Author's Note: And now the real fun begins! lol. Hope you enjoy, please please please review, and peace!
Chapter Twenty-One: Bad Timing
0723 Hours, February 16, 2552. Europa Base, City of Cote D'Azur. "The Unexpected Assault," Planet Sigma Octanus IV. Prologue to Battle of Sigma Octanus IV
The day began like any other at Europa Base on Sigma Octanus IV. My alarm went off at 0600 hours, just as it did every morning. The only real difference was the migraine and burning eyes I'd woken up with; the other lieutenants and I had called it a night at two in the morning. And I wasn't even about to mention the obscene amount of beer and liquor I'd downed over the course of the night. Despite my jest the day before, I wasn't normally inclined to have so many drinks.
So, like all other mornings (except for the increased difficulty), I showered, did my hair in a fashion that satisfied military regulations, and generally attended to matters of personal hygiene. In an hour I was also dressed in a freshly pressed uniform, minus my boots. Today was inspection day (another indication that yesterday's night out hadn't been so cleverly planned), so I sat down on my bunk and started polishing my combat boots. As an officer, I was expected to set the example, even if I was terribly hung over.
Besides, I had a reputation of perfect marks on my inspections to uphold.
With ten minutes until the officers were to assemble on the parade ground, I was busy polishing my campaign medals, including my recent Purple Heart, when I felt the first earthquake.
At first, I honestly thought it was the hangover that was making me jittery or something. My mind didn't drift towards the concept of Earthquake! until the second shock moved the bunk beneath me.
I stood, grabbing hold of my helmet and my pistol holster. I quickly took the photo of Gabe and the other of Willis and I and jammed both into the helmet padding; that's where I always kept my family pictures during deployments. And it looked like my stay on Europa Base was about to become just that.
When a third "earthquake" reverberated through the room, I was reaching for the doorknob when I heard someone pounding at my door.
"Cooper! Cooper!"
I opened the door to find Graham standing there, putting her helmet on and rifle already slung on her shoulder.
"Tell me this is natural, Graham," I said to her, my voice calm but my pulse pounding. Who would've thought my company's place of R&R would become the grounds of another Covenant invasion? "Please tell me it's a drill or something other than what I think it is."
Lieutenant Graham jerked me by the collar and shoved me forward so abruptly I almost yelped. "I've got no time to give you a verbal essay, Professor," the older woman said to me. "Just get your ass to the armory and grab everything you can."
My eyes went wide. This had to be a nightmare, this couldn't be happening… "So they really are here, aren't they?" I whispered.
"Yes! Go! Kingston's waiting on us to gather the platoons! Put your helmet on and I'll brief you as you go!"
I nodded, slapped my helmet on my head, and sprinted down the hallway. Graham's voice flooded into my head through the COM channel as I rounded the corner.
"First Covenant ships dropped in from Slipspace two hours ago. Navy's been trying to fight 'em off in orbit ever since, but it looks like some alien ships got through. And now they're bombarding the planet in preparation for a ground attack," the lieutenant explained.
I was suddenly very thankful that today was inspection day; if it hadn't been, I would have been wearing my utterly useless garrison uniform instead of my gray battledress.
I still couldn't believe we were under attack by the Covenant.
Finally making it to the armory a minute later, I ran into a mess of the various soldiers stationed around this sector of Europa Base, all hoping to get weapons as well. Luckily I'd had some experience shoving my way through crowds, so I managed to get myself into the actual room. Back in my quarters I'd already strapped my two combat knives and silenced pistol to my person; now my focus was on getting extra ammo clips, grenades, and maybe another gun if I could find it.
"Cooper, scratch what I said," Graham's voice invaded my helmet again. "The Covies aren't trying to get troops on the ground---they're here, now, about fifty klicks out and closing fast. Those explosions earlier were coming from their air support."
"Fuck," I muttered, responding both to Graham's news and the empty box of grenades in front of me. I moved on to the next rack.
"I know. Hurry, Kingston's already getting the company organized out here."
The next weapons locker was also empty, but hanging way in the back was one last battle rifle. I snatched it up before the ODST behind me had a chance to get the weapon, then I turned to find boxes of ammo. Most were completely devoid of equipment, but one had four extra clips, including one of shredder rounds. Perfect.
"On my way towards you, Graham. Put up your location on my HUD," I said, shoving my way back out the armory. I was intent on exiting the increasingly crowded room when I spotted one lone shotgun propped invitingly against a locked door. I thanked my lucky stars, picked that up as well, and even managed to get extra shells.
Once out of the armory, I shoved ammo clips and shells into my cargo pockets, keeping my two personal silenced pistol clips on my hip holster. I slung the battle rifle diagonally across my back, barrel facing the ground, and started off, holding my shotgun.
I followed the map Graham had uploaded to my heads up display, finally reuniting with my own company.
"Ok, Bravo Company, listen up!" Captain Kingston bellowed. "The Covenant will get here in less than an hour, and we've got a base as well as a planet to defend! We have been tasked to go out on patrol and do a little recon! Battalion wants to know how many of those fuckers we have to deal with, and they chose us to get that intel!" The captain suddenly gestured to me with his assault rifle. "Lieutenant Cooper!"
"Sir!" I yelled, more because of the adrenaline pumping through my veins than anything else.
"Since you have trained in stealth, first platoon will take point! Third platoon follows at a distance of two klicks, second platoon at four. Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir!" Graham, Lewis, and I exclaimed in unison.
"Let's go kick the Covies back into Slipspace, Marines! Semper fi!" Kingston shouted.
"Oorah!" we all screamed.