Chapter 38
UNSC Gabrielle
High Orbit, Actium
May 7, 2545
0307
Amber
"Okay. Turn the bot thirteen degrees port, and go back. Let's double check the barrel one more time."
With the controller in hand, Amber calmly did as she was told, and watched on the screen as the maintenance bot turned around and started heading back towards the breech. Dialing back on the acceleration, both Amber and her supervisor – Gunner's Mate Second Class Jim "Tuna" Krasinski – automatically leaned forward in order to check the walls of the barrel for damage.
Due to the magnetic energies and friction involved when firing the main battery, unlike the rest of the ship, the firing mechanism and the barrel for the Gabrielle's main magnetically accelerated cannon did not come equipped with self-diagnostic sensors. As a result, anytime the barrel needed to be maintained or inspected, the gunners aboard the ship were forced to send a drone through the breech and manually search for issues essentially by hand.
In Amber's opinion, such a task was always one giant pain in the ass, mostly because of how long it took to actually certify the MAC was up to speed. However, after the amount of damage the kamikazing Banshees had caused to the rest of the ship, no one was willing to go into battle without knowing for sure they would actually be able to fire their main battery without it blowing up in their faces. Especially considering the fact that the barrel and firing mechanism of the MAC was not only embedded within the heart of the ship, but also ran the entire length, so any failure in the weapon could potentially cause catastrophic damage to the entire ship.
"Whoa, hold on… stop!" Tuna abruptly said, and Amber immediately ignited the reverse thrusters on the bot to ensure it came to a complete stop. "Go back, like, thirty centimeters."
Amber quietly did as she was ordered.
"Okay. Rotate the camera up… I dunno, seven degrees?"
Amber absentmindedly nodded and reoriented the camera.
"Okay, stop! Zoom in. Does that look like a crack on the housing to you?"
Amber automatically leaned closer to the screen even though such a move was obviously pointless. Sure enough –
"Shit. Yeah, I think it is," Amber reported with a groan.
"Dammit," Tuna swore as he rubbed his eyes. "How the heck did we miss that the first time around?"
Amber shook her head, even as she glanced at the holographic, wireframe image of the entire barrel, to see exactly where the bot was currently located. "Looks like the crack is here, in segment three alpha."
"Of course it is," Tuna darkly muttered. "The damage just has to be located in one of the most difficult spots to reach." He groaned and ran his hands through his hair, before patting his own cheeks. "Well, we better get to it then. Let me let the CIC know we're gonna have to keep the MAC down a bit longer than we initially anticipated. Bring the bot back and get the tools ready; let's fix this thing before we actually need to get to use it."
"Yeah, I could do all that Tuna, but we still need Chief Carrizosa's sign off before we do any repairs like that," Amber reminded him.
"…shoot. And he just went to bed, didn't he?"
Amber nodded and Tuna let out another groan.
"Well, what you think the chances are he left his radio on?" he asked, even as he grabbed his earpiece off the table. Amber snorted.
"Would you keep your radio on if you were able to go to bed for the first time in twenty-two hours?"
"No," Tuna admitted, "but then again, I'm not the chief gunner's mate either. Ah well, guess we're about to find out." He cleared his throat and activated his mic. "Chief Carrizosa, this is Tuna: come in, over."
Silence greeted them.
"Chief, come in. You there?"
"Doesn't sound like it," Amber noted, causing Tuna to sigh.
"Well, guess you were right Owain," he said, lowering the radio. "Alright: let me get this work order filled out. In the meantime, head over to the Goat Locker and go wake Carrizosa up, will you? I'll send over the work order in transit so you can have him sign off on it real quick."
"Wait, what?" Amber immediately protested. "Why'd I have to go?"
"Because Carrizosa is less likely to yell at you for waking him up than he is me," Tuna replied with a shrug. "Plus, I gotta go talk to Shepard, and I know just how much you love her."
Amber merely grunted in response. Well, if that was the case…
Suppressing a sigh, Amber quickly removed the maintenance bot's remote from around her neck and placed it on the nearby hook. Then, somewhat reluctantly, she climbed to her feet and walked out of the room.
As was Navy tradition, sleeping quarters aboard this ship was divided up into three main sections: the enlisted section (which was both the largest and the crappiest,) the officer's section (though both the captain and the executive officer had their own private quarters,) and finally, an entire section for all the chief petty officers onboard, formally known as "Chief Petty Officers' Quarters," but more commonly referred to as the "Goat Locker." (Why, Amber had no idea.)
The thing about the Goat Locker was, because it was a private place reserved for CPOs and above, it was strictly off limits for all other personnel, including officers. Not even the captain was allowed inside. The only exception would be if said personnel had a direct invitation from one of the chiefs, which unfortunately, Amber did not have. And while she knew Chief Carrizosa wouldn't really care, Amber also knew most of the other CPOs onboard had sticks up their asses, and would. Therefore, Amber was not looking forward to getting chewed out by a bunch of people.
Still, this was an emergency, and if worse came to worse, Amber supposed she could always blame Tuna.
Walking down the corridor to just aft of the Chief's Mess, Amber paused right outside the bulkhead door that had a small sign that simply read "CPO Quarters" on the face. Pulling out her TACPAD, Amber glanced at it make sure Tuna had sent her the work order like he was supposed to have. At the same time, Amber absentmindedly leaned forward to knock on the door, but before she could touch it, the door suddenly swung open.
"Oh, JEEZ!" Amber yelped as, caught off guard by the lack of resistance, she found herself stumbling forward, straight into somebody's arms. Panting in fright, she laid there for a moment, trying to catch her bearings.
"Um… hello."
At the sound of someone speaking, Amber looked up to see –
"Chief Leporidae?" Amber blurted out.
Sure enough, standing right above Amber's head was Chief Master-at-Arms Job Leporidae.
Leporidae had been Amber's temporary commanding officer when she had been stuck aboard Wayward Station. When the station had been boarded, Amber had been assigned to his security team and as such, they had fought side by side as they desperately tried to prevent the Covenant from tearing the station apart. In fact, it had been Leporidae who had managed to save Amber's life when the station had suffered from a catastrophic breach in the hull, holding on to her and preventing her from being sucked out into space long enough for the emergency bulkhead walls to seal. Afterwards, he had brought her to the sick bay whereupon he had promptly disappeared to go secure the rest of the station.
Given that, as far as she knew, Leporidae's assigned posting was onboard Wayward and not the Gabrielle, Amber had honestly expected to never see him again. Thus, his current presence aboard the Gabrielle came more of a shock to her than her fall had been.
"Hi. GM Owain, wasn't it?" Leporidae gently asked, and Amber numbly nodded her head. "It's good to see you again, Shipmate. I have to say: normally I wouldn't object to having a beautiful woman in my arms but, uh… this is a little awkward."
Amber felt her cheeks start to burn as, with a start, she suddenly realized she was still laying in Leporidae's arms and she hurried surged upright.
"Um, hi!" Amber exclaimed as she brushed herself off, doing her best to mask her embarrassment. "Chief Leporidae! Uh… what are you doing here, Chief?"
"Hi," Leporidae replied, and much to Amber's further mortification, he looked extremely amused. "To answer your question: I've been reassigned here."
"To the Gabrielle?" Amber immediately asked, and then promptly felt like kicking herself for asking such a stupid question. Of course it was the Gabrielle; where else were they having this conversation?
Fortunately, Leporidae didn't seem to notice.
"Yes," he replied, still sounding highly amused. "Given the damage done to Wayward Station, ODC decided it wasn't worth trying to repair the installation, and decided to abandon it instead. Of course, doing so left me without a job so… I got reassigned. And since apparently this ship is suffering from a lack of personnel… well, here I am."
"Well… it's great to have you onboard Chief!" Amber reflexively blurted out, only to cringe a moment later as she realized, with the way she had worded it, it made her sound more excited than she actual was that he was onboard. Not that she was excited he was onboard. Or, at least to say, not in that manner…
"Yes, I could tell," Leporidae noted with a hint of humor, and causing a fresh wave of embarrassment to wash over Amber.
Coughing slightly to mask her mortification over her actions within the last few minutes, Amber did her best to recover her cool while Leporidae just stood there, seemingly content to wait for Amber to recover.
For the next few moments, neither of them said a word, causing a small awkward silence to fill the corridor. After a few moments, Amber decided she needed to say something to break the stalemate.
"So, uh… Chief," Amber started to say.
"By the way Owain…" Leporidae began at the exact same time, and the two of them immediately stopped talking to wait for the other to finish.
"Sorry Chief," Amber finally said after a moment, only for Leporidae to start to say, "What were you about to – "
They both fell silent again at the same time, and Amber couldn't help but start to smile at the ridiculousness of the entire situation. Glancing at Leporidae, she could see a grin start to creep onto his face as well. Finally, he raised his hand, as if he was a schoolkids waiting for the teacher to acknowledge him.
Amber inclined her head, and Leporidae smiled.
"Sorry about that," he said, humor evident in his voice. "What were you about to say Owain?"
"Oh! Um, I just realized that I, um, never thanked you. For saving my life," Amber said.
"Hey! Not a problem," Leporidae replied with a dazzling smile. "I'm sure you would have done the same if our positions had been reversed."
For some reason, Amber felt her cheeks begin to heat up at that, and she quickly cleared her throat.
"So, um, what were you about to say?" she quickly said.
"What? Oh, right. Well, I was just going to apologize. For nearly blowing out your eardrum back in that maintenance corridor," Leporidae apologetically said, but Amber gave an indifferent shrug.
"It was kind of an emergency, so I understand."
"You alright though?" Leporidae asked, concerned, and Amber quickly bobbed her head.
"The corpsmen took a look at it, said because I wasn't wearing my hearing protection properly, I'm going to have some ringing in that ear. But! It should fade after a few days," Amber quickly assured him, however Leporidae still looked remorseful.
"Oh man. Now I'm really sorry for that. I had a blown eardrum once, so I know how it feels. Really sorry."
Amber smiled to show it didn't bother her but mentally, she couldn't help but be pleased by the way Leporidae was reacting.
For the next few moments, the two of them stood there in silence again, though this time the quiet was less awkward, and seemingly more content. It was finally broken when Leporidae sighed.
"Well," he began, sounding regretful. "As much as I'd love to stand here chitchatting, I gotta head to the CIC and talk to the TAO. This ship isn't really big enough to warrant the assignment of a full fledged chief master-at-arms, so… have to figure out what they expect me to do here."
"Well, in that case, let me let you go," Amber said, though she couldn't help but start to feel a small bit of regret.
Leporidae smiled at her, then started down the corridor before pausing.
"Owain," he called out, and Amber snapped her head up. "Was there something you needed from the Goat Locker? Because… I'm pretty sure you weren't here to see me."
Amber jumped. She had totally forgotten about the work order.
"Right! Um, I'm here to see my division commander, Chief Gunner's Mate Gilliam Carrizosa? We need to make some repairs to the main battery, and need him to sign off on a work order before we can do anything."
Leporidae nodded. "Yeah, he's the guy that just came in here, what, ten minutes ago? He just hit the sack, but given the circumstances, I'm sure he'll understand why he needed to be woken. Let me go get him."
"Thanks Chief," Amber said brightly, glad she didn't actually have to set foot inside the Goat Locker and get yelled at.
"Hey! Anytime, Owain."
Leporidae started to head back inside, but before he left, Amber was suddenly struck by an impulse.
"Chief?"
Leporidae turned around.
"My name is Amber," she told him.
"'Amber,'" he repeated. "I'll remember that. Job, by the way."
He pointed at himself then disappeared into the Goat Locker.
As he disappeared from sight, Amber resisted the urge to do a little dance. She couldn't wait until her shift was finally over so she could find Poolsie and let her know what just happened.
XXXXX
Northern Byzas, Thracia Province, Actium
May 7, 2545
0324
Adel
Adel quietly tore the wrapper to his MRE open and carelessly tossed it to the side. Extending his meal, he took a bite –
- and then immediate spat it out.
"You gotta be fucking kidding me," he snarled.
X looked up from his own meal.
"What? You got another shitty MRE?" he exclaimed.
Adel vigorously nodded his head, even as he tried to scrap his tongue clean. "This was supposed to be fucking bacon and eggs. I don't know what the fuck that was, but that shit was definitely not bacon. Fuck! How come this shit always fucking happens to me!?"
He looked up as Sam entered the room.
"Hey Corporal!" he immediately exclaimed before Sam could get a word in. "What's with the fucking MREs? How come they're all fucked up?"
"What's wrong with that one?" Sam asked, frowning.
"You try it!"
Sam glanced at X, who shrugged.
Shrugging to himself, Sam took the MRE Adel offered him and took a bite. Adel waited as he watched Sam chew.
"Hmm," Sam said. "Again I ask: what's wrong with this?"
Adel stared at him, incredulous. "That's supposed to be bacon and eggs."
"…which it is…"
"… Okay, I don't know what you're eating, but that's not fucking bacon," Adel insisted.
"Its military bacon," Sam explained. "It's got all sorts of preservatives, so its supposed to taste like this."
Adel was outraged.
"Of all the fucking foods in the universe," he began, "how the fuck do you fuck bacon up!"
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see X shrugging.
"As Confucius once said: 'Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.'"
Adel stared at him.
"I dunno what the fuck that has to do with anything, and I'm pretty sure you just said that to sound smart, but fuck you," Adel angrily accused, causing X to laugh.
"Hey, fuckhead," Sam said, drawing Adel's attention back to him. "You want this shit or not?" he asked, waving the meal around.
Adel snorted. "Fuck no. You can have it."
Sam shrugged and then, much to Adel's disgust, took another bite. "Thought you weren't allowed to eat pig products anyway."
Adel stared at him. "Why the fuck would you think that?"
"Aren't you Muslim?" Sam asked through a mouthful of food. "You're Algerian, aren't you?"
"Maybe my ancestors were," Adel reported with a snort. "But I don't think anyone in my family has actually bothered following any religion in like, five generations."
"Fair enough," Sam replied. "Think my grandparents were Bahá'ì, but no one in my family actually practices."
Adel grunted, not particularly interested in talks about religion.
"Man, we're in a city, right?" he groaned instead. "There's gotta be all sorts of restaurants and grocery stores and shit around, right? Why we gotta eat MREs? Can't we go out and get some actual food?"
"Sure," Sam indifferently replied, and Adel immediately got up but before he could go anywhere, Sam added, "Just don't do what Lieutenant Yates from Golf Company did."
X looked up. "Why? What happened?"
"Fucking dumbass butterbar had the same thought as Adel did," Sam began with a sneer. "Went to go steal a hamburger from the restaurant down the street. Only, he didn't fucking tell anyone. When he was coming back, sentries thought he was fucking Covenant, lit him the fuck up."
"Holy shit," X muttered. "Why the fuck didn't he say anything?"
"Heard he tried identifying himself. But a bunch of paratroopers were on guard duty, and they didn't know who the fuck he was," Sam explained, then paused. "Heard they hit him in the dick, man. Blew his fucking balls off."
Silence descended upon the room as both Adel and X gapped at him.
"That is fucked up," X succinctly summarized.
Sam gave a dark laugh.
"You're telling me," he said as he polished off the MRE and tossed the wrapper away.
Adel quietly sat back down, strangely no longer hungry.
For the next few moments, the three of them sat there in silence, lost in their own thoughts, until they heard the sound of footsteps approaching them. Adel looked up in time to see the redhead Army corpsman – Doc Westley, if Adel remembered correctly – enter the room. She looked around before her eyes zeroed in on Adel.
"You," she announced, pointing. "I've been looking for you."
"Really?" Adel squeaked, then immediately cleared his throat and adopted a deeper voice. "I mean, of course you were."
He gave her what he hoped was a suave smile, only it didn't seem to take as Westley fixed him with a disgusted look.
"Not like that, Private," she announced in a slightly exasperated tone. "I meant: I just wanted to check up on your hand."
Adel jumped and automatically glanced at his injured hand. He had honestly forgotten all about it at this point.
Feeling his cheeks begin to burn with embarrassment as Sam and X unabashedly began giggling in the background, Adel hastily stuck his hand out for Westley to take a look. He tried to put on a brave face, but he couldn't help but look away as Westley roughly began tearing away the bandages.
"Yeah, that's what I thought: biofoam has already broken down," she announced as she reached into her med kit and pulled out a can of biofoam. She shook it, only for it to let out an empty clung sound. She tossed it away with a slightly annoyed look, and pulled out a fresh one instead.
Extending the nozzle, Adel winced as the sensation of ants crawling under his skin began emanating from his injuries hand.
"How are you fixed for pain?" Westley asked as she put away the can and broke out a fresh bunch of bandages.
"I'm good," Adel said as stoically as he could. Westley fixed him with a hard gaze.
"If you're trying to impress me with how 'tough' you are, you should know that I just spent a month in the field with a bunch of paratroopers, many of whom tried to do the same thing you're doing now," she drily noted. "It didn't impress me back then; I guarantee it won't impress me now."
"Well… I could… probably… use some pain killers," Adel sheepishly admitted.
Westley nodded, as if that was what she was expecting, and pulled out some pills.
"Take two of these with water. Should take about fifteen minutes for it to kick in," she commanded. "Let me wrap up your hand in the meantime."
Adel nodded and did as he was told. He waited as Westley began wrapping a fresh band of bandages around his wound.
He looked up when someone else unexpectedly entered the room, and silently swore as he realized it was Lancelot.
"Don't get up," Lancelot commanded, even as Adel tried to do just that. "As you were gentlemen, as you were."
'Sir," Sam said in acknowledgement. "Something I can help you with, sir?"
"Nope," Lancelot simply said. "Just making my rounds, checking up on everyone. How's everyone doing? You guys able to get some breakfast?"
"Yes, sir," Sam and X replied, with Adel mumbling along.
"Could use with something else besides MREs though, sir," X noted.
Lancelot shrugged.
"Well, if you get a chance, feel free to scavenge from the various restaurants around the area: ain't nobody around to complain anymore," he reported. "Just be smart about it: don't do it in a way that will get you killed. Or worse."
Adel shivered and reflexively crossed his legs as Lancelot walked up to Sam.
"How are you fixed in terms of ammo, Corporal?" Adel heard him ask.
"Well, sir, we could always use more ammo," Sam replied.
"And rockets," X added.
"Especially if what you and Lieutenant Silva were saying in terms of this upcoming assault," Sam said. "Sounds like we're gonna need every bullet and grenade… and rocket, we can get our hands on. Problem will be trying to carry it all though. Don't want to overburden my Marines 'cause otherwise, we just won't be able to move."
Lancelot nodded.
"I can give you a couple of my guys," Lancelot declared. "Get them to act like ammo bearers."
"Works for me, sir. Won't hurt to have a couple of mules."
"Right. I'll arrange it."
Adel looked up as Lancelot walked over to him and Westley.
"How are you doing, Private?" he asked.
"Good, sir," Adel immediately replied.
"Just ready to get back into the fight," he added with as much enthusiasm he could muster.
"You'll get your chance, Marine," Lancelot assured him, before turning to Westley. "Doc, how's the leg?"
"I'm still good to go, sir," she quickly reported.
"Good to hear. But you let me know the moment that changes, alright?" Lancelot replied as he placed his hand on Westley's shoulder.
Adel winced as Westley put the final touches on his hand, but he wasn't so distract as to not notice how Lancelot's hand seemed to linger on Westley's shoulder a bit long than was necessary, and how Westley seemed to instinctually lean in closer to it. But before he could comment on it, X suddenly spoke up.
"Sir, I've been meaning to ask," he began, "but you guys are the 222nd Airborne Division, right?"
Lancelot withdrew his hand and glanced at him.
"Recognize the division shoulder sleeve insignia?" he asked, and X nodded. "Very good Lance Corporal. Don't know too many Marines that bother themselves with learning Army divisions. Yeah, we're 222nd."
"Oh, that's because I cheated a bit, sir," X modestly admitted. "I know someone in the unit."
"Yeah? Who? Maybe I know 'em."
X opened his mouth to reply, but before he could say anything –
"LT, this is Mauser."
Lancelot brought his hand up to his ear. "Go ahead."
"Sorry to bother you, sir, but I need you to come over to OP Six and take a look at something."
"Copy. I'll be right there."
Lowering his hand, Lancelot glanced around the room.
"If you haven't done so already, take this time to get some food and rest up," Lancelot commanded. "Word from up top is, once we start this attack, we're not going to stop until every one of these motherfuckers are dead. No matter how long that might take. I'll send the two guys over as soon as I can, Corporal, though I should warn you I can't guarantee their quality: I've only got so many paratroopers to go around."
"As long as they don't shoot us in the fucking back, sir, or accidently blow themselves up; I'll take whatever I can get," Sam stated.
"You might regret saying that," Lancelot pointed out somewhat sardonically. "But alright. Gentlemen."
"Sir, if you don't mind, I'd like to tag along," Westley suddenly said as she climbed to her feet.
Lancelot shrugged.
"Sure, why not Doc," he said, sounding somewhat indifferent, but there was no masking the way his eyes seemed to light up at the suggestion.
Adel watched the two of them leave the room, and he couldn't help but shake his head in disgust. No wonder Westley wasn't impressed with him: she already got dazzled by someone else. And of course it was the fucking lieutenant.
For a brief moment, Adel thought about reporting them, as he was pretty sure what they were doing was against military regulations, but then he mentally shrugged. Whatever; it wasn't his fucking problem. And besides: Adel had a feeling that if they lost Lancelot for whatever reason, Silva would use that opportunity to take over. And even in the short time Adel had known the two men, he could tell Lancelot was by far the more rational of the two. So maybe it was better this way.
Mind made up, Adel reached into his bag for another MRE. Hopefully he'd get a bit luckier this time around. Worse came to worse, he could always just ratfuck the deserts and save the main entrees for another day.
XXXXX
Central Byzas, Thracia Province
May 7, 2545
0349
Selene
Selene clutched her blanket around her a bit tighter as she trudged through the snow. Unfortunately, at this point, she was no longer entirely sure where she was going.
At the urging of Shin, she had led them back to the nearest subway station, in the hopes that it would lead them back underground where they could wait out the coming barrage. Unfortunately, either the fighting in the city had been far worse than Selene had realized, or when the UNSC had blown up the subway station, they had done a very thorough job, as not only had the station she had led them to been completely obliterated, so too had been the next two stations they had attempted to get to.
With the threat of impending doom literally hanging over their heads, and not knowing how much time they had before the coming storm finally arrived, in desperation, Selene had suggested taking shelter under the Ellison Bridge. The bridge would be nowhere as secured as being underground, however Selene did know that several of the concrete piers had metal storage shelters embedded directly into them that were mostly hidden from the public eye; due to the site being a rather popular place among homeless people to obtain illicit drugs, Selene had been there multiple times in her capacity as an officer of the law and thus, was fairly familiar with the area.
Or, at least, she thought she did. Unfortunately with how badly damaged this city was, a lot of landmarks and signs Selene normally depended on to find her way around were gone. As a result, at this point, she was just kind of stumbling around in the dark.
And when she said stumbling, she literally meant stumbling.
"Whoa! Careful there," Shin quietly called out as he managed to catch Selene right before she fell flat onto her face.
"Thanks," she mumbled as she regained her footing. She glanced down at her feet. Though it was too hard to actually see, she could tell her feet were completely soaked. Her boots were supposed to be waterproof, but they weren't exactly rubber galoshes, and were probably never intended to be soaked like this.
"We got to stop," she declared. "My feet are completely soaked, and they're freezing up. If I don't find some way to dry them up, I'm going to get frostbit."
"Nonsense," Shin retorted. "You need a few more hours of exposure before we need to start worrying about that. Just keep going. Besides, we're almost there."
"How would you know?" Selene grumbled, even as she took another step. "I'm not even sure where we are anymore. And this is your first time in the city."
"First time, yes," Shin confirmed, "but we did several flyovers of the city before finally landing. Saw the bridge a couple of times – hard to miss, being the largest bridge in the city and all that. But I do remember seeing that building in the general vicinity of the bridge."
He pointed at a nearby building, but either it was too dark or Selene was looking at the wrong one, as the one she was staring at looked no differently from another of the other buildings surrounding it.
"So, we should be seven? ten? blocks away," he finished.
Selene couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in disbelief at that.
"Pretty big margin for error," she noted.
"Well, I was measuring from the air so, you know, did the best I could."
Selene frowned, but didn't say a word. Given that she didn't know where they were, even though she should have, she didn't exactly have room to complain. Hopefully though they would come across something that she could recognize, and confirm whether or not Shin was correct. After that, then they could figure out the best way of protecting themselves from the upcoming UNSC bombardment.
Speaking of which…
"So," Selene began. "Question about this attack: how do we know when it begins? Will there be some sort of signal? Like a flare or an air raid siren?"
"Yes, Officer Riddle: in an effort to warn people, UNSC will announce over the radio the exact moment they're going to start attacking," Shin sarcastically replied. "But wait! If we did that, wouldn't the Covenant know about it too?"
"I was just asking," Selene snapped, more than slightly annoyed by Shin's sarcasm. "I don't know how these things work. I'm not in the military, so I've never seen or participated in something like this."
"Fair enough," Shin admitted. "No, there's not going to be a signal. Basically, as part of the planning stages, High Command will determine what time they want the attack to start, and everyone has until that time to get ready: bring up ammo, find targets, set their sights, or whatever. Then, once the appointed time – or 'H-hour' as we call it – arrives, maybe there'll be an announcement over the radio, but for the most part, everyone just opens up at the same time, to try and maximize surprise."
"This is why I'm saying we really need to find shelter because the moment the bombardment begins, there's not going to be any warning; one moment it'll be quiet, the next, fucking explosions everywhere. Be like the goddamn apocalypse."
Selene couldn't help but shiver at the thought. But then again, maybe it would be better that way: instantly being killed by something she never saw coming, as opposed to being killed by a danger she should have seen, but somehow missed.
With her question so thoroughly answered, Selene found she didn't really have anything else to ask, so instead, she pulled her blanket a bit tighter against herself and did her best to warm up. But unfortunately, it was a pointless battle. At this point, she was so cold, she was finding it hard to shiver. She didn't think she'd ever been this cold in her life before; sure, she had worked snow days before, mostly directing traffic when the traffic lights failed for whatever reason, but she could usually retreat back into her warm patrol car if worse came to worse. Right now though, there was no such relief, and the cold was absolutely relentless.
They continued to trudge through the snow, all the while Selene felt her body grow more and more numb. Finally, she decided she couldn't take it anymore.
"So," she began, both in an effort to distract herself from the cold, as well as fill the silent void that had sprung up between them. "Where are you from anyways?"
Shin snorted.
"Question of my life," she heard him mutter. More loudly though, he said, "I'm from all over."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I'm a military brat. My old man was a sergeant major in the Army. Got stationed all over the UNSC," Shin explained. "We were constantly on the move. Never stayed in one place for very long. Longest time we spent in one place was, I think, Tribute, for two years. Aside from that: all over. Colonies, planets, moons, even a couple space stations - you name it."
"That… must have been rough," Selene said, sympathetically.
"Not really," Shin said with a verbal shrug. "Sure, I didn't have any friends growing up, but I learned how to be independent real quick. Plus, I quickly found ways to entertain myself."
"Well, at least you had your family…?" Selene started to say, but as she turned around, she saw Shin shaking his head. "No?"
"No siblings of any kind. Mom walked out when I was three, leaving my dad to raise me alone. Only, he was kind of an asshole who didn't know how to deal with kids. So, he treated me like one of his soldiers. Only, guess what dad! Can't treat kids like that!" Shin shook his head, as if shaking off a bad memory. "He ended up shipping me off to military school the moment I turned fourteen, which was both good and bad for different reasons. Kept pushing me to join the military, so I ended up joining the Air Force, just to spite him."
"Dad always took the military rivalries a bit too far," Shin mused. "Never thought he would disown me for it."
"Oh man, I'm sorry to hear that," Selene exclaimed, regretting asking this question, but Shin waved his hand dismissively.
"At this point in my life, it's all water under the bridge," he assured her. "But enough about me: what about you? I get the feeling you're not a native of this colony."
"You got good instincts then," Selene compliment. "No, I'm not from Actium."
"Where from then?"
"Reach."
"'Reach!?'" Shin exclaimed. "You're from fucking Reach!? As in, heart of the UNSC, Reach?"
"There's only one colony called Reach," Selene pointed out. "But yeah, that one."
"Then what the fuck are you doing on some ass backwards colony like this one!?" Shin immediately exclaimed.
"Hey! Actium isn't that bad!" Selene retorted, before glancing around. "I mean, it wasn't."
"It is compared to fucking Reach. Jeez, everybody wants to move to fucking Reach. Never met someone who wanted to leave."
"Well… to be honest… I didn't exactly have a choice," Selene reluctantly admitted.
That caught Shin's attention, and he immediately looked interested, but Selene quickly shook her head.
"Not that interested in going over it now," she told him. "Maybe some other time."
"It better be a good fucking story, holy shit," she heard Shin mutter. "Everyone wants to go there, 'pecially nowadays. The one fucking place in the galaxy the Covenant couldn't attack 'cause they'd get their asses handed to them, and she wanted to leave?"
Selene didn't say a word. Instead, she looked up as she spotted Ellison Bridge abruptly looming out of the darkness, and she mutely let out a sigh of relief. Maybe once they got settled in, she would actually be able to take off her boots and take care of her feet.
Taking a moment to regain her bearings, Selene led Shin towards one of the shelters she remembered that was nearby.
"You sure this place is going to be safe?" she heard Shin asking as she searched for the entrance.
"Not sure," Selene admitted, "as I've never been shot at by heavy artillery. But we've had a couple of gunfights with drug dealers in the past before around here, and we've seen rifle rounds hit these doors and fail to make it through. So… I think so?"
"Well, that doesn't tell me anything," Shin grumbled. "As a general rule of thumb, police rounds have a tendency to be underloaded as you guys have to worry about silly things like 'over penetration.'"
Selene would have rolled her eyes, but at this point, she was getting completely numb, both physically, and to Shin's more callous nature. Instead, she looked around for the door.
As the storage areas were just that, intended for storage, they weren't supposed to be easily seen by the public. Because of that, Selene had to search a couple of piers for the right one, but eventually she found what she was looking for.
"Here we go," Selene said as she grabbed the handle and moved to open it.
"Hang on Riddle," she vaguely heard Shin say from behind her, sounding concerned, as she wretched the door open. "Something's not – "
Before Selene could respond, a dark shadow immediately leapt out from the room and slammed into her!
Selene hit the ground hard, but fortunately the snow mostly cushioned her fall. Adrenaline spiking, Selene immediately retaliated, and without thinking, head-butted the figure as hard as she could in the face. With her head as numb as it was, it didn't hurt as much as it could have, but Selene still felt the blow. Nevertheless, she was at least able to knock the figure off her, at least long enough for her to regain her bearings.
Very much aware that the figure was only slightly stunned, and not yet neutralized, Selene hurriedly patted the ground around her, looking for a weapon but coming short so she instead grabbed a handful of snow and hurtled straight into her attacker's eyes. The figure reeled back, giving Selene a chance to trip him, knocking him to the ground. She quickly scrambled up to her feet, reached down to her waistband, and ripped out her sidearm. She leveled it, and was just about to pull the trigger –
"WAIT! I'm human, HUMAN!"
Selene immediately lowered her firearm, panting hard as she stared at the figure cowering on the ground in front of her. It took her a few seconds to calm down enough to process what she was seeing: a young man – well, more like a boy, really – wearing a thick blanket with a small backpack strapped to his chest, and covering his head as he eyed the gun in Selene's hands with a panicked expression.
Selene slowly exhaled, causing a small cloud of steam to form in front of her.
"Fuck," she mouthed as she tried her best to calm down. Putting her gun away, she took a step back, only to violently flinch as she sensed someone moving beside her, but it was only Shin. She immediately glared at him.
"Thanks for the help," she grumbled. Shin shrugged.
"What'd you want me to do? You were in the way," he noted, and as much as it annoyed her, Selene had to admit he had a point. "So, what do we have here?"
Having finally calmed down enough to think straight, Selene glanced back at the boy, only to see that he had backed up a bit, and was now eyeing both her and Shin with a weary expression.
Mentally sighing, Selene shot Shin a look, one where she tried to convey the fact that she wanted to deal with this, and that he should keep his mouth shut, before slowly dropping down into a crouch to make herself look less threatening. She tried to call forth all the police training she had on dealing with traumatized people, before slowly lifting her hands to show that she was unarmed.
"Hi," she said in a soft but gentle voice. "My name is Officer Selene Riddle. I'm sorry about what happened just now. Are you alright? Do you need some first aid?"
The kid stared at her, then slowly shook his head.
"No, I'm okay," he said, and Selene noted how hoarse he sounded.
Selene glanced at him skeptically, but didn't try to contradict him. Instead, she simply nodded and asked, "Do mind telling us your name?"
The boy stared at, almost incomprehensibly, before nodding.
"Clifton Roer, ma'am" he said. "But everyone calls me Cliff."
Selene nodded, then gave him a warm smile.
"It's nice to meet you Cliff," she said, and then fell silent. What was she supposed to do now again?
Looking around, Selene spotted the open door to the storage shelter, and suddenly realize that was probably where Cliff had been hiding in. She nodded in the direction of door.
"Were you hiding inside one of those storage rooms? To try and take cover from the Covenant?" she gently asked and watched as Cliff nodded. "We – " she gestured at Shin " – had been hoping to do the same thing. Do you mind if we join you?"
She glanced at Cliff and watched as a range of emotions flash over his face, and he seemed to cling to his backpack just a bit tighter. For a moment, Selene was sure he was going to decline, and she was just about ready to nod and walk away to find someplace else to take cover in, when Cliff reluctantly nodded.
"Thanks!" Selene said as brightly as she could, and waited until Cliff climbed to his feet before following him into the room.
Walking up to the room, Selene was immediately blasted by a wave of heat, and she couldn't help but close her eyes and let out a groan of pleasure.
Behind her, she could hear Shin walking up and looking around.
"Nice place you got here," he said with a hint of sarcasm. "Warm and cozy. Don't know about that fire though: that's probably going to light up every single thermal sensor in the city."
Selene's eyes snapped open and looked around wildly. Sure enough, sitting in a small depression in the middle of the room, was a small fire, the source of all the heat. Suddenly feeling concerned, Selene glanced at Shin, but before he could say anything, Cliff spoke up.
"There's fires burning all over the city, dude," he pointed out. "Why would the Covenant care about this one?"
Selene had to admit, Cliff had a point. But at the same time, as much as she wanted to enjoy the warmth, she didn't want it to come at the cost of her life.
She glanced at Shin, but Shin didn't seem to have anyway to dispute what Cliff said as all he did was shrug, before walking over to the fire. Just before he sat down though, Selene noticed him sweeping to the ground and picking something up. What it was, Selene couldn't tell. Nor did she find herself really caring as she was too excited at the chance to actual be able to warm herself up.
Gleefully plopping herself down next to the fire, Selene immediately took off her boots. Easing her soaked socks off, she carefully laid them out on the ground near the fire to try and dry them out, before massaging her feet in an effort to restore some blood flow to them. For a few moments, all three of them just sat there, trying to get warm.
As Selene sat there though, she couldn't help but notice Shin was staring at Cliff with a rather intense look on his face. She glanced at him, trying to figure out what was up, but Shin refused to so much as even glance in her direction. Instead, he just glared at Cliff, and Selene could tell Cliff had noticed as he was beginning to shuffle in his seat rather uncomfortably.
"So, Cliff," Selene conversationally began in order to break the uncomfortable silence that was beginning to settle across the room. "If you don't mind me asking, how'd you know about this place?"
Cliff glanced at her with a nervous look on his face. "Um… I used to hang out here after class with my buddies, uh, smoking cigarettes so our parents didn't find out."
"Oh, you a native of this area?" Selene asked. "Where from?"
"Edgewood," Cliff quietly replied. "Out – "
"West," Selene finished. "Yeah! I'm pretty familiar with that area. Used to patrol there when I first became a city police officer. Nice neighborhood. Still go there every now and then; there's this one donut shop that I really liked to go to. You familiar with Buckers over on 11th?"
Cliff frowned as he quickly turned away from Shin to stare at Selene.
"The one with all those cream filled fritules?" he nervously suggested.
"That's the one!" Selene encouragingly replied.
Cliff bobbed his head as he slowly became more animated. "Oh, yeah. Yeah, it was my Scoutmaster – Horacio Hoffman – it was his favorite place too. Used to bring us there every time after a meet, though less so after the store changed owners."
Selene frowned.
"'Horacio Hoffman,'" she quietly repeated. "That name sounds familiar to me. Wasn't he… wasn't he that one legged former Army medic?"
Cliff visibly brightened.
"You knew Mister Hoffman?" he excited said.
Selene nodded, then hesitated.
"Not personally," she admitted. "But I know he used to volunteer – like, all the time – for all the community outreach programs and festivals my department used to – "
"What the fuck are you doing here?"
Both Selene and Cliff jumped at Shin's unexpected question. Frowning at the open hostility in his voice, Selene shot a questioning look in his direction, however Shin either didn't see it, or was outright ignoring her. Instead, all he was doing was staring intently at Cliff, specifically the bag he was hugging against his chest.
Wondering where both the hostility and the question had come from, Selene nevertheless glanced over in Cliff's direction, about to tell him he didn't need to answer that question if he didn't feel like it, but before she could –
"I'm, uh, I'm… um… am hiding from the Covenant," he stammered.
That caused Selene to shut her mouth, and she couldn't help but shift her gaze from Shin over to Cliff. Just based on the way he had worded that, it was clear to Selene that he was lying. What she couldn't figure out though, was why he would need to lie about something like that.
Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one to notice as Shin let out a loud derisive snort.
"Yeah, right…" he sneered. "I'm not a fucking idiot you know; what the fuck are you really doing here?"
Selene could see Cliff glancing in her direction, obviously asking for help, but Selene found she really couldn't offer any. Instead, she glanced back and forth between Shin and Cliff, and she couldn't help but feel like she was missing something. Why did Shin seemed so pissed off, and why would Cliff feel the need to lie about something so simple? If he wasn't hiding from the Covenant, then what was he doing here?
And yet, try as she could, Selene simply couldn't think of an alternative explanation, so instead, she kept silent, and waited for an answer.
Seeing no help forthcoming from her, Cliff deflated.
"I'm trying to find my parents," he finally admitted, and this time Selene could tell he was being honest. Yet, despite this, his answer caused her frown to only deepen; after all, there was nothing wrong with that answer. So… why didn't he just lead with that?
"Your parents?" Selene repeated, in an effort to distract herself from the oddity of the situation, as well as an effort to reclaim control of the conversation. "You got separated from them?"
"Not… exactly," Cliff admitted. "They were at work when the Covenant made landfall."
Selene nodded. Right. That made sense. That would explain why Cliff was alone at the moment. But… now that she thought of it, what was Cliff even still doing here in this part of the city? Shouldn't he have been evacuated with the rest of the civilians hours ago? Unless of course he got caught behind enemy lines like Selene and Shin did, which seemed to be the most obvious explanation. But if that was the case, why didn't he just say so?
"Where did your parents work?" Selene asked.
"At the factory on 21st and Ticonderoga?"
Selene immediately felt her blood run cold at that, and she reflexively glanced in Shin's direction, but he was still staring rather intently at Cliff, leaving her to break the news to him by herself.
"Cliff…" she slowly began. "I… I don't know how to break this to you, but… that was, like, the first place the Covenant hit…"
To Selene's surprise, Cliff began nodding.
"I know," he confessed. "But… it's my parents. I gotta… I gotta try and find them, regardless." Then he glanced at Selene with a hopeful expression on his face. "Maybe… maybe you guys could help me?"
"Yeah…" Shin dragged out. "I don't think so."
Without warning, he pulled out a gun and pointed it straight at Cliff.
Selene jumped and looked around wildly. Where did…
With a start, she realized that was actually her gun, and she reflexively reached down to her waistband. Naturally, her firearm wasn't there.
"Shin, what are you doing!?" Selene hissed even as she mentally tried to recover. "Put that fucking gun away!"
Shin didn't respond and instead, just stared at Cliff with a dark look on his face.
"Dude; what the hell!?" Cliff demanded to know, his eyes wide with fear.
"Shut the fuck up you goddamn traitor. You don't get to speak unless I fucking let you, understand?" Shin hissed, causing Selene to jump.
"Traitor? Shin, what are you – "
Selene reflexively caught the item that Shin tossed at her, and she realized it was the object he had picked up from the ground when they first entered the room. Looking it over, Selene realized it was an insignia of some sorts.
"You know what that is?" Shin asked.
"A jackalope insignia?" she suggested, glancing on the image embroidered on one side.
"It's the SSI of the UNSC Army's 222nd Airborne Division," Shin replied. "Remember that body we found a few hours ago lying in the snow? It's the same unit that arrived in the city just yesterday. His unit."
"'His unit?' What are you…"
Selene trailed off as Shin stalked forward and grabbed the small bag Cliff was clinging onto. With a gun still pointed at his face, there wasn't anything Cliff could do to protest as Shin overturned the bag and out came –
A military uniform.
"This is yours, ain't it?" Shin sneered as he tossed the jacket over to Selene for her to look at. "Don't even try and deny it motherfucker, it's got your name all over."
Turning the jacket over, sure enough, Selene spotted the name tag that read "Roer."
"I… I don't understand," Selene admitted.
"This motherfucker is a goddamn deserter," Shin sneered. "Where are your teammates, motherfucker? Do you even know if they're still alive? I bet not 'cause you fucking ditched them!"
He half-turned to Selene to address her, while keeping one eye on Cliff.
"This fucker here probably ditched his teammates while they were under fire. If he's willing to ditch his buddies while under fire, what do you think he would have done to us when shit hit the fan?" he pointed out. "No, we're better off without him. In fact, I should probably do everyone a favor and shoot him right now!"
He lifted the gun, as if to shoot and alarmed, Selene quickly grabbed the slide, shoving it backwards a bit, just enough to put the gun out of battery.
"Shin, enough!" she insisted, and glared at him until he relented. "Give me the damn gun."
Shin looked annoyed, but at Selene's insistent look, relented.
Carefully removing her pistol from Shin's hand, Selene quickly put it away before turned back to Cliff.
"Cliff," she quietly began, "is this all true?"
Cliff didn't say a word, but Selene could see tears pouring down his face, and he reluctantly nodded.
Selene slowly inhaled as she tried to think of what to do. This was all too much for her to deal with right now. Normally she wasn't one to judge people for their mistakes, but unfortunately there was too much at stake right now to be in the forgiving mood. Plus, with Shin apparently about ready to murder the man… perhaps it was best they go their separate ways.
"I think," Selene mutely began, "that it's in everyone's best interest that we go our separate ways. And I think it's in your best interest," she said pointedly at Cliff, "if you don't follow us."
Cliff didn't say a word. He only sat there, crying, and Selene felt a surge of pity towards him.
"But," she added, "seeing as how you were here first, we'll leave."
Out of the corner of her eye, Selene noticed Shin's head snapping in her direction, but she ignored him.
Grabbing her still damp socks and sliding them onto her feet, she tossed on her boots and climbed to her feet.
"Good luck," was all she could think to say.
Cliff didn't say a word in response, but as she and Shin headed to the door, he suddenly called out, "I… I was just looking for my family!"
Before Selene could stop him, Shin whirled around.
"Look, asshole: we're all trying to survive here," he snapped. "But we didn't turn our backs on our friends in the process. You did. Fuck you."
And with that, he marched out of the room.
Selene lingered around for a moment to throw Cliff a sympathetic look, but Cliff didn't even look her. Instead, he hung his head and didn't make a noise as Selene slid the door shut behind her.
Joining Shin, they took off down the street.
It wasn't until they had gotten about a block away before Shin suddenly spoke up.
"Well," he brightly began, and to Selene's surprise, absolutely none of the murderous rage he had directed at Cliff was present. "That was exciting. But we lost our safe room. Now – "
Selene punched him. As hard as she could. It left her knuckles sporting, but it at least cause Shin to stumble, and he fell to his knees.
"Don't EVER do that again," she snapped. "And don't touch my gun without my permission either ever again, got it!?"
"Alright," Shin mumbled as he massaged his jaw. "Fair enough. Point made. You got it. You're in charge."
Selene stared at him, suspicious at how quickly he had given in. Nevertheless, there wasn't much she could do aside from nod her head. One was thing was sure though:
- the sooner she got out of this city and specifically, away from Shin, the better off she would be.
XXXXX
Camp Hoxha, Thracia Province
May 7, 2545
0407
Marcus
Marcus sat on an overturned ammo box inside the warehouse, staring through the open bay door, watching as the quartermasters load up his rig with boxes upon boxes of 120mm mortar shells. He supposed he should be out there, helping them like Dresden and Orlović were doing instead of just sitting here playing with a carabiner clip, but he found that he just… couldn't.
It wasn't like he didn't know what was going on. They just had just been briefed, so Marcus knew that in about one and half hours, the entire UNSC Army was going to attack the Covenant. And that, as part of that attack, the Army was planning on practically leveling the city with heavy artillery. But in order to do that, the troops on the front were going to need ammo. A lot of it. Which Marcus and his entire battalion was to provide.
All of this made sense to Marcus. He was in a logistical unit, therefore his job was to provide logistics. What he just couldn't comprehend was… why.
He knew he was being childish. He knew he was being ridiculous. But for some reason, after having survived a full day of combat yesterday, mentally, Marcus had kind of assumed that… his part was done. That he could go home and recover from all the horrors he had seen. And it wasn't really until he had seen Orlović loading up his machine gun again did it occur to him that: Marcus had to go back out there. Out into the wild west. Out into the unknown where so many people, good people, had been hurt or killed. That… he had gotten lucky yesterday, making it out unscathed. But who was to say that luck would continue to hold today?
Marcus was only nineteen years old. His life had barely begun. He still had so much to see, so much to do. Simply put: he didn't want to die. He didn't want to go out there because if he did, then the chances of him dying started to get really high. At the same time, if he didn't go out there…
Well, he didn't know what would happen to him. But surely it wouldn't be as bad as dying, right?
A heavy hand landed on Marcus' shoulder, causing him to jump, but Dresden didn't seem to notice. Instead, he let out a loud groan as he eased himself onto the ground next to Marcus.
"Gawd, growing old sucks," he complained as he removed his rifle from around his shoulders and placed it on his lap. "But I guess that's the cost of living, right? How you doing Marcus?"
Marcus nervously glanced at him and opened his mouth to speak, but found he couldn't really find his words.
"I'm a… I'm a… I'm a…" was all he could say.
Dresden immediately turned to him with a concerned look on his face. "Olsen. You alright?"
"I'm a…" Marcus stammered as he tugged at his collar. Was it just him, or was the room getting really warm.
"Marcus, you're beginning to hyperventilate. Stick your head between your knees."
Feeling like the room was beginning to spin, Marcus proceeded to do just that.
"Now breathe with me, Marcus. Inhale."
Dresden loudly inhaled and Marcus found himself following along.
"And exhale."
Marcus exhaled alongside Dresden.
"Again. Breathe… exhale. Breathe… exhale."
Marcus took another deep breath, and then released it slowly.
"Good. Keep breathing like that until the room stabilizes, okay?"
From between his knees, Marcus nodded as he took another deep breath. Breathe… exhale. Breathe… exhale.
After a few moments of doing just that, he spotted Dresden looking at him from underneath the crook of his knee.
"Still with me Marcus?" Dresden asked, his concern clear and evident in his voice. Marcus nodded. "Alright. Well, sit up when you feel like you can, alright?"
Marcus nodded and continued to do his breathing exercises as Dresden's face disappeared.
Breathe… exhale. Breathe… exhale. Breathe… exhale.
After a few more minutes of doing that, Marcus finally got to the point where he no longer felt like he was going to pass out, so he decided to sit up once more. Almost immediately, he spotted Dresden patiently sitting on the ground to his left, idly loading a rifle mag, and the sight nearly caused another panic attack in Marcus, but this time he was able to control it and force it down.
Dresden looked up.
"Feel better now?" he asked, a warm smile on his face. Marcus miserably nodded. "Okay. Do you… wanna talk about it?"
If Marcus was being honest, the answer would have been not really, as he didn't want Dresden to think less of him than he already did. At the same time, if there was some way Marcus could avoid going out onto the road again, if there was some option, he had to know.
"Sarge," he softly began. "Is there… some way… I could… not go out today?"
He warily glanced at Dresden to see his reaction. To his relief, Dresden was staring back at him without a hint of judgement on his face. Unfortunately, he also didn't appear to be very optimistic.
"I'm sorry, Marcus," he said, and Marcus got the feeling he really meant it. "But unfortunately, after yesterday's losses, we no longer have the personnel to spare. We need everybody, including you."
Marcus felt like… well, he didn't know whether he wanted to cry or… or… what.
"You're nervous about going back out there, aren't you."
"I just thought… after everything we went through… I dunno. I thought we would get a break or something," Marcus confessed, and Dresden sadly shook his head.
"I'm afraid it doesn't work that way," he quietly said. "The Covenant aren't just going to let us take a day off, and… well, at this point, it's a race to see who attacks first: us, or them."
"See, that's the thing about war that people aren't quite able to grasp," Dresden continued. "War isn't just a 'one and done' thing. It's not a hundred meter dash where you're done in less than fifteen minutes. It's more like a marathon; you keep going for hours and hours and you keep at it and you keep at it because if you don't, you'll never win the race. But even then, it doesn't just end there because immediately afterwards, you have another marathon to run. And then another. And you keep going and by the time you collapse, you realized you've just run over a thousand kilometers."
"And I think that's the hardest thing about being a soldier. It's not the fighting or the blood or even the shouting and the orders. It's the fact that, once you're in the shit, it's relentless. It's nonstop and never ending. Day in and day out, you face the same issues, the same horrors, and you struggle to stay alert because otherwise you die, but at the same time, you have to figure out how to deal because otherwise you go insane…"
Dresden silently trailed off, leaving Marcus slightly discouraged. This was part of the reason why he never wanted to be a soldier. He didn't need this stress in his life. He didn't… want it.
"How do you deal with something like that?" he couldn't help but ask.
That seemed to stir Dresden from his stupor, and he glanced at Marcus with a sad look on his face.
"Unfortunately, that's something you gotta figure out on your own; I can't tell you how to deal. I can only tell you my method, but unfortunately, it might not work for you."
Marcus nodded in understanding, before glancing down at the floor. For a moment, no one said anything until –
"How do you deal with it?" Marcus finally asked.
Dresden gave him a wiry grin.
"By reminding myself," he began, "of what the Covenant took from me."
"6TH PLATOON, MOUNT UP! WE'RE MOVING OUT!"
Both Marcus and Dresden looked up as their platoon sergeant, Sergeant First Class Lindsay Scott, came walking into the room shouting at the top of her lungs. At once, everyone began to stir.
Dresden let out a mute sigh, before awkwardly climbing to his feet.
"Well, time to go earn a paycheck I guess," he glibly announced, before leaning towards Marcus. "You think you're going to be up for this?"
"No," Marcus flat out admitted. "But… I don't have a choice, do I?"
Dresden sighed.
"'Fraid not. Just… try and take it one step at a time, alright? Just focus on driving, and don't think of anything else."
Marcus nodded. Then, very reluctantly, he got up and headed out to the HEMTT with Dresden in tow.
"There you guys are! I was wondering where you fuckers were!" Orlović loudly greeted as Marcus and Dresden climbed into the cab. "What the fuck took you guys so long?"
"What, didn't you hear?" Dresden immediately retorted. "If the Covenant are fifteen minutes late to the war, then we don't have to fight at all."
Orlović let out an appreciative chuckle.
"Man, if it was only that easy," he declared, before zeroing on Marcus. "Marcus! You ready for this shit?"
Marcus nodded, doing his best to try and hide his uncertainty, but unfortunately it didn't seem to work as he could feel Orlović staring at him with a judgmental look, and Marcus shuffled uncomfortably.
"Meh," Dresden said as he slammed his door shut. "You've got time. Let's hit the road folks!"
Marcus nodded and thumb the ignition button. Immediately, the HEMTT roared to life. Thumbing on the night vision setting of his goggles, Marcus waited for the other vehicles in the convoy to pull out first, before falling in line.
Pulling out from the base gates, the entire convoy made their way towards Highway 270, and it wasn't long before Marcus found himself heading due north. Back towards the frontline. Back towards hell.
It was mostly quiet inside the cab; perhaps because it was still very early in the morning, but neither Dresden nor Orlović seemed particularly interested in talking with Marcus or with each other. That was something Marcus was actually fairly grateful for, as that allowed him to focus his sole attention on driving. He needed to, not only because it helped distract him from thinking about what he was getting himself into, but also because the road was actually kind of slippery – while this area hadn't seen too much snowfall overnight, the roads had refrozen, and with the invasion, virtually all civilian services had been suspended which meant no salt had been laid.
As they steadily plodded down the road, Marcus made sure to keep his focus on the truck in front of him, doing his best not to look around too much in case he spotted something lurking in the darkness. He tried to take some comfort on the fact that unlike yesterday, they weren't in the front of the column, but closer to the center, which meant they were surrounded by friendlies, but it didn't help very much. Nothing could really change the fact that Marcus knew, with every meter they drove, they traveled closer and closer to potential danger.
The sudden crackling of the radio caused Marcus to jump in fright, and he automatically started wildly looking around for some place to hide, but fortunately before he could do anything crazy, Dresden reached over and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Even through his goggles, Marcus could see the concerned look on Dresden's face, and Marcus did his best to remain calm.
Without saying a word, Dresden grabbed the radio and brought it up to his ear. Marcus couldn't hear what was being said as Dresden was feeding the report through his headset, but as he lowered the receiver, his face was drawn and grim, and at that sight, Marcus felt a fresh wave of terror pass through him.
"Alright guys, listen up!" Dresden called out, breaking the silence that had engulfed the entire cabin. "Getting reports of Covenant Skirmishers roving the highway, raiding some of our supply convoys. 2nd Platoon just got hit outside of milestone twenty-five, which is a bit aways from us, but there could be more out there. Weapons: get them ready and be prepared for anything."
Marcus nodded, then nervously glanced down at his rifle, which was sitting in its cradle in the door. Glancing at the illuminated ammo counter, he could see his rifle was locked and loaded, which was good. Hopefully he wouldn't be needing it.
Overhead, he could hear Orlović racking his machine gun a couple of times, and as he glanced out the window, Marcus happened to noticed they were passing a milestone that read: KM Thirty-five. He shivered.
"Easy there Marcus," he heard Dresden say soothingly. "No need to worry just yet, okay? We're still twelve klicks out, and there's a pretty good chance the Covenant will be gone by the time we arrive. So… stay cool, alright?"
Marcus mutely nodded, assured by Dresden's confidence. Those were pretty good points.
KABOOM!
Marcus jumped in his seat as a brilliant blue explosion ripped through the underside of the lead vehicle! At the same time, green plasma bolts and purple needles began raining down on the entire convoy from all directions! The radio promptly burst into chatter as everyone started simultaneously speaking.
"Contact, CONTACT!"
"Where the fuck are they!"
"…6-6 is down, I say again, 6-6 is…"
"Left side, left side!"
"Man, me and my big mouth!" Dresden yelped as he brought his rifle to bear. "Orlović, you got eyes on!?"
"NEGATIVE! I AIN'T GOT A SOURCE!"
"Marcus, keep your foot on the accelerator and get us out of this mess! Orlović, keep your eyes peeled and as soon as you get eyes on, you're cleared hot to engage: don't wait for me!" Dresden roared as he grabbed the radio. "Net call, net call: all stations, keep this net clear, break! 6-1 to 6-2: do not stop the convoy, I say again, do NOT STOP!"
"Shit!" Marcus couldn't help but yelp as a trio of plasma bolts splattered against the windshield.
"Marcus! You good?" he heard Dresden yell.
"Yeah!" Marcus automatically yelled back.
"Alright, well, keep your head down and keep moving!" Dresden commanded. "As long as we don't stop, we'll be – "
CRACK!
Without warning, a single purple crystal came lancing through the weakened windshield and slammed right into Dresden's head.
1. MAC: according to Halopedia, a Halberd-class destroyer like the UNSC Gabrielle is equipped with two MACs of different sizes: one that is 1170mm (46") in diameter, and a smaller 647mm (25.5") one. For the purpose of this story, I've decided that the Gabrielle is an older variant of the Halberd class, and only comes equipped with one large MAC.
I did this because I've noticed when I'm writing about Tariq and the twin-barreled Grizzly MBTs, for some reason I find it really hard to keep track of both barrels. (As in, I'm constantly forgetting about the second one.) So, for the sake of my own sanity, I'm just saying the Gabrielle comes equipped with one barrel, and one MAC.
2. Job Leporidae: originally, Leporidae was supposed to be a throwaway character, but as I was planning out the rest of the story, I realized I could actually use him. Otherwise, I would have given him a different first name as I generally don't like my main secondary characters sharing the same name (in this case, he shares the same first name with one of my characters from MIA, Private Job Griffin.)