Back to the Kiowa

(Disclaimer: I don't own Halo)

James would later admit that it was probably a dumb idea, but it wasn't like he had much choice. He led a fire team out of the cave and straight into the chaos that was war. He lost himself for over an hour in an endless killing spree. Donald would eliminate a tank while James and the other Marines would take out the ground troops. Then another tank would show up and the process would repeat.

He was really hurt now, so was everybody in fact. Three Marines and three sailors lay dead in front of the cave. Lieutenant Walker was now missing his left arms below the elbow and Tyler was barely able to walk at all. The whole of Team three was close to dropping from sheer exhaustion. It was going on twenty four hours since they had been alerted to drop onto the War Games. They were all hurt too. Besides Tyler's wounds from the plasma splash and James' earlier wounds in the fight with the Chieftain, Donald now had part of his suit fused to his skin and Menendez was lucky to be alive after taking a shot to the chest. James had been hit again himself and was freely admitting to Donald that he was almost done for.

"Come on Corporal," Donald urged, "You'll be fine, you always are. You have some extreme luck and a million deities looking out for you. Even the Covenant gods are probably on your side."

"It would be nice to think that," James said, "But if we don't get out of here in the next couple hours then we're done. I'm all kinds of fucked up, Tyler and Menendez will be scarred for life if not crippled and the Lieutenant is going to be lucky to stay in the navy. Not to mention half of everybody is dead." He sounded bitter at this last part. "Only good part is you guys are all alive."

"Like I said," Donald reiterated, "You're lucky as no other man has the right to be."

James just shrugged as he pulled his last magazine out of his rifle to check it. One in the magazine and one in the chamber, his shotgun was already completely empty. His train of thought was broken by a familiar sound.

"Pelicans," he said and Donald looked at him like he was going crazy. There it was again, the sound caused James to smile.

Donald heard it that time and joined James in smiling. "God I'm ready to get out of here." He tilted his head as he listened to something over his communication system. "It's our pickup. We're to return to the Kiowa and await further orders."

"We have to move fast," James said standing, "Everybody get ready to bug out!"

When the lone Pelican came in to pick them up they managed to grab every dead human and haul them aboard too. Within a minute they were back up in the air and zooming past the two escort ships headed for space. James sat on the floor next to the cockpit entrance and propped himself against the wall. He was done, his whole team was.

When they docked with the Kiowa a group of Marines came into the Pelican to grab the dead and help out the wounded. James made them take Tyler and the Lieutenant first then everybody else. They were all wounded and so James waited until he was last. He tried to get up and found that his body refused to listen. A Marine stuck his head into the troop area.

"Need any help?" the man asked.

"If you don't mind," James replied wearily and the Marine walked up the ramp to him.

"Not at all," he said pulling James to a standing position and supporting him as he walked.

When he got to the Medical bay he found everybody else already being looked after. He was immediately poked and prodded by doctors and put into a bed where he waited for treatment. His head was stitched up and his ribs re-wrapped, his burns treated with ointment. He fell asleep within moments after the pain stopped.

***

He hurt all over, every inch of his body. Even his eyes hurt from dryness and that bright ass light in his face didn't help either. James opened one eye and tried to say 'turn that off' but all that came out was a mumble.

"Sarah he's awake," said a familiar voice. He could hear footsteps approach him. James turned slightly and saw his sister sitting at his bedside. Sarah was standing behind her and Captain Ambrose appeared at the foot of his bed accompanied by Captain McNair.

"How do you feel Marine?" Captain Ambrose asked him.

"Ugh, put me out of my misery," he replied receiving a chuckle for it. "How's everybody else?"

"Good," Amy said grabbing his hand and holding it tight. "You were the worst off, you moron. You should've let them evacuate you after you got hurt."

"You're telling me," he said, "I'm fucked up."

Sarah frowned at him, Captain's Ambrose and McNair grinned, and Amy just looked worried. They all stared at him while he just lay there relaxing.

"Aunt Theresa's going to beat you black and blue when she finds out," Amy said, "And I might too once you get better." Everybody present grinned at this.

"I didn't realize you two were related," Captain Ambrose commented, "Figured the names were just a coincidence."

"Yes, sir," James said, "She followed me out here." He turned to Amy, "Aunt Theresa will never know. The only person to get contacted for me is you, and only if I die."

"But Uncle Jamie will see the casualty report," she argued, "And I guess that means this has happened before."

"His medical record is as thick as his head," Sarah said pointing to it on a desk. James tried to laugh but found he was too tired to do that.

"You save a lot of lives," Captain Ambrose said, and Captain McNair nodded, "and you killed a lot of the enemy. Intelligence shows that a whole enemy battalion had to be diverted to deal with you. The Covenant battle net is going crazy about the black suited creatures who took out two of their top commanders. We think it was that Brute and the Elite you killed in the first rescue. Footage has already gotten out, and is being shown in the mess right now and is on its way to Reach and probably Earth too."

"What footage?" Amy asked, "James if you did something stupid I swear to god I will beat your ass."

"You wish," James said before closing his eyes and drifting off.