"Let me tell you. In the short time that we served together, Karla Wellings was and still is the toughest and nastiest Marine I've ever known. She's no Spartan, but if there's ever a contest between her and one of those tin cans, you know who I'm putting my money on."
-Sergeant Ronald Paccone
Chapter 2: Not Even Halfway There
Starpoint Station"Lieutenant Hubbard." Karla narrowed her eyes suspiciously as she saw the ONI agent get off the newly arrived train. "I really shouldn't be surprised that somebody like you could have set this all up."
"We all fight wars in our own way." Hubbard said smugly. "How have you been? It's been a few a years since that operation we did back on-"
"Getting back on subject." Karla cut off Hubbard. "Before we leave, I'd just like to let you know that I am not convinced that ONI would really go through all this trouble for a bunch of children. It's in my personal opinion that there's something more to this than you're telling me."
"Maybe." Hubbard shrugged.
"I'm keeping my eye on you, Ryan, and you'd better hope I don't catch you." With that, Karla broke off to pester somebody else.
Ryan winced at the remark. It had been a long time since anybody had ever called him by his first name. It was even longer to have met somebody just as intimidating as his superior. There was something about that woman that made you instinctively fear and respect her.
Meanwhile, the train the center of activity as engineer and work crews worked hastily to armor and arm the train. Additional armored cars were added, weapons were mounted, and supplies loaded. What was also special were the modified freight cars carrying D Company's Warthogs. If necessary, the Warthogs could be launched off the cars to engage possible enemies, and then recovered by a power winch similar to the kind used to carry Warthogs in Pelicans. In addition to the freight cars, two of the armored cars were armed with 90mm turrets taken from scrapped Scorpions, one possessed advanced electronic warfare/countermeasure equipment, and one had the capability to fire Archer missiles. The rest were dedicated to housing the Marines and supplies.
The extra weight was enough to nearly halve the bullet train's top speed of 300 miles per hour to only 150-200 miles per hour. A maglev rain would have been faster with a top speed of 600 miles per hour, but Tau Serra was an outer colony, and didn't have the resources for such an expensive form of transportation.
The train also had it's own AI. However, Karla found it be somewhat unoriginal and dull, seeing how it was called Conductor and only talked about trains, timetables, and tickets. Conductor was rather apathetic to his passengers' plights, being more concerned with getting the train to the right destination on time and without a hitch.
That said, Karla deeply wished that she hadn't stepped foot in the train's engine.
"I really should be starting the train right now." Conductor said flatly. "I was not told of the extra weight that we would be taking on. The speed reduction simply does not fit with the prearranged schedule-"
"Shut up, Conductor," Karla growled, "or I'll rip your data crystal out and chuck it off the tracks. I haven't operated a train manually before, but if an AI like you is running it, it really can't be that hard."
Conductor harrumphed in annoyance, clearly offended. "Then I'll just have to revise my timetable."
"You do that." Karla sighed as she exited the train engine. At least the AI was smart enough to know when to call it quits.
"Well, I just received word that everything is loaded and ready." Hubbard announced as Karla walked past him. "We're ready when you are."
"I want to see them."
Hubbard raised an eyebrow in confusion and asked, "Who?"
"The children of course." She replied.
"I'm afraid that we can only let cleared personnel-" Hubbard stopped when he caught Karla's stare. "Ummmm, five minutes."
Passenger SectionKarla was a little envious of the children she saw the moment she entered the first passenger car. They were all laughing and playing while very tired ONI service personnel were catering their needs. In here at least, there was no war against the Covenant, or the dismal prospect of the extinction of humanity.
It almost made Karla wish she was ten again.
"Do you know where Kyle is?"
Karla nearly jumped in surprise and looked down to see a ten year old girl tugging at her sleeve. She had long, unkept black hair and big blue puppy eyes that would the melt the iron heart of any Marine.
"I'm sorry, what?" Karla bent down so that she could see the girl eye to eye.
"My brother, Kyle." The girl said simply. "He left home dressed like you. I thought that maybe you knew where he was."
That figures. It meant that this Kyle was a Marine at the very least. Karla responded, "I might. What's your name?"
"Lyn." The girl said cheerfully, "Lyn Hannever."
"Well, I'm sorry Lyn, but I'm afraid I haven't seen your brother anywhere yet."
"Oh…" Lyn's eyes darkened for a moment, but they brightened back when she continued, "But I'm sure that I'll see him soon. I told Santa I wanted to see him again, and that it wouldn't matter if I got any presents or anything."
"Well, I hope you get your wish." Karla said cheerfully, reminding herself to kill Hubbard some day.
"Do you have any Christmas wishes for Santa?" Lyn asked.
The question caused Karla to pause for a bit. She had never taken the existence of Santa seriously, but how would she actually admit that to a ten year old? But then again, there were quite a few things Karla would like to have happen.
"Well, I guess my wish is kind of like yours, Lyn. I really wish that I could get to see some of my friends again." Karla thought of Merl, Matt, Peterson, Silks, and the twenty-four other Marines of 3rd Platoon who would never see home again.
"Well, I hope your wish comes true." Lyn smiled.
Karla was about to respond when a teddy bear hit her in the face. By the time Karla picked it up and handed it back to a red-headed boy with freckles, Lyn was already several seats down pestering an ONI service staff member.
"Time's up." Hubbard said, looking at his watch. "We really should be going now."
Starpoint StationLike a sleeping, primeval beast, Train 98C slowly came to life and pulled itself from the station. The parents lined up across the edges of the platforms waved their last, tearful goodbyes as the train shot forward and disappeared into the morning mist.
UNSC Freight Courier Mississippi
December 15, 2551 (UNSC standard)
Currently in high orbit
Captain Lee Hitomi sat back and sighed as his ship slowly tried to claw its way out of the planet's gravity well. Unlike many of the shiny new and modern UNSC warships floating around in orbit, the Mississippi was a creaky leaky tub with engines bolted onto her. The ship justified her own existence in the fact that it was good at ferrying large amounts of cargo short distances, like from the planet's surface to an orbiting ship.
This time around, he was hauling several tons of food and a Shiva nuclear warhead up to the UNSC destroyer Alma. This wasn't the first time Hitomi had carried dangerous cargo, so he didn't really mind the fact that he was carrying a weapon that could turn an entire city into a pile of irradiated rubble.
"You really should be more attentive to your duties, Captain." Cyrene said in an annoyed tone.
Cyrene was the ship's AI, a basic class-C that could really only handle simple tasks such as running cargo ships and Slipspace calculations. Like his cargo, Hitomi didn't really take her too seriously except as a source of conversation.
"It's just like the last hundred times we made this run, and the next hundred times won't be much different." Hitomi leaned back in his chair. "Besides, it's not like we can run into bad weather or turbulence or anything. We're way above the weather patterns and there's not enough air to really cause problems.
Suddenly, the entire ship shuddered as if it were struck by a giant sledgehammer. The lights flickered and warning sirens wailed.
"What's going on?!" Hitomi yelled.
"I don't know, sir!" One of Hitomi's crewmembers responded. "We've got sudden hull breaches and fires in the engine compartment! None of the engineering crews are responding!"
Cyrene suddenly spoke up. "Captain, I'm receiving battle data over the E-band. It looks like a large Covenant fleet has entered the system and is sending in numerous dropships and fighters. We are currently being assaulted by a squadron of Seraphs, and the dropships will be within boarding range in two minutes."
"Shit." Hitomi breathed. It was the only thing he could think of saying.
"This ship's computer and my memory core contain data that is too sensitive for the Covenant to gain a hold of." Cyrene continued. "Under the Cole Protocol, subsection C, I have taken the initiative and activated the Shiva nuclear warhead in cargo bay one to detonate in sixty seconds, unless you would like me to cancel the action."
Hitomi mulled over the decision for a second. Dying in a ball of nuclear fire wasn't exactly the way he planned to buy the farm. On the other hand, if that meant the Covenant couldn't get the nav data in his ships' computer, then so be it. At least he'd be able to one patriotic thing his life.
Besides, he'd probably be able to take a few hundred of those bastards to Hell with him.
"Keep the countdown going, Cyrene. I've got no regrets."
"Confirmed. Detonation in thirty-three point two seconds. Oh, and Captain," Cyrene hesitated for a moment, as if embarrassed. "it- it's been an honor serving with you."
Hitomi patted his control console. "Same to you, Cyrene."
Train 98C, "The Polar Express"Karla flinched as a second sun tore its way into existence in Tau Serra's night sky. She could hear Williams and Karen cursing as they were blinded by the sudden flash. By the time her sight could adjust to the sudden change in lighting, Karla noticed that everything was pitch black. All her armor's systems, the lights around her, and the train itself were black and dead.
Suddenly, Karla's HUD slowly hummed to life. Small holographic letters suddenly began to form.
ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE DETECTED. ATTEMPTING SYSTEM RESTART++
Fortunately for the Marines, EMP hardening and protection was standard among all military and UNSC equipment, which meant that damage would be minimized. Unfortunately, most civilian equipment did not follow such rigorous standards and were vulnerable to being totally fried.
The moment her radio came back online, Karla contacted the engine.
"Control, what's going on?"
"It seems like we've got a massive EMP." Hubbard replied. Karla could hear Armbruster's panicked blubbering in the background. "The train's systems are completely dead, or at least the engine is. Any idea what caused it?"
"Well, there was this bright flash in the sky…"
"A nuclear blast in high orbit. That means the Covenant have arrived." Hubbard's voice did not seem surprised at all.
"Control, this is the Sensor Wagon." Being an ECM car, it wasn't surprising to see that the communications car to have their systems back up so fast. "We're picking up multiple bogies incoming at our position."
"How far?" Hubbard asked.
"ETA two minutes."
"How long till we get the engine back up and running?" Karla asked.
"Uhhh, Conductor is saying at least five."
"Tell him he's got only one." Karla turned to the rest of the Marines on the train. She couldn't afford to wait for Armbruster to give the order. "Everybody, get to your positions! All kinds of hell is coming this way and if it wants to get here, its gotta get through us Marines!"
With a series of enthusiastic "Hoo-ah!"s, the Marines of D Company quickly rallied and began manning defensive positions.
"Control, I hope you've got some good news for me."
"We're still working on it." Hubbard said anxiously. "But it looks like you're going to be earning your pay on this one."
Karla could now see the distant blue flickers of Covenant plasma engines. They were going to be in range any second now.
"Missile control, you are clear to fire!" Armbruster yelled through the radio.
At the rear of the train, there was a sudden geyser of fire as an Archer missile pulled itself free from its launch rack. The telephone pole-sized projectile rocketed through the air and sped toward the oncoming squadron of Covenant craft. The distant orange flare combined with one of the flickering blue lights and instantly turned into a while ball of fire, bright as the stars behind it.
"That's a confirmed hit." The sensor officer reported.
Two more Archer missiles hit their targets before the flight of Covenant aircraft reached the inside of the missiles' effective minimum range. Karla could now see at least six Covenant dropships and a pair of Banshees closing in on the train.
Almost simultaneously, every single rifle, cannon, and rocket fired at the oncoming alien craft. Bright lances of tracer fire and rocket trails slammed into the line of dropships like a wall. Both Banshees disintegrated into ash while three of the dropships plummeted to the ground like rocks. The final three dropships, not expecting so much resistance, quickly backed off and retreated to the safety of high orbit.
"I hope you're finished, Hubbard." Karla said. "That's not going to work twice."
"You've got nothing to worry about."
Slowly but surely, the lights on the train began to flicker back to life. The engine slowly hummed and the entire train began to pick up momentum.
"You think we scared them off?" Karen looked out into the empty sky.
"No, not a chance." Karla leaned back against her Warthog. "They'll be back, and in greater numbers. It's like clockwork."
"Wonderful."