hold of the machine gun mounted there and spun it around so it was pointed at the two civilians in case this turned out to be one giant, elaborate trap. In the meantime, Noble had hopped off the side of the tank and was walking towards the two drivers with one hand on the butt of her side arm.
As she walked towards them, Tariq's radio suddenly came to life.
"Cataphract 06 Actual to 07. What is the god damn holdup, over?"
Tariq quickly grabbed his radio. "06? 07. Our way is being blocked by some sort of accident. We're working on sorting it out now, over."
"Well, hurry the fuck up," Tariq's commanding officer demanded. "We need to get to that power station before anything happens, and we can't afford any delays, over."
Tariq grimaced. Why was everyone always yelling at him?
"Copy that 06," was all he said. "Will relay. 07, out."
Switching over to the intercom system, Tariq started to key his talk button to give Noble a head's up, but before he could say anything, Noble came on the radio.
"Yeah, I heard," she reported. "Keep Lillian running gentlemen: this won't take long."
Noble fell silent, but the button on her microphone must have gotten stuck because as Noble approached the civilians, Tariq could hear them talk as if he was standing right next to them.
"Finally!" the blonde woman was saying. "This girl here is a terrible driver! She rear-ended me and totaled my car! And I have the video to prove it! I DEMAND that you arrest her!"
"Lady, I don't know where you live where you think traffic law enforcement regularly rides around in an MBT, but I am not the police," Noble retorted. "As such, I don't care who's at fault here. You're both blocking the way. I need both you to move over to the side of the road. You can figure it out there."
The older lady immediately nodded and once again made motions to move her car, but the blonde lady refused to release her wheel.
"No!" the blonde lady snapped. "If you let her drive away, she's going to run away! And somebody has to pay for the damage done to my car!"
"Nobody is going to be running," Noble assured her. "All she's going to do is move to the side of the road, and out of the way. If you could release her wheel ma'am..."
"How dare you!" the lady screeched. "I am not a ma'am!"
Tariq could see Noble physically restraining herself. "Miss," he heard her hiss. "If you could release that woman's steering wheel so she can move out of the way..."
"No one is going anywhere until she gets arrested!" the lady interrupted.
Noble's shoulders immediately tensed, and Tariq found himself involuntarily holding his breath as he waited for the explosion. He didn't have to wait long.
"Lady, as of right now you're interfering with a UNSC military deployment," Noble tersely explained. "You keep this up, it will be YOU that gets arrested. Now, release that steering wheel, AND GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY GODDAMN WAY, NOW!"
The blonde lady jumped and reflexively released her hold on the wheel. The older lady quickly seized the moment to hastily move her car to the side of the road. The blonde lady let out a loud gasp.
"How dare you give me orders," she snapped. "Do you know who I am?"
Noble snorted. "No," she said, before turning around and started heading back to the tank.
"Don't you dare turn your back on me when I'm talking to you soldier!" the lady yelled, chasing after her. "My husband is Colonel Paxton! You disrespect me, you're disrespecting my husband! I will have you thrown into the brig!"
Noble paused. "Are you a military officer?" Tariq heard her neutrally ask.
Tariq could see the lady puff up with pride.
"No, but my husband is a colonel in the Thracian Provincial Army," the lady proudly announced. "As his wife, I speak with his authority!"
"That's not how the military works you dumb cunt," Noble snapped, and Tariq couldn't help but grin. "You're not a military officer, I don't have to listen to a word you say. Now, for the last fucking time: GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY!"
The lady gasped. "That's it! I want your name and your rank!"
"First Sergeant Octavia Noble, Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 337th Armored Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 53rd Armored Division of the UNSC Army's XIV Armored Corps," Noble snapped. "And make sure you spell my name correctly: it's N-O-B-L-E."
"I'm calling my husband!" the lady yelled. "I'm reporting you!"
"REPORT ALL YOU WANT!" Noble roared back. "JUST DO IT FROM THE SIDE OF THE FUCKING ROAD!"
With that, Noble turned around and headed back to the tank in a huff. Behind her, Tariq could see the blonde lady making a dialing motion, but gave no indication she was going to move her vehicle out of the way.
"Get back to your station Sergeant," Noble barked as she climbed onto the tank and Tariq hastily abandoned his position at the hatch, sliding back into the crew compartment and into his assigned seat. "Driver, move out."
"First Sergeant? The civilian has yet to move her vehicle and doesn't appeared to be doing so anytime soon," Corona reported. "What should I do?"
"Run it over," Noble ordered as she strapped herself in.
There was a pregnant pause.
"...what?" Corona finally said.
"Run the damn car over," Noble repeated. "She's not supposed to be on the road, she's had amble time and warning to get out of the way, and we've already wasted way too much time sitting here. If she's not going to move, then we'll fucking run her over, I'm not even kidding. Driver, forward!"
Tariq could see Corona nervously glance in his direction, but all Tariq could do was offer up a simple shrug. With no other options, Corona began inching the tank forward.
At first, the blonde lady stood in front of the tank with a defiant look on her face. But as Lillian began to pick up speed, that look turned into an expression of shock and the lady quickly dove out of the way.
There was a barely audible screeching of tires as Lillian hit the back of the SUV, shoving it forward for a couple of meters before one of the tracks caught a hold of the SUV's frame. Lillian immediately started to mount the vehicle, and the SUV quickly crumpled under her immense weight, causing the tires to burst and all the windows to explode outwards. Inside the tank, there wasn't even a bump as Lillian completely rolled over the SUV, leaving nothing but a thin pancake of plastic metal and laying in the middle of the road.
As Lillian continued down the road, Tariq rotated his gunner's sight around, morbidly curious to see what the woman's reaction was. By the looks of it, the lady almost appeared to have gone into shock as all she did was stand there at the side of the road, gaping, as the rest of the tanks in the convoy proceeded to roll over whatever was left of her car.
"Focus up gentlemen," Noble snapped, causing Tariq to jump. "I realize some of you might not feel comfortable with what just happened, but trust me when I say it was absolutely necessary. We're running behind schedule and we can't afford any more delays. She made her choice, and now she has to deal with the consequences. And that goes for anyone else who gets in our way. Our military deployment is priority number one and supersedes any and all other concerns. Understood?"
"Yes First Sergeant," Tariq heard Corona murmur in affirmation, but Tariq could see enough of his face to note how uncomfortable he looked.
Tariq mentally shrugged. For his part, he wasn't sure how he felt about the situation. On one hand, in a Winter Contingency situation, military needs were to be prioritized over civilian matters. That just made for good tactical sense. However on the other hand, Tariq had seen firsthand what happened when that practice was taken too far.
He involuntarily shivered. He could only hope it didn't go that far.
His tactical display suddenly let out a loud CHIRP, indicating it was getting updated with information from higher up the chain of command. Grateful for a distraction, Tariq seized it and immediately began studying it, trying to figure out what sort of new intel they had just received. It took him a few moments to spot the change.
"List of official evacuation routes and zones for civilians," Tariq read out loud to himself. "What… the…? Ah shit… First Sergeant?"
"What is it Sergeant Helmand?"
"Have you seen this yet Top?" Tariq asked, flashing his tactical display to her.
"No," Noble replied, shaking her head before reaching out and grabbing her own display. "What's up?"
"We just got new intel from brigade headquarters. Looks like Command has established evacuation routes and evacuation zones for civilians. In this area…"
"What, already?" Noble exclaimed as she studied the data herself. "Wow. So much for government inefficiency. They worked a lot faster than I would have thought. Good for them I guess. With any luck, all this traffic will clear out soon."
Tariq held his breath as he waited for the other shoe to drop for Noble. Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long as almost immediately, Noble's head snapped up and she frowned.
"Wait a minute," she began, "how can Command be establishing evacuation zones for this area when we don't even know where the Covenant are going to fucking lan-"
Noble's voice abruptly cut off as realization struck her, and she and Tariq shared a look before almost as one, they both glanced skyward. Tariq proceeded to very succinctly sum up both their feelings.
"Ah fuck."
Tariq glanced over at Noble in time to see her nervously swallowing.
"Driver," she called out.
"Yes First Sergeant?" Corona replied.
"Floor it," she bluntly ordered.
"This entire battalion needs to be at that power generator right fucking now."
XXXXX
Highway 495, Thracia Province, Actium
May 6, 2545
0930
Marcus
Marcus absentmindedly drummed his fingers against the steering wheel as he waited for the HEMTT in front of him to move.
"Lots of traffic today, huh?" Dresden commented from the passenger seat beside him. "Wonder where everyone thinks they're going?"
Given that this was the first time Marcus had driven on these roads, he wasn't sure if this amount of traffic was out of place or not for this time, so all he did was shrug in acknowledgement.
The HEMTT in front of him suddenly moved, drawing Marcus' attention, thus distracting him from Dresden's next words.
"What was that sir?" Marcus asked as he found himself at a standstill once again.
"I said, 'you seem a lot calmer now,'" Dresden repeated.
Marcus thought about it for a moment before realizing he did feel a bit more relaxed.
"I guess I am," he sheepishly admitted. "I don't really know why. I guess there's something calming about sitting behind this wheel."
"It's probably because it's normal to you," Dresden noted. "Running around, getting weapons and preparing for a fight? I'm guessing you don't do that every day. At least, I don't hope you don't. But sitting in traffic? That's probably more of a typical Tuesday morning for you, huh?"
Marcus considered what Dresden had just said and realized what he was saying was true. He had started taking college classes in his senior year of high school and as such, had been driving himself to his local university every other day. While this... monster truck, he was currently sitting in was significantly larger than his mother's little green hatchback, this traffic jam they were stuck in wasn't all that different from the ones back home.
This, this Marcus could deal with. The Covenant on the other hand? The mere thought of them was almost enough to cause Marcus to break out in a cold sweat.
"Yep," Dresden was saying. "Us humans are creatures of habit. We love our routines. Which is why warfare is so difficult for most people; I've personally been involved in over half a dozen firefights and each and every single of them were distinctively different from each other."
Marcus found he didn't really know what to say to that, though he did find comfort in the fact that Dresden had been in a firefight before. He had figured Dresden for a war veteran, though Marcus hadn't been sure as he was hardly an expert on those sort of matters. The confirmation was enough to cheer Marcus up considerably though, as he'd been worried he was about to be led into a war by someone who knew just as much as he did. Marcus briefly wondered if any of those six battles had been against the Covenant and turned to ask, but unfortunately at that point, Dresden had already turned his attention to Orlović.
Orlović was sitting in the turret ring in the middle of the cab, with only the lower half of his body actually inside. Dresden slapped Orlović hard against his leg, cheerfully calling out, "You alright out there Billy-O?"
Orlović's right arm snaked into the cab and he thrust his middle finger in Dresden's direction. Dresden let out a bark of laughter.
"CAN WE HURRY THIS UP?" Orlović yelled to be hear over the rumble of the HEMTT's engine. "I'VE GOT ICICLES GROWING OUT FROM MY FUCKING NOSE!"
Dresden cocked his head.
"Then what are you still doing sitting out there, numbnuts? Come inside!" he yelled back.
"I THOUGHT WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE MANNING THE GUNS?"
"You see the Covenant anywhere?"
Marcus reflexively looked around. Aside from a whole ton of cars, there wasn't anything particularly alien looking.
"NAH MAN, WE GOOD OUT HERE!"
"Then get your dumb ass in here!" Dresden yelled back, sounding amused. "Until the Covies touchdown, we'll be fine if we leave the gun unmanned! Just put the weapon in condition one and lock it in place!"
Marcus could hear Orlović scrambling around on the roof. As Orlović worked, Dresden glanced in Marcus' direction.
"Your rifle is in condition one, right?"
"Um… I don't know what that means sir," Marcus admitted.
"Is there a loaded magazine in place, a round in the chamber, and is the selector switch set on safe?"
Marcus hastily glanced at his assigned rifle, which was sitting in its designated spot in the driver side door.
"Yes…" Marcus hesitantly replied. "I think so?"
"Good" Dresden grunted, scooting to the side as much as possible as Orlović slid off his harness and forced himself into the small space between Marcus and Dresden. "From this point forward, make sure it always stays that way."
"Yes sir," Marcus mumbled as Orlović settled in on the bench.
"Fuck!" Orlović yelped. "Why the fuck is it so goddamn cold out there?"
Dresden glanced at him with an amused look on his face. "Well, you see Private Orlović, because Actium is constantly spinning around on its axis, at least once a year the northern hemisphere finds itself orientated away from Ambracia's light, resulting in shorter days and colder temperatures. In the local vernacular, we refer to this period as 'winter'."
"Fuck off Professor Smart-ass," Orlović snapped as Marcus couldn't help but share a grin with Dresden. "You know what I mean. Fucking... always giving me a smart-ass answer to a simple fucking question," he grumbled as he frantically rubbed his hands together. "Man. These fucking gloves suck! My hands are like ice bro!"
"Told you, the standard Army issues equipment is pretty crappy," Dresden noted. "Should have gone out and bought a pair of your own when you had the chance."
"Yeah, well, I'm not loaded like you are," Orlović retorted. "Fuck. Why isn't the fucking heater working?"
"It crapped out on us last night," Dresden replied with a shrug.
"What, again? I thought the fucking grease monkeys just fixed the damn thing?"
"Yeah, they did, but the generator is so worn out, no amount of tinkering is ever going to make it work properly again. I mean, that's what happens when you hand-me-downs from the big green Army."
"Fuck," Orlović grumbled again. "We need a fire. Can we set a fire?"
"Sure," Dresden replied. "I could go for a fire. What about you Marcus? You think you could go for a fire? Hey, I got some rags in the back we could burn. Who's got a lighter?"
Marcus stared at them as Orlović enthusiastically pulled out a small Zippo lighter. "Um... Sergeant? Is that wise? Trying to have a fire in here?"
Dresden glanced at him. "Sure. Why wouldn't it be?"
In response, Marcus jerked his thumb towards the rear of the Rig. Sitting on a trailer right behind them were four, massive, Army anti-air, anti-ship, and anti-ballistic missiles that they had picked up from an armory not even thirty minutes ago.
Dresden glanced in the direction Marcus was pointing, and did a quick double take as if he was just noticing the missiles for the first time. "Huh. Well, what about them?" he innocently asked.
Marcus stared at him, incredulous. "Well, I'm no expert," he began, "but somehow I don't think 'missiles' and 'fire' mix very well."
Orlović immediately shook his head
"Nah, don't worry about them bro. It'll take a lot more than a little fire to damage them. Come on Theo, let's do this, I'm freezing."
He raised the lighter but before he could ignite it, Dresden grabbed his hand.
"Hang on," Dresden said. "Marcus here might have a point."
"Does he though?" Orlović skeptically retorted. "I mean, you do know it would take like, I dunno, another missile for these missiles to go off, right?"
"Yeah, but the heat from our fire might screw up the seeker components in the warhead," Dresden pointed out with a shrug. "Plus, it's not like we've really got a safe container to hold the fire. If it gets out of control, we might blow ourselves up and if that happens, I think Olsen here might get a little bit upset with us," he finished with a grin directed towards Marcus.
Marcus resisted the urge to snort. "A little upset" was putting it lightly. He didn't want to die, but he especially didn't want to die because some idiot accidentally set him on fire.
"Fine," Orlović reluctantly said, putting away his lighter. He shot Marcus a nasty glare. "Spoilsport."
Marcus rolled his eyes, but fortunately Orlović was too busy bitching to notice.
"Fuck it's cold!" he yelled before turning to Dresden. "How the fuck are you not cold dude?"
Dresden, who Marcus noticed for the first time was wearing nothing but a set of armor over his standard issued jacket, shrugged.
"You do remember I was born and raised near the South Pole, right?" he noted. "Temperatures down there are regularly in the negatives. This? This is like summertime for us."
"Really?" Marcus exclaimed, aghast. "How can you stand to live like that?"
Dresden shrugged. "It's really not so bad once you get used to it," he tried to convince them. "Really, the worst part is the wind. The region I'm from, Skänska, is a cold desert so everything is really flat and open. Wind doesn't blow very fast, especially compared to here, but unlike this area, there are no windbreaks: no trees or crap like that. In fact," he said with a laugh, "I didn't see a real life tree until I was thirteen."
Marcus shook his head in disbelieve. His hometown of Astoria was in the temperate zone, so he was used to having four seasons in a year. He couldn't imagine what it would be like any other way. "Why would you want to live in a place like that?"
"Well, for us, it was because my mom's a biologist and apparently there was some very unusual moss growth in that region," Dresden explained. "But other people were living there because the South Pole has the largest deposit of platinum in the world. So, mining is a very big industry down there."
Orlović shook his head. "Fucking freaks of nature man," he groaned. "God. Wish I was back home. Cyprium; if there was ever a paradise, that would be it man."
Marcus' head snapped up. "You're from Cyprium?" he excitedly asked.
"Well, okay… technically no, it's where my grandparents live, but since me and my sibs have been getting shipped there every winter since I was like, five, it's kind of like my second home."
"Huh," Marcus commented. "You know, I was thinking about going to uni there."
"Yeah? Which one?"
"Caedmon University."
"Dude, what up! Bulldogs, represent yo!" Orlović excitedly lifted his arm for a high five, one that Marcus enthusiastically returned. "My grandpappy's the dean of one of the colleges there."
"Yeah? Which college?"
"The College of Visual and Performing Arts."
"No kidding! That's the college I was going to apply for. Only, I got sent here," Marcus lamely added.
"It's all good," Orlović assured him. "But dude, that is fucking crazy man!"
"Aww," Dresden suddenly cooed from the passenger seat. "Look at you two. Getting all cozy and making new friends…"
"Hey man, don't be jealous cause us normal people got a connection that you don't," Orlović brightly retorted.
"No, I'm being serious; it's great to you youngins making friends. That's what the Army is all about: bring a couple of people together so they can go out and kill the third person," Dresden said with just the barest hint of sarcasm. He leaned forward as he suddenly glanced out of the window. "Hey Marcus? Just be aware that we should be taking this next exit."
"Roger that sir," Marcus said, readopting his professional attitude as he felt the moment of levity pass.
"Yeah, that's our exit, as long as the LT hasn't fucked up the directions," Orlović grumbled before pausing. "Hey: where are we going anyway?"
Dresden shot him a glance. "Tell me Billy: do you just have a really shitty memory or do you just not bother listening during the brief?"
"Now why would I bother listening when I know you will?" Orlović unabashedly admitted.
Dresden sighed. "Why do I bother asking," he muttered. More loudly, he said, "Okay, we're going north, towards the city of Byzas. The Big Army has got… you know what? It'll just be easier if I just showed you."
Grabbing a data pad from the dashboard, Dresden called up a map of the area. "Okay, so here's where we're… huh. Our orders have changed. When did that happen?"
He trailed off and after a few moments of dead silence, Marcus and Orlović exchanged a look.
"Hey Sarge. Something wrong?" Orlović finally asked.
Dresden shook his head. "Not necessarily. It's just; we were originally supposed to go further into the city, but now we're headed to the Forseti National Airport just south of the city outskirts. No big deal. But the thing is, that airport is already being designated as an evacuation zone."
"What does that mean?" Marcus asked.
"Pretty much what it sounds like: it's a zone where civilians will go to get evacuated offworld. The things is, the military doesn't like to establish evacuation zones until they have a pretty good idea of where the Covenant are going to land, mainly because they don't want civilians flooding the roads and blocking the streets like they're doing now." Dresden gestured out the window. "The fact that they've gone ahead and marked an evac zone is… problematic."
"What does that mean for us sir?" Marcus asked, his fear from earlier this morning quickly returning.
Dresden gave him a blank look. "For us? It could mean anything. But for now?" He turned to Orlović.
"I think that means you better get back on that gun."
XXXXX
Byzas, Thracia Province, Actium
May 6, 2545
0942
Selene
Selene dropped the delineator post onto the ground before tossing the rubber base around it to make sure it didn't move. Shoving it into place, she tapped a button at the top, activating the holographic police barrier. Waving her hand through the image to make sure it was stable, she took a few steps back to check her work. Given that the barrier was just light, it couldn't physically stop anyone from passing through, but the image alone was usually enough to deter the vast majority of people from trying to cross. Satisfied the road was, for the most part, blocked off, Selene started walking back to the area where Kingsley had parked their SUV.
On the military's command, the BPD had been ordered to close off and keep clear of all civilian traffic five blocks of the street Selene was currently walking on. At first mystified as to why this particular street needed to be close, the reasoning behind their orders became abundantly clear the moment they had arrived: the military had installed three massive machines in the middle of the street. The machines were about nine meters tall and each of them was topped off with a massive machine gun. Upon arrival, Shin had immediately identified them as an anti-aircraft battery assigned to the local Provincial Militia. Not being a soldier herself, Selene was forced to take his word for it. At any case, Selene could understand exactly why the military wanted to keep civilians away from them as they looked very complex, and very dangerous.
She rounded the corner and walked back to the SUV, where at the moment, Kingsley and Shin were busy putting on the rest of their protective gear.
"What's the NIJ rating on this stuff anyways?" she heard Shin asked as he finished securing a borrowed vest over his torso. He patted the police label Velcroed to the center of his chest for emphasis.
"What you've got on there is rated level IIIA," Kingsley reported.
Shin looked up sharply at that. "You're kidding, right?" he asked, sounding astonished. "This thing can only protect against handgun fire?"
"Yes? That's generally what level IIIA vest are rated for, are they not?" Kingsley queried.
"What about shrapnel? How good is it against shrapnel?"
Selene watched as Kingsley tapped his chin while he considered the answer.
"Well," he finally said, "I guess it depends on the type of shrapnel. If the shrapnel is blunt and not moving at speeds any faster than what your average cricket bowler can achieve with a ball, then you'll be fine I suppose." Kingsley looked up and grinned at the expression on Shin's face. "Something wrong?"
"Why…" Shin slowly began, "are we wearing ballistic vests that aren't capable of stopping rifle rounds and shrapnel?"
"Because these aren't ballistic vests? This is in fact, riot gear?" Selene suggested as she walked up. Shin slowly turned towards her with a puzzled look on his face.
"Riot gear, huh?" he noted. "And why are you guys only equipped with riot gear again?"
Selene and Kingsley exchanged an amused look. "Because we're police officers," Selene explained with a laugh. "Not soldiers. We were never really expected to go up against machine guns or the like."
Shin seemed to think about it before shrugging. "Guess that makes sense."
"Not quite what you're used to I take it?" Kingsley suggested. Shin shook his head.
"No, not really."
"Hey: you're the one who wanted to help us," Selene reminded him. "You regretting that decision now?"
Shin grinned. "Na. I just need a couple minutes to get use to all this equipment. I remember on my first tour, when the Covenant showed up, I ended up having to fight with a bunch of former Innies. Had to get used to their tactics and equipment. Now that was weird. This is no biggie."
Selene nodded in understanding as she bent over to strap on her leg guards. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Kingsley looking up in interesting.
"So, you've see action against the Covenant, have you?" she heard him asked Shin. She glanced over her shoulder, interested in the answer.
Shin nodded. "Yep. Back in '42, I got posted to Fallow, the moon orbiting over the colony of Alluvion, about two months before the Covies showed up. I was one of the fortunate ones to get off that place before it got glassed. Which was fine, just ended up shifting over to Alluvion and continuing the fight there. Second time was back in '44, on Miridem. God, now that was a shithole. Then at the beginning of this year, I was over at Draco III, but my ship was in a support role and I never made it to the surface before we withdrew, so I don't think that counts. What 'bout you guys?"
Both Selene and Kingsley shook their heads.
"Selene here has never served in the armed forces, whereas my only exposure to the military was a three year stint with the Actium Army. I was a 'financial management technician,'" Kingsley said, sounding somewhat embarrassed. "Of course, this was about twenty years ago, before the Covenant was even a thing. Never got deployed, never saw any action, and definitely never fired a shot in anger."
Shin shrugged. "Hey man, nothing wrong with that. Military ain't for everybody. Plus, you two are here holding down the home front. That's got to be respected."
"That's not what you were saying last night when I was arresting you," Selene pointed out before she could stop herself.
Shin stared at her with a blank look on his face for a few moments, before embarrassment began coloring his cheeks. "Ah shit. I did say something like that, didn't I? Fuck, I must have been more shitfaced than I thought if I was saying shit like that. God… Look, Officer Riddle, all I can say I am very sorry for my behavior last night and that I hope I will have the chance to make it up to you at some point in the future."
Upon seeing how apologetic Shin looked, Selene immediately felt guilty for bringing it up. "That's alright," Selene quickly said. "It's not really that big of a deal; in fact, I probably shouldn't have brought it up."
"Hey guys? Sorry to interrupt," Kingsley suddenly said. He held up his radio. "Military is telling me we forgot to block off one of the streets at the other end. We're out of barricades, so I'm just going to take the truck down there and block off the road."
"You want us to come with LT?" Selene immediately asked.
"No. The intersection on this end looked a lot busier than the other one, so I suspect we're going to see a lot of people trying to come down this way. I want you two to stay here and make sure they don't," Kinsley ordered.
Selene nodded in acknowledgement and climbed off the SUV, grabbing her arm guards as she did. Shin followed her as she moved to the sidewalk so she wasn't blocking the road and as she did, she suddenly noticed he wasn't wearing any of the arm or leg guards provided to him, only the vest.
"Not wearing the extra armor?"
Shin frowned. "No. What's the point if they can't protect me against shrapnel and what have you? At that point, they're just going to affect my mobility. I rather go light and take my chances."
Selene glanced at Kingsley, who gave his nod of approval.
"Well, that's technically against department policy, but then again, you're also not a cop so I guess you can wear whatever you'd like," Selene finally said.
"Exactly," Kingsley said in agreement. "Oh, and before we forget, don't forget to get your weapons guys."
Walking over to the trunk, he popped it open and pulled out a large black duffle bag. He tossed it to the ground and unzipped it. Shin's eyes immediately lit up as he reached into the bag and pulled out a weapon.
"Holy shit. Is this an M319 grenade launcher?" he exclaimed, examining the weapon. "I didn't think you guys had that sort of firepower in your inventory."
"We don't. That's a tear gas dispenser," Selene informed him and watched as he immediately returned the weapon to the bag. "We're cops, remember? Not soldiers. Less-than-lethal weapons are all we have."
To emphasis the point, Selene reached into the bag and pulled out a shotgun, with its stock and fore end painted bright orange to indicate its less-than-lethal status. Pulling out a box of bean-bag rounds, she quickly loaded it, cycling the action with a satisfying klikt.
"Well, that's disappointing," she heard Shin mutter. "Well, hang on a second. If that's the case, how come he's got a DMR?" he pointed at Kingsley.
"It's not really one. It looks like it, but this thing has been configured to only fire rubber bullets," Kingsley informed him as he lift the rifle to show him the blue colored handguards.
"Huh."
"Anyways, you guys good?" Kingsley asked, glancing at Selene. She quickly gave him a thumbs up. "Alright. I'll be back."
Throwing the SUV into gear, he quickly drove off down the street.
"Man, this sucks," Shin complained. "Give me an MA37 or an M7 or something. Jesus."
"The only people on the force who have lethal weapons are the SWAT teams," Selene explained as she strapped on her helmet. "That's not just department policy, that provincial law right there."
"No shit? How'd you get that then?"
She glanced over, only to see Shin eyeballing her personal sidearm. "Oh this? This is my off duty piece. You would not believe the amount of paperwork I had to fill out in order to get this thing."
"That's a Caveria PX40, isn't it? Compact model by the looks of it. Mind if I take a closer look?"
Selene considered the request and decided there was no harm. Pulling it out, she ejected the magazine and cleared the chamber before handing it over. Shin took it, and immediately brought the pistol up to his sightline.
"Hm. Not bad. Sturdy yet, lightweight at the same time. Good sights. Striker fired, I see," he commented.
"You seem pretty familiar with it. You use that in the military?"
"No," he immediately said. "Thank god. I hate 10mm."
"Why's that? It's a reliable round."
"I think the military has spoiled me. Anything less than a 12.7mm pistol round feels like a BB gun to me," Shin sheepishly admitted. "Plus, it's not very effective against Covenant armor. Something you might want to keep in mind if it comes to that."
"So," he began as he handed her handgun back to her. "We're essentially manning a roadblock, huh? Let me ask you something Officer Riddle: how does the police stop people from running roadblocks?"
"Well, there's a variety of ways," Selene began. "Around here, we've got the benefit of having the city Superintendent. As long as the vehicle is on self-driving mode and we've properly mapped out our roadblocks, the city Superintendent will reroute most of the vehicles we encounter. If that doesn't work, we usually have some flashing signs indicating they're headed towards a police barricade. Most people around here are conditioned to pay attention to flashing lights, especially police blue ones so…"
Selene reached out to the delineator post and hit a button. Immediately the holographic barricade lit up in a blue flashing light.
"Worse comes to worse," Selene continued as she switched the lights off. "We'll lay out a tire deflation device, which is essentially a spike strip. Generally don't need to do more than that; people know if they run through these stops, they either face a pretty serious fine or get arrested." She trailed off and glanced over at Shin. "How does the military stop a car?"
"You know, that's an interesting question. I'll tell you though, on my first tour when we were running counterinsurgency operations, me and my buddies found the most effective way to stop a car was just to shoot the driver," Shin casually announced. "I'd say that worked about ninety-nine percent of the time."
Selene's head snapped towards him, and she stared at him, aghast. That is, until Shin broke out in a grin.
"I'm just fucking with you," he told her with a laugh. "Sorry. I got a weird sense of humor. No, we have something known as the 'EOF' or 'Escalation of Force' procedure. Most of it was a bunch of bull because we usually ended up having to put an EMP grenade through the engine block. Shut down the vehicle completely."
Selene let out a mute sigh of relief. Not that she though the destruction of private property was good, but at least it was far better than soldiers outright murdering people. A thought suddenly occurred to her.
"I thought you said your first tour was you fighting against the Covenant, not the Insurgency?"
"It was both. It started off as a COIN operation, but when the Covenant showed up, all parties involved ended up banding together to fight them. Including the Insurgents, if you can believe that."
"Really? So, you were fighting alongside Innies? That happen often?"
Shin shrugged. "Generally not. But, I mean, when the Covenant show up, all bets are off."
"I've never met an Innie before," Selene confessed. "I've met some kids who wanted to be Innies, but I've never met like an actual Innie before. If you don't mind me asking, what are they like? They as bad as the media makes them out to be?"
"You know, there was actually this one Innie chick I met," Shin said thoughtfully. "She was actually a POW of ours before she was released as part of the terms of the ceasefire. Ended up getting assigned to the same squad together. First time I met her, she was a fucking fanatic. Actually, I'm pretty sure she was about ready to shoot me in the back less than five minutes after we met. But after she got punched in the fucking chest by an Elite, she started to mellow out and she turned out to be not so bad. She was funny in a sarcastic way. Hell of a fighter. Only person I ever met who could make an IED out of a MRE bag, it was fucking wild. In an alternative universe, we probably could have been pretty good friends." Shin shrugged. "But she chose the wrong side."
"What happened to her?" Selene asked.
Shin shrugged again. "We both got injured in the same mortar strike. Ended up getting evacuated offworld and shipped off to Reach for medical treatment. About halfway there, word came down the pipeline that we had lost the battle, and Alluvion was gone. With no planet left to defend, High Command suddenly decided didn't need the Innies anymore so as soon as we touched down, she got snatched up and arrested by ONI for treason. Heard through the grapevine she got released about, what, six months ago? And joined, of all the fucking things, the UNSC Army. Specifically the Airborne, I think. I don't know for sure, haven't talked to her or seen her since."
"You ever think about trying to reach out to her?" Selene couldn't help but probe.
Shin snorted. "Why would I? All she ever was, was a means to an end."
Selene was completely thrown by the callousness of that statement. Maybe she had been reading too much into it, but from the way Shin had described her, Selene had definitely gotten the feeling there had been some personal connection between the two. Selene was about to probe a bit more, when an alarm abruptly went off behind her.
"What the heck is that?" she exclaimed, startled. She glanced over her shoulder and to her alarm, the soldiers on the street were starting to freak out; running around and screaming orders. One of the soldiers ran up the closest machine on the street and began typing something into a control panel, and the machine gun mounted on top of the tower quickly came to life, spinning around and pointing upwards.
"What's going on?" she asked Shin, only to turn around and see a rather stony expression had appeared on his face.
"Get inside," he barked.
"What?"
"Find cover, NOW!" he yelled before sprinting towards the nearest building.
Alarmed, and more than a little bit scared, Selene took off after him. Behind her, she could hear an announcement being broadcasted.
"ATTENTION ALL UNITS, WE ARE AT RED CON ZERO! ENEMY AIRCRAFT INBOUND! I SAY AGAIN!"
"INCOMING BANDITS!"
1. This is something I should have mentioned in chapter 1, but I forgot. Tariq's armored battalion is based off the US Army's way of organizing their Combined Arms Battalions for their armored units. Which means, the organization is as follows:
A tank platoon consist of four tanks
A tank company consist of three tank platoons (12 tanks) plus another two for the company commander and executive officer (for a total of 14 tanks per company)
A combined arms battalion consist of a headquarters company (with two tanks for the CO & XO,) two companies of tanks, and one mechanized infantry company (which has the same amount of vehicles as a tank company, only with IFVs and not MBTs.)
Notice how a company first sergeant does NOT have a tank assigned to them. Obviously, in this story, First Sergeant Noble IS riding around in the tank. Why? Because… I wanted it to be that way. Simple as that.
I just wanted to note that what's being depicted in this story is not quite accurate to the TO&E for combined arms battalions of the US Army, and I realize that. It might be accurate for other armies, but I can't say for certain. (And in case anyone is wondering, the first sergeant would normally be riding in an APC, probably some sort of M113 variant in the US Army.)