Chapter 8: The Calm
Firebase Sherman
"Captain Wellings."
"Sir?" Karla looked up from her makeshift desk and saw Major Mackenzie standing over her.
"You've been up for the past eighteen hours. Now, I know that you've been trained to stay awake for longer periods of time, but seriously, no sane officer would pass up an opportunity to get some rest." Mackenzie pointed out the open door. "I suggest you take this opportunity to get some sleep."
"But sir," Karla protested, "we still have to finalize all the details for the upcoming offensive-"
"I know, but that's my job." Major Mackenzie grinned, "Besides, these 'Sangheli' officers are a lot more competent than I gave them credit for. You've got nothing to worry about."
"But sir-"
"Consider it an order, Captain." Mackenzie turned and waved her off. "I can't have my most capable officers dozing off in the middle of combat."
And that was how Karla found herself walking among the troops in the makeshift base. Soldiers both human and Covenant alike were trying to wind down after a day of brutal fighting. There was a lull in combat and with no enemies around to be a threat, nobody saw any reason why they couldn't relax a bit. Karla noticed that the troops were still segregated based on race and affiliation, with the Covenant and humans all congregating into their own little packs. At least they were being civil and polite about it. Karla could see no arguments or infighting between the groups. If there was a bright side to the fighting today, it was that it convinced both sides that they could depend on one another.
"Tough day?"
Karla turned to see Tarin and Williams, as well as a pair of Covenant Engineers working on her Warthog. The vehicle had suffered some minor damage during the fighting, if a Brute landing on the hood could be considered a minor inconvenience.
"You know it." Karla sighed and looked at Williams. "How's the head?"
"A few bruises and cuts, and it still hurts like no tomorrow. Other than that, the medics said I should have no problem." Williams shrugged.
"Well, that's a relief." Karla grinned. "Can't have my pet sergeant dying on me. Then I'd have nobody to boss around."
"What about Tarin?" Williams groaned.
"What about me?" Tarin scowled.
"Boss around Tarin? Me?" Karla said mockingly, as if the comment had shocked her. "Tarin's smart, talented, and rather intimidating. Those are qualities you lack, Williams. Plus, unlike you, she's an officer, so bossing her around would just make me look mean."
"Permission to shoot myself, Captain?" Williams said glumly.
"Granted. Just don't mess up the paint job." Karla gestured to her Warthog.
"I'll keep that in mind, Captain."
Tarin raised her head. "Hey, whatever happened to that Spartan? I haven't seen her around lately."
"Now that, I don't really know." Karla shrugged. The Spartan tended to be very secretive and kept to herself during noncombat hours.
"Anything you need us to do, Captain?" Tarin asked.
"Just make sure we don't start killing each other." Karla nodded to the human/Covenant soldiers milling about.
"Got it." Tarin said. Both she and Williams saluted.
Karla returned the salute and moved off again. She didn't go far before running into Captain Wrall and his tank crew, seeing as how most of the human vehicles were being kept in a central location. Of course, Wrall and his crew were busy trying to fix that damn troublesome tank of theirs. They did have the help of those odd Covenant engineers, but Karla could swear that even the aliens born to tinker with mechanical objects seemed to be dumbfounded and confused at the tank's inner workings.
"Busy as always." Karla commented as she looked at the furious efforts to repair the ancient machine.
"I swear, the damn thing's got a mind of her own." Wrall sighed. "We've gone through every inch of wire, line of programming, and piece of equipment on that tank and still we can't find anything wrong with it."
"So it should be totally fine."
"Logically, yes. In actual practice, no. There's always something going wrong with her, like the gun jamming, or the engines stalling, or the electrical systems failing…"
"Maybe you should just treat her a little nicer." Karla shrugged.
"Of all the people, I've never taken you to be a believer in the 'machine spirit' stuff, Captain." Wrall grimaced.
"I'm not. It's just a harmless suggestion."
"I guess." Wrall shrugged.
Both Karla and Wrall stood there silently for a few minutes, watching Scottie and Kazi arguing with each other, Shion trying to get them to calm down, and the Covenant engineers seemingly oblivious to everything but their work.
"Interesting crew you've got here." Karla said, breaking the silence.
"Well of course." Wrall scratched his head. "My day wouldn't be complete without them."
"The short one there, Shion was her name, wasn't it? She's the replacement you've been talking about." Karla pointed to Wrall's young loader.
"That's right." Wrall nodded grimly. "Our last loader, Loran Kris, was killed back when we were fighting on Aeola."
Aeola. It felt as if an eternity had passed since the battles that had taken place there. It really had Karla thinking what they did to end up in a place such as this.
Wrall continued on, saying, "Poor guy bit it when our old tank Amanda got hit by a fuel rod. It set off the shells in storage, but the safety doors failed to close. By the time me, Scottie, and Kazi got out, the shells exploded. I don't how, but Loran was still alive after that, but trapped inside the tank. There was no way we could get near it with all the heat and fire. His radio link was still up, and we could hear him screaming in there while he was burned alive…"
Karla nodded and patted Wrall on the back. "There was nothing you could have done about that, Wrall."
"Sure." Wrall snorted. "That's what everybody told me."
Karla left Wrall and his crew to finish their repairs on their tank. Again, she meandered throughout the camp, making sure her Marines were acting civil and chastising or praising them where it was necessary. She then stumbled along Sam and a couple of her squadmates, who were undoubtedly planning some kind of scheme.
"Beautiful sky, isn't it, sis?" Sam cracked a smile as she saw Karla approach.
"In all honesty, I've never taken the time to look." Karla glanced at the other two Marines, Leo and Kumi. "You know, with all the shooting going on."
"Aw, you're no fun. You're always so serious all the time."
Karla's eye twitched. "And you never seem to take anything seriously."
"Well, I'm only a lowly private, so I don't quite have as many responsibilities to take care of, Captain." Sam grinned.
"Point."
"Ma'am." Leo stood up and faced Karla with a nervous look on his face. "What's going to happen? I mean, how long are going to be stuck here and what are we going to do?"
"Well, that question I really can't answer. Our new Covenant friends here may be inclined to help us out after this whole revolution blows over, but I can give no guarantees." Karla then looked up and said, "Hmph, that is a pretty beautiful sky."
"Told you." Sam gazed upwards as well.
Not only were the stars rather striking and beautiful, but so were the bright sparkles and streaks in the sky. In the back of her mind, Karla knew that those effects were being caused by ships exploding and their wreckage burning up in the atmosphere. However, it was all still mesmerizing, in a somewhat macabre way.
"Well, I'd love to stay, but I'm going to have to ask you where your sergeant is."
"Is this about that 'thing' you had with him a few years back?" Leo asked.
"Ugh, don't remind me of that." Sam stuck her tongue out in disgust.
Karla grimaced. "You know about that?"
"Unfortunately, yes." Sam feigned a gag, "Do you know how unbelievably wrong it is to know that your older sister is dating your direct superior? It's just plain creepy."
"Hey, you don't see me complaining about your choice in men." Karla pointed her thumb at Leo.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Leo said, slightly offended.
"Goddamn, I haven't said a damn thing and this conversation is already getting better and better." Kumi laughed.
"Well anyways, I guess I'll go find him myself." Karla turned around and began to walk away. "Just don't get too relaxed. I can guarantee that we're going to be in combat again, and I'd hate to see any of you die."
"I'm touched." Sam smiled.
"I'd have nobody to boss around after all this is over." Karla cracked a demonic smile and disappeared into the night.
"I know she's you sister, but she honestly scares me sometimes." Leo said.
"You get used to it." Sam said, drawing an imaginary constellation in the sky.
It wasn't long until Karla managed to find Paccone, lounging around at the side of a derelict and abandoned Wraith at the edge of the camp. He had a bottle of whiskey at his side and a cigarette in his mouth, merely enjoying the night by himself.
"Smoking and drinking while on duty?" Karla sat down next to Paccone. "You know those things will eventually kill you."
"Better them than the Covvies." Paccone snorted.
"I mean, the drinking I can understand. I don't know how you managed to smuggle that thing here, but I'm not surprised. What's really got me going is the cigarettes. I thought you hated smoking."
"I do." Paccone coughed. "It's just something I do from time to time."
"Really?" Karla's curiosity was genuinely piqued. "I'd like to know why."
"Well…" Paccone took a deep breath and sighed. "I met this girl quite a few years back. Smart, funny, and looks hot enough to melt a block of titanium A."
"Uh huh…" Karla narrowed her eyes, wondering what Paccone was trying to get at.
"Anyways, there was one time where she caught me smoking one time, for reasons I can't quite remember. She just laughed and told me it was the only time I ever looked serious." Paccone shrugged, "It was probably the closest thing to a compliment she ever gave me."
"Aran, Solomon System. 2548." Karla nodded and grinned. "Now it's all coming back to me."
Marine Depot No. 12, Reach
April 4, 2548
"Um, excuse me."
Sergeant Ronald Paccone and Private Ryan Hubbard both turned their heads to face the source the unfamiliar and somewhat awkward voice. They saw a very young, very attractive girl with second lieutenant stripes standing at the door to the barracks. Her golden blonde hair, sapphire eyes, and lean figure immediately caught the eyes of every Marine in the room.
Paccone, always the fast thinker, beat the other Marines around him and said, "What can I do for you this fine day, Lieutenant?"
"I was told to report to Lieutenant Fisk in the Company barracks." The girl scratched her head.
"Well, you just missed him. He just left to Division HQ." Paccone said.
"But I was just there! They were the ones who told me to come here." The young second lieutenant said, somewhat confused.
"Ah don't worry. Fisk will be back eventually. Besides, in my personal opinion, the guy is a moron." Paccone laughed and noticed the shock on the girl's face. "Don't worry. Spend a few days with him and you'll know what I mean. By the way, you haven't introduced yourself…"
"Second Lieutenant Karla Wellings, reporting for duty." Karla snapped off a quick salute.
"A pleasure to meet you, Lieutenant." Paccone returned the salute, albeit a much sloppier one. "I'm Sergeant Ronald Paccone. Pretty boy here next to me is Private Ryan Hubbard, and I'm sure you'll eventually get to know the rest of the bozos in here."
"Yeah, great job introducing us, Sarge." One of the Marines snorted.
"Anyways," Paccone said, still facing Karla, "Sit down, make yourself at home. Fisk is going to have to eventually come by here anyways."
"I guess…" Karla sat down next to Paccone and Ryan.
"Since you're an officer, I think it's safe to assume that you signed up for the Marines." Paccone said, glancing at Karla's rank insignia.
"That's right." Karla blinked.
"Well, poor Ryan here, unlike you or me, is a draftee. It's a pretty funny story, actually."
"Yeah, funny for you." Ryan grumbled.
"It looks like we've got time to kill." Karla looked around, but found no signs of any superior officers around. "Why don't you just humor me."
"Well…" Ryan cleared his throat, "I always intended to something in the war, but I never really wanted to do it as a Marine. I really don't have much of a stomach for combat. When I was old enough, I filed a job application of the Office of Naval Intelligence, but it was just my luck that I got a draft notice from the Marine Corps on the exact same day. It takes months, even years for ONI to process applications. You know, background checks and all that, so it looks like I'm stuck here for the time being."
"That really sucks." Karla frowned.
"It does. That's why I filed for transfer out of this frontline unit to a logistics unit, you know, to buy some time for myself."
"Wait, draftees usually aren't given the freedom to choose where they want to serve." Karla narrowed her eyes. "Not through normal means anyways."
"Like I said." Ryan shrugged. "I originally wanted to work in ONI."
"So what unit are you planning to transfer to?"
"The 12th Water Purification Unit. It sounds peaceful enough."
Suddenly, Karla burst out laughing, catching the attention of the rest of the Marines in the room.
"Oh my god…" Karla wiped a tear from her eye, "For a wannabe spook, you sure are dense."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, consider this. Every army, no matter how great or powerful they are, can and will ultimately fail if they aren't adequately supplied. A lot of the most famous military commanders like Napoleon learned this the hard way." Karla then took out a small sheet of paper and pointed at it. "Our deployment orders warn us that the planet we're going to is going to have a 'dry and arid environment'. That means people, especially the frontline units, are going to need water. With all this in mind, what unit do you think will be GUARANTEED to be sent to the front lines?"
"Crap." Ryan sighed.
"Well, it looks like you're going to see combat whether you want to or not." Paccone laughed and slapped Ryan's back. "Don't worry, if you stay with us, I can guarantee you that you'll feel better fighting with some REAL Marines rather than those rear echelon wimps."
"This sucks." Ryan slumped and shook his head.
Aran, Solomon System
June 12, 2548
After spending a few weeks skirmishing with the Covenant, Karla felt that she had a good understanding of the people in her unit. Fisk, like Paccone had said, was a complete moron. He lacked any kind of strategic or tactical thinking, never bothered to understand what was going on, and gave rather haphazard, half-thought orders. Fortunately, Fisk usually never spent much time with his unit, which meant nobody had to take his orders seriously. Paccone, Karla thought, was pretty much the epitome of the typical recruitment poster Marine. He was tough as nails, took crap from nobody, and had little, if any, respect for officers. Ryan, true to his word, was not a grade A Marine. He generally suffered from poor combat performance but had a knack for predicting Covenant movements just by observing a couple of battles. Karla felt that if he lived long enough for ONI to reply to his application, he'd have a bright future ahead of him in Intelligence work.
At the moment, they Karla was tagging along with Paccone's squad for a routine patrol mission. Fisk, in his typical fashion, had merely pointed in a direction and told Paccone to go find Covenant. Every single patrol would to date would have fallen apart if she hadn't been there to pick up the pieces.
"You see anything?" Karla asked.
"Nothing." Paccone crawled forward and poked his head just over the sand dune he and his squad were taking cover behind. "Of course, it's too goddamn dark to see much anyways."
"I'm pretty sure there's something out there." Ryan commented. "The Covenant here tend not to move at night. They expend so much energy trying to raid our positions every day that the heat will eventually get to them."
"You can see the relief wash across my face." Paccone said sarcastically.
"Shutup. The Covvies may not be able to hear us, but they can sure as hell hear if you keep gossiping like schoolgirls." Karla grunted and pointed to the sky. "Night flare. Now."
One of the nearby Marines nodded and armed his grenade launcher. The M40 LGL was a man-portable grenade launcher that could launch six 40mm or even 80mm grenades in quick succession with lethal accuracy. Not only did it pack a punch against hardened targets, but it also specialized in certain other areas as well. The Marine loaded a special round into the weapon, aimed it at the sky and fired.
With a dull whump, the nightflare shot up into the sky. Once it reached the peak of its climb, the small grenade automatically deployed a parachute and slowly floated to the ground. To the naked eye, the nightflare looked like a weak, flickering star in the sky. In truth, the nightflare released certain spectrums of light, one of which nightvision goggles were designed to pick up.
Karla slowly slid her nightvision goggles over her eyes. The nightflare illuminated the entire desert like a green sun. Karla could clearly make out signs of Covenant movement, but nothing to suggest that any were there. She considered calling off the patrol until she heard a very familiar and distressing hissing sound. She cautiously turned her head and saw a Covenant plasma grenade roll its way over the dune and next to her head.
"Take cover!" Karla yelled and immediately rolled down the side of the dune. The plasma grenade exploded, creating a huge geyser of superheated sand. In response, the Marines began lobbing their own grenades over the top of the dune. The explosions and alien shouting confirmed Karla's now grown suspicions.
They had wandered straight into the Covenant line, and the Covenant were literally sitting on the other side of the dune.
"Fall back!" Karla yelled, spraying the top of the dune with her assault rifle. She had no idea how many Covenant were on the other side. It could have been a patrol similar to hers, or an entire assault force. Regardless, Karla didn't want to take any chances.
Sure enough, a group of Elites and Grunts scrambled over the top of the dune, trying to get a good view of the action. Several Grunts and Elites were struck by the rampant rifle fire, their bodies rolling down the dune. The rest held back and began to return fire. By this time, most of the Marine squad had reached the safety of the dunes behind them. Karla and Ryan were the last to retreat. Karla was trying to cover Ryan, who was struggling in the soft desert sand. Plasma bolts and needler rounds pounded the sand around them, and the fire began to get uncomfortably more accurate.
"Move it, Ryan!" Karla yelled as she tried to suppress a fireteam of Elites, with little success.
"I'm almost there!" Ryan panted as he scrambled up the dune.
However, before he could reach the top of the dune, a burst of stray needler rounds punched into Ryan's thigh, mangling it in an instant. Ryan screamed in pain and the tumbled down the dune, back towards the Covenant line. Karla cursed and glanced at Ryan's limp body. She had no clue whether he was alive or dead. If he was dead, then going down there would be waste. Karla briefly considered just leaving him down there and getting back over the dune.
However, Karla's line of thought was interrupted when she saw Paccone sliding down the dune a few feet to her right. He was yelling and firing wildly at the Covenant, but from his eyes, Karla could tell that he was solely focused on Ryan. Before she knew it, Karla found herself following Paccone down the dune that proved to be so much trouble scaling before. Despite the heavy storm of fire raining down from the Covenant line, Karla and Paccone managed to haul the unconscious Ryan to his feet and dragged him back to the safety of the opposite end of the dune. Seeing that their second lieutenant and sergeant needed help, the rest of the Marine squad broke cover and began providing cover fire. The firefight lasted for three more minutes, but the Marines were able to successfully disengage from the Covenant and reach friendly lines. The final count was about a dozen Covenant casualties and three Marines wounded.
Karla waited outside of the aid tent, where a team of Marine medics were busy trying to stabilize Ryan. His wounds were so severe that he would have to be transported to one of the orbiting Navy ships for proper medical care. She then heard something and turned her head to see Paccone standing next to her.
"So, how is he?" Karla asked.
"He'll live. He's complaining a lot, but I'll take that as a good sign." Paccone sighed and lit a cigarette.
"You know those things will kill you."
"Yeah, I've been trying to wean myself off these things, but there are just those times…" Paccone trailed off.
"But I do admit," Karla grinned, "seeing you like that, I'd actually think were being serious about something."
"You really think?" Paccone laughed.
"But it sort of makes me wonder, why exactly did you go down that dune for Ryan in the first place?" Karla glanced at Paccone curiously. "He could've already been dead and you could've been killed for nothing."
"Well Lieutenant," Paccone dropped his cigarette and pressed it into the sand with his boot, "If there's ever the slightest chance that I can get a back to camp alive, I'll take it. It's just one of those things that you just can't take the time to think about."
"Really…"
"I know that's what you did." Paccone gave a hard look at Karla. "And I don't blame you. You're new, but eventually, there will come a time where you'll have to make a tough call, and you can't hesitate like you did today."
Karla nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."
"Excuse me."
Karla and Paccone both looked to see a black-clad man standing before them. From the looks of his outfit, and the insignia it was bearing, both Marines quickly deduced that he was an ONI agent.
"What can we do for you, Lieutenant?" Karla asked.
"I'm here to find Private Ryan Hubbard." The ONI agent's eyes scanned the whole camp and he said this. "I have some matters to discuss with him."
"Well, there might be a problem with that." Karla pointed to the aid station. "Private Hubbard was wounded during a firefight. We're getting ready to transfer him and he may not be in a condition to talk."
"Don't worry. I'll be able to handle myself." The ONI agent nodded to both Marines and entered the aid tent.
"You think they finally got around to look at his application?" Karla asked.
"Unless he was some kind of Covvie spy." Paccone shrugged. "It's about damn time anyways. Poor guy can't even shoot straight. Let's hope he'll find what he wants in ONI."
"Let's hope so." Karla had the disturbing feeling that she was going to see Ryan again. Whether she would like it, she didn't know.
Karth, System Unknown
Exact Date Unknown, 2552
"Damn, a lot can change in just a few years." Paccone scratched his head. "Back then, you were just some naïve second lieutenant nobody really paid attention to."
"Yeah, well you're still a complete asshole." Karla retorted.
Both Karla and Paccone sat there for a few seconds, just staring at the stars above them.
"I'm sorry."
"What?" Karla cocked her head curiously, wondering what Paccone was trying to say.
"Back on Sera Gamma, I disobeyed orders and abandoned my position. I know that's one reason why that whole thing turned out the way it did."
"No, it's not that." Karla shook her head. "Like someone told me, sometimes you have to make a tough call and you can't hesitate."
"Then why the hell-"
"I was really really pissed at the time. I was angry at so many things, the Covenant, Fisk, the whole goddamned planet, even you." Karla sighed and looked at Paccone sadly. "I guess I unfairly piled most of it on you. And to think I still had the gall to make that little promise to myself."
"What promise?" Paccone said, perplexed.
"Oh right, I never told you." Karla shifted a little closer and leaned towards Paccone's ear. "I promised myself that I'd bring every Marine I could back home alive, no matter what."
Paccone burst out laughing. "So I guess a dirty old sergeant like me can teach a white-collar officer like you something of value."
"I guess so." Karla said, a bit of a wicked glint in her eyes.
Before Paccone knew it, Karla shoved him against the Wraith. Paccone hit the side of the derelict tank and was surprised to see Karla pinning him against it. She pulled off her helmet, letting her golden hair flow freely, bent down and kissed Paccone full on the mouth.
"What did I do to deserve that?" Paccone gasped when she finally pulled her lips away from his.
"Reminding me why it was wrong to be so pissed at you." Karla replied before silencing Paccone with another kiss.
Paccone didn't resist this time. Instead, he wrapped his arms around Karla's slender body and slowly began slipping her combat vest off…
Not so far away
For some unknown reason, Sam stopped in her tracks and shuddered.
"Something wrong?" Leo asked.
"I just had that terrible feeling that something very very wrong just happened." Sam shivered. "I can't quite explain it."
"You know, have you seen Sergeant Paccone anywhere?" Kumi looked around him. "I haven't seen him for the past few hours."
"No idea, but then Sam's sister went off looking for him…"
All three Marines looked at each other, each contemplating the same, unimaginable horror.
"Nah." Sam, Leo and Kumi shook their heads and returned to their current scheme.