Chapter One: So Here We Go Again
0430 Hours, January 14, 2552. Outskirts of Reatan Desert, New Africa. "The Desert Campaign," Planet Heath. Prologue to Battle of Sigma Octanus IV
The ride from the 41st Orbital Field Hospital to dirt wasn't rough at all. What really hit me was the truck drive to my new assigned base; the corporal manning the Warthog desert jeep either had no license or was seriously wasted. Based on my experiences in the military, either option was equally viable. I kept my back pain to myself until we hit an especially large pothole in the dusty road. I fell back into my seat hard, and my recently healed wounds definitely did not appreciate the treatment.
New unit meant new beginnings. I didn't want my new subordinates to think I was weak or soft, so I bit my lip hard to keep from yelping. In the meantime, I kept my trigger finger outside of the guard on my rifle; one more painful pothole and this Marine was going to be history.
Calm, I told myself. I am the poster child of calm.
It's so much easier to be calm when your back hasn't been burned off.
If it hadn't been for the timely interventions of my platoon's medic, I'd have bought the farm on the other, more lush side of Heath. While that was certainly better than dying in the middle of a desert, I preferred to be alive in both instances. I still marveled sometimes at how I could have possibly survived an overcharged plasma shot square in the back; I only wish the rest of my platoon could have been as lucky.
Here's the tragic part: after I was medevaced from the battle, my entire platoon was destroyed in a consequent attack. I was the sole survivor, and only because I'd spent half of that fateful battle in an ICU ward. My buddies, my Marines, were all dead. And I vowed I'd never abandon my boys again, no matter how many full thickness burns I had to endure, no matter how many spleens I had to go through. We'd win this desert battle or we'd fight and die trying. Together.
This incompetent driver, however, was making me think very differently so far about my new bunch of Marines. Who had been their leader? And why the hell was this leader so lacking in disciplinary skills? Looks like I'd have to whip these men into shape.
Bump.
"Sorry 'bout that, ma'am. This Warthog's a little outdated 'cause it was the only one available. All the others are fightin' the Covies as we speak, shreddin' those aliens with that baby back there," Corporal Dandh explained, pointing back at the jeep's mounted machine gun. At least the young Marine manning the thirty cal seemed like a good enough soldier. I was afraid Corporal Dandh had not gone through the same rigorous training I had…and I wondered how he'd become a Marine at all.
"Yes, ma'am, Trevor's right. Just yesterday I blew right through a Ghost with this MG." The younger Marine grinned. "Killed an Elite, Lieutenant. My very first one."
I looked into his young face, smiling with pride. All I could think about in that moment were the bloody bodies I'd seen in combat, wearing his same face. I frowned and said nothing.
"What's a matter, El-Tee? You too tough to laugh?" Corporal Dandh asked.
I was starting to dislike Dandh, and that was not a good sign.
"Yeah," I answered in complete seriousness.
The corporal looked at me and scoffed like he didn't believe it. The young private, however, had his wits about him and straightened.
"I meant no offense, Lieutenant," the private said quietly. "You lose somebody?"
This intrigued me; the kid was too green to be so intuitive.
"What makes you think so, Private?" I inquired.
"I dunno. It's just…I've seen the way the combat vets look after battles…just so weary. They don't get much too excited about kills like I do."
I smiled slightly. "It may not surprise you to learn that I have lost people, kid." After all, the Covenant had done away with quite a few members of my family already. I didn't elaborate, however.
"Really?" the private asked.
"How long have you been fightin', exactly?" Corporal Dandh said, looking skeptical.
"Four years, Corporal. Going on five. I've been wounded once, I've fought on two different planets, and I've seen my fair share of close calls…and more dead messed up bodies than I'd ever care to see."
Dandh shut up quick after that.
"I uh, I heard your platoon ate it, Lieutenant," Private Beesner said suddenly.
"Oh, shit, here comes the party smashers!" Dandh suddenly made a hard left turn to avoid a plasma shot coming straight for us. I grabbed my seat with white knuckles to keep from being tossed from the old jeep.
"This your baptism of fire, Lieutenant?" Dandh shouted at me as he sped through the hail of fire that had begun raining down on us. He'd seen my grip on the Warthog's sides.
"How the hell do you think I had my back charbroiled? I wasn't sitting behind a fucking desk, I can tell you that much!" I screamed back. I was pissed that he'd question me like this, especially after I'd told him of my previous exploits.
The volume of highly-charged plasma rounds being launched at our jeep was increasing exponentially.
"Kill the engine, Corporal," I ordered Dandh. Instead of obeying like he should have, he looked at me like I was insane.
"What do you mean?"
"I said kill the engine! You wanna listen to me or do you want to become a well-done steak?"
Corporal Dandh braked with such force we almost both flew through the windshield.
"Down! Get down!" I shouted at Dandh. "Beesner, open up!"
"Y-yes, ma'am!" the young private yelled.
The loud rattling sound of a thirty-caliber machine gun enveloped my ears.
Welcome back, Lieutenant Cooper, it seemed to say.
"We're pinned here, Lieutenant!" Dandh cried from underneath the Warthog. I crouched low in the driver's seat, using the metal bar separating the two front seats as cover while I searched for targets. I checked my rifle's safety, aimed, and let off a burst of automatic weapon's fire. There was a hoard of Covenant coming towards our Warthog, complete with a Ghost. This wasn't going to end well if I couldn't figure something out…and fast.
"Bee! You got a rocket launcher back there?" I asked the private.
"Yeah!" he shouted through a long burst of machine gun fire.
"Dandh! You better grab the SPNKR and take care of that Ghost."
"You gotta be shittin' me!" Dandh called back. "I wanna keep my head!"
"Coward," I muttered under my breath. "At least fire your rifle, Corporal!"
I jumped down to the dirt and crouched along the side of the Warthog, trying not to notice the black puffs of roasted ground popping up all around me. I never wanted to feel the sensation of boiling plasma on my skin again.
When I made it to the back of the 'Hog, I grabbed hold of the bumper and pulled myself onto the bed of the vehicle. What with the rocket launcher, ammo, machine gun, and the young private, there wasn't exactly that much room left.
"Covering me, kid?" I asked the private above the raucous. I grabbed two tubes of rockets and the launcher before jumping back down to the ground.
"Yes, ma'am!" Beesner bellowed.
I heard the fear in his voice.
I crouched back behind the vehicle, trying to keep my temper in check while loading the launcher with the first rocket. For just the briefest of moments, I considered using the heavy weapon to ignite Corporal Dandh's ass. If we survived the engagement, I was going to hook him up with a one-way ticket to the brig for insubordination.
After what seemed like ages, the rocket was finally ready for launch. I raised the weapon to my shoulder and crept to the side of the 'Hog, searching for the speedy alien vehicle. There it was, not too many yards away, zipping by for an attack. I had to get at it before it was close enough to fire its plasma guns.
I grabbed Dandh, hiding behind the 'Hog's front tire, by his uniform's collar and pulled hard. I didn't lift him, but then that wasn't my intention; I just wanted him awake and alert.
"Listen to me, Corporal. Even if you don't give a shit about what happens to Beesner and I, at least care enough about your lousy self to give me covering fire. Now!"
Corporal Dandh looked up at me, horror stricken, but he finally lifted up his rifle and attempted to aim down the sights. Meanwhile, I set up right behind him, fixed on the flash of purple that was the enemy Ghost, and let the first salvo go.
I jumped over Dandh as I hit the dusty ground, knowing he wouldn't react fast enough himself to get to cover. I turned back for just an instant to see Beesner's wide-eyed stare as he pounced off the bed of the jeep.
At first all I heard was the sound of crunching metal, accompanied a few seconds later by an earth-rattling explosion. I kept my head low and held onto my helmet until it was over.
Corporal Dandh screamed.
I got up off Dandh when Covenant small arms began firing again, and saw wet blood on his back; some had leaked to the front and that was why he'd yelled out. But how could any shrapnel from the blast have gotten there when I'd been shielding him the whole time?
The corporal gave me a look and stared. "You're bleeding, Lieutenant."
I didn't look down at myself; I wanted to avoid shock as long as the skirmish was still being played out. "Keep firing," I told Dandh. This time, he did exactly what I ordered without saying a word. I turned toward the back end of the Warthog, and glanced at Private Beesner. He had a look of panic on his face when he saw me (or more probably, my new mystery wound) but was otherwise fine. I quickly ordered him to scout how many more Covenant were left as I picked off some aliens with my rifle.
The volume of firing coming in was slowly dissipating by now, and it was right about then that I felt the first throbs of pain…coming from my ribs on the right side. I pressed a hand against the pain for a moment, and my hand came back wet.
I was getting light-headed.
"Patrol size, Lieutenant," Beesner announced. "And they're high-tailing it outta here. Should we finish 'em off or let 'em go?"
I still held my weapon in one hand, I heard Beesner's voice and Dandh's blasting rifle, but I couldn't respond to any of it. Tunnel…tunnel vision, that's what was happening…
I'm never going to let my men down again…
I took a deep breath, leaned over the side of the Warthog, and spotted the Covenant running from the scene. There was no way I was letting them get away after what they'd done to my Marines. It was payback time, even if on a small scale.
"Beesner, Dandh, let's get cracking. Follow me," I said as I stood, rifle still aimed at the retreating enemy. I was going to get every last one of them.
"See that structure up ahead, Dandh?" I said as we moved from the cover of the Warthog. For several yards, we had to cross open ground, but then soon after was a small, makeshift bunker the aliens had erected from hard, packed sand. A few grenades and a rocket, and we could bury them all alive.
"Yes, Lieutenant."
"Drop your rifle and grab a launcher and ammo, double time. Beesner and I will get to the bunker and cover fire. Nothing will touch you."
"Yes, ma'am." Corporal Dandh ran to the back of the jeep to retrieve the tube I'd dropped in the sand. Meanwhile, I turned to Beesner.
"Ready, Bee?" I asked as I finished reloading the clip in my rifle. Damn, but my head was spinning…
"Yes, ma'am."
I grinned. "Then let's get to it."
We took off lightning fast, running about a football field's length to the outer walls of the alien bunker. I wondered why none of us had noticed it before; it was impossible that the Covenant had dug an entire underground system, no matter how small, in the few minutes the skirmish had lasted.
I decided going in guns blazing was not the right approach, since Dandh was still back at the Warthog setting up the rocket launcher. I relayed this to Beesner in a private COM channel through my helmet, just as we managed to get close the sand structure.
Once there, Beesner and I crouched behind the low outer wall, which was about three feet tall, and tried to peek inside the slit in the wall at ground level. There was no sound, no activity, no motion at all on my HUD's detector. It seemed to be utterly deserted, despite the fact that we'd seen the alien patrol running this way.
That was not a good sign. Something was up.
I opened a COM channel to Corporal Dandh. "Something's up, Corporal. I want you to stay behind the 'Hog, but keep your rocket trained on that slit facing you. If something so much as twitches, I want to be notified immediately. Stand by for more orders."
There was a pause and a crackle on the channel, then, "Got it, El-Tee."
I tried to think through the situation in the few seconds I had, and with my head spinning at a hundred miles per hour. The sprint had caused me to breathe hard, which in turn had put a strain on my wounded ribs. My right side still felt wet and warm.
Focus. This had to end quickly, while I could still think.
The slit had been facing the Warthog the whole time; that was probably how they'd spotted us speeding through the desert road. So they deployed a small patrol to check it out, and added a Ghost as insurance against our vehicle. When we destroyed their vehicle, the patrol was now disadvantaged, so they fled back to their small bunker…
A light bulb went on in my head.
This bunker was small and only had a patrol-sized strike force because it was an observation post. The Covenant inside could have easily dispatched a whole large detachment of their troops, or notified them of which direction we were heading in. Quite probably, they'd already done both.
Crap.
We had to get out of here fast, but first the place had to be destroyed. There was no time to reduce the bunker to ruins after investigating, however; we had to release the heavy explosives right away. I turned to Beesner, holding his rifle with white knuckles beside me.
"Kid, how many grenades do you have?" I asked him.
"Uh…" he fumbled with his web belt and glanced down. "I have two left, ma'am. I used most of 'em up on a patrol that got hairy a couple days ago."
"Plasma or frag?"
"Frag."
I nodded, then took stock of my own. Having just been released from the hospital, I had a more complete set of gear: three fragmentation grenades, four clips of ammo for my rifle, two clips of ammo for my silenced pistol, two field rations, five energy bars, two full canteens of water, etc. Still, I wasn't sure if five grenades alone could do it.
If coupled with a high explosive rocket, however, the odds just might change in our favor.
"Dandh, keep that rocket trained at the slit and stand by," I said over the radio. I waited for the corporal's acknowledgment light to wink green, then turned to Beesner. "Ready to head back, Bee?"
He gave me a look. "Ma'am?"
"We're going to start the party off with a bang first, of course," I said to him. He gave me a weak smile but said nothing.
"Stay here, and prepare to prime your grenades. I'm going up top to see who's home." I dropped my rifle in the sand beside Beesner, and gripped the top of the low outer wall. I hopped up to the top of the bunker, and wasn't surprised when I found no hole on the roof of the structure. However, that was something I could quickly remedy.
Standing atop the alien structure, sand blowing gently across my combat boots, head feeling increasingly light, and ribs continuing to painfully ooze blood, I primed two of my grenades, placed them both next to each other in the center, and rolled off the roof to cover.
Beesner understood immediately and ducked down himself; he cradled his own grenades and I prayed they wouldn't go off. I didn't want to die, and I knew my new subordinate didn't wish it either. The three seconds it took the frags to detonate seemed like hours.
When the twin explosives finally went off, it felt as if the force of a hurricane hit my ears; if it hadn't been for my helmet's protective layer, I was sure my eardrums would have burst. We'd been way too close to the grenades I'd planted.
Beesner and I rode it out on the sandy ground, holding onto our rifles and helmets as if they were the only things keeping the world together. Finally, the artificial sandstorm ended, and as I opened my eyes, I realized I couldn't see.
Luckily, before I panicked, I decided to wipe off my helmet's visor. It seemed to have accumulated enough sand to be its own beach. Those frags had more power than I'd given them credit for. With my eyesight miraculously recovered, I pushed myself off the ground to inspect the damage.
Other than sandy and shaken, the young private escaped unscathed, I helped him to his feet and then got to the top of the bunker.
There wasn't exactly much left of it.
Once on the roof, I could hear the panicked cries of Grunts, the angry roars of Elites, and the just plain weird sounds Jackals liked to make. I got to thinking the bunker may have been larger than foreseen, but there was no time to adjust the plans. This place had to go up now, before reinforcements showed up.
"Bee, up here now, double time!" I said in a private COM channel. "You better have those grenades hot in your hands and be ready to sprint for your life."
"Got it, El-Tee!"
Within a matter of seconds, Private Beesner joined me on the roof, primed grenades in hand. Holding my own live explosive, I looked at him. I counted down three seconds silently with my gloved fingers.
One…two…three.
We threw our grenades down the hole in the roof at the same time, but didn't wait for them to hit. Beesner and I got the hell off the roof so fast that the frags didn't detonate until a second afterward. By then, I was already sprinting across the space between the Warthog and the bunker, Beesner hot on my heels. It was hard walking when loaded down with gear, let alone sprinting, but it was amazing what you could do when you had your ass to save.
A few seconds later, when Beesner and I had reached the Warthog, a new round of incoming plasma fire began boiling through the desert air. Much to my surprise, however, Corporal Dandh maintained his composure and was still dutifully aiming the rocket launcher at the bunker slit.
"Ready when you are, Lieutenant!" he yelled over the noise of the renewed skirmish.
"Fire!" I yelled back.
Suddenly there was a loud hiss and smoke as the rocket was forced from the launcher at high speeds. Dandh, Beesner, and I watched almost in slow motion as the rocket sped toward the bunker. This had better work, I thought, unaware that I was holding my breath.
A cloud of dust and sand swarmed the small slit in the ground. And when it all cleared, all traces of the bunker had disappeared; a pile of debris stood in its place, and the whole structure had caved in. Served those Covies right, getting buried alive.
And then came the eerie silence that occurs when the battle is over, and all your enemies lay dead at your feet.
"Well," Dandh said, turning to look at me after a long pause, "I think it's safe to say that you're one helluva soldier, ma'am."
"Welcome to Bravo Company, El-Tee," Beesner added.
I took off my helmet and wiped the sweat off my forehead. I grinned at my new comrades, and they grinned back.
"Welcome? Yeah, right," I said.