Chapter 18
Tanaka tensed as she saw a gunship orient in the direction of Waterloo. She raised the Spartan Laser to her shoulder and activated the targeting scope. She couldn't afford a miss.
The gunship turned away and headed to another part of Meridian Station. Apparently word of the human fortification hadn't gotten out to the enemy yet. Tanaka relaxed. She lowered the Laser, sat back against the air filtration unit, and bit back a grimace at the pain. The bruises covering the majority of her body were becoming difficult to ignore.
Once the enemy began attacking Waterloo in earnest, the adrenaline should take care of that. As much as she loved a good fight, she'd rather just cope with the pain.
Tanaka was currently resting on the roof of 'The Waterloo Pub', designated simply 'Waterloo' by Locke for convenience. Were this a traditional fortified position, they would have picked a less descriptive name. Since they wanted as many colonists to find their way here as possible, they had elected to make the name a direct reference to the location itself. It was smart.
About the only smart thing Locke's done so far, Tanaka reflected with a scowl. Once this was over she'd have to think long and hard about whether she'd be willing to follow the jackass that disabled the defense grid just because his bosses told him to. Technically, Tanaka was a non-com, so she couldn't just reassign herself. But that didn't mean she couldn't make some waves.
When this is all over...
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The enemy patrol moved closer. Spartan Vale ducked into the nearest alley.
This wasn't good. Vale had been attempting to reach the Security Station that housed the Scorpion tank for the better part of 2 hours. Every time she got close, she ran into more Soldiers. She could handle a small group. The reinforcements that would be drawn to the firefight were another story. This latest group was coming perilously close to finding her.
Vale cursed silently as she realized the alley had been blocked by debris. The odd rumbling-clicking noises continued increasing in pitch. The red blips on her motion tracker were getting closer. She looked around desperately. She saw that the building next to her had been partially gutted. There was an opening in the 2nd floor wall.
Vale leaped up to the 2nd story hole. She didn't want to risk using her thrusters; the noise could give her away. Fortunately, her augmentations and the strength enhancing MJOLNIR armor were enough to get her up.
Upon entering the building, Vale immediately ducked behind cover and snaked a fiberoptic probe around the hole.
A group of 4 Soldiers entered the alley. Fortunately, their behavior didn't seem to indicate that they knew she was there. They all walked with the same aggressive, puppet-like movements that made them so unnerving. Upon reaching the end of the alley, rather than go back out, they leveled their weapons and began firing. They kept up the fire until the rubble had been melted away and then exited the alley. Vale breathed a sigh of relief.
Once again, the Spartan was confused by her new enemy. The streets and alleys on either side of this one were all clear. Why would they waste ammunition and time, not to mention risk giving away their location, just to keep going this one way? Sure, they basically owned the city, but there could still be humans lying in ambush.
Some rubble collapsed to the floor behind her. Vale pivoted around, bringing her Assault Rifle into position. There was nothing there. Nothing appeared on her motion tracker. Looking around, Vale realized that she had wound up back in the Prospector barracks 'Icarus Flats'.
It seemed the Soldiers had already been through here. The roof had partially collapsed, filling the room with debris. Several of the columns of sleeping pods that the Prospectors called home had been toppled. Cold bodies littered the floor. She could tell that some had tried to hide in the sleeping pods themselves, likely too terrified to realize the futility of such an action. Scorched and broken corpses hung half out of the pods, either resting on the ground or hanging suspended over the floor.
Vale activated the thermal vision function in her helmet. She quickly identified several bright red silhouettes. A pulse of joy went through the diplomat's daughter. She had found survivors!
"It's okay," the Spartan whispered as loudly as she dared. "I'm a UNSC soldier. I'm here to help. Please, come out."
A single figure nervously rose from its hiding place in the wreckage. It turned out to be a relatively short woman with graying hair in a ponytail. Vale instantly remembered the colonist's name.
"Evelyn Collins?" Vale asked. The figure seemed startled. "It's me, Olympia Vale. We talked a few days ago when I visited Icarus Flats, remember?"
Collins seemed to relax, although Vale could tell she was still on edge. "Is it safe?" the colonist whispered.
"For the moment, yes," Vale said, checking the fiberoptic probe. Nothing there. The motion tracker was also clear.
"Damn it's good to see you, ma'am," Collins said as the Spartan approached her. Several other survivors popped their heads up from their hiding spots in the debris.
"How did you all survive in here?" Vale asked, curious.
Collins grimaced, clearly fighting back tears. "We didn't 'all' make it," she said. Vale cringed internally at her gaffe. Collins continued, "some of us got covered in rubble when those...monsters came through. We spent a lot of time digging each other out. Now, though..." It was clear she didn't know what to do, but didn't want to admit it. She needed to seem in control to the people who were clearly still following her.
"Well, you're in luck," Vale assured her, "the rest of my fireteam have established a secure position in The Waterloo Pub. Do you know it?"
The colonists all perked up at this. "Sure," Collins replied. "It's a ways inward, but I've been there on occasion. Hang on, lemme' talk with them about this." After a brief conversation with her followers, the community leader informed Vale that they would be willing to make the trek to Waterloo.
"Good," Vale replied. "You're going to need to pack up. Take only what you absolutely need to survive. I'll go with you for a while, since I need to backtrack, but you'll have to make it there on your own." The colonists seemed significantly less pleased about that part of the plan. "I'm sorry, but I need to gather supplies if we're going to keep Waterloo safe. Now hurry up, we've wasted enough time here."
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All things considered, this looks pretty solid, Locke thought. He was examining the finalized defenses around Waterloo.
There had turned out to be enough deployable cover to create a perimeter around the front and most of the sides of the building. This would enable them to move freely without having to sprint out of cover. Locke had laid down claymores at the ends of the sides where they simply hadn't had enough to reach the wall.
Locke had also used his cutting torch to weld the emergency exits shut. Now they only had to worry about the main entrance at the center of their fortifications. It wasn't perfect, but it would at least put up a fight.
Unfortunately, the Security Force itself hadn't held up as well as their supplies. Most of the Officers had died before Osiris even arrived. Locke had the survivors pile the bodies to the side after stripping them of useful gear. Some of the Officers didn't like that, viewing it as robbing the dead. Locke had reminded them that they needed every scrap of supplies they could get and that the dead didn't need it as much as the living.
Then, there was the wounded. 3 of the 13 Security Officers had to be moved inside, being too injured to be effective on the line. The one-armed man was among them. He had fallen into shock shortly after Osiris' arrival, a common effect of adrenaline wear-off among the maimed. Hopefully the other 2 would be able to repulse any enemies that made it past the line.
A Security Officer's head exploded.
"Incoming! Get to cover!" Locke shouted. The battle had begun.
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Spartan Vale fired her Assault Rifle. The Soldiers ducked out of her line of sight.
Vale noticed that the Soldiers had taken cover next to a building that had been weakened considerably by weapons fire. The Spartan unloaded a full magazine into what little remained of its structural support.
The Soldiers popped out of cover and fired on Vale. She didn't bother ducking.
The building collapsed into the street. The Soldiers were all crushed, their deaths causing miniature geysers of rubble to shoot up in small, fiery eruptions.
This wasn't good. Enemy activity had become so dense that she wasn't able to avoid detection anymore. She had actually been pushed back significantly. Hell, she was almost within sight of Waterloo.
Spartan Vale snaked a fiberoptic probe around a corner. She saw Waterloo under assault. Deciding the tank was a lost cause, she rushed back to aid her squadmates.
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Enemy fire forced Locke to duck beneath cover. He rushed to the right of his position before popping up again. The enemy, still firing at his last position, took a moment to notice where he'd gone. That moment proved fatal. Locke ducked below cover again, reloading his weapon as his enemy disappeared in a fiery blast.
Locke rose out of cover and fired on the last group of Soldiers. Suddenly, the enemy units came under fire from outside the human perimeter. Not wasting a moment to wonder who was aiding him, Locke targeted the Soldiers whose armor was being weakened by Assault Rifle fire.
An enemy's armor broke. Locke fired into the black patch. The enemy exploded. Another enemy stumbled, staggered by the blast. Locke placed a 3-round burst straight into its visor. This enemy also exploded. The remaining units fell back, leaving the battlefield empty.
Spartan Vale sprinted into the human perimeter. She was conspicuously lacking an armored vehicle.
"Osiris Two, I thought I assigned you to resource acquisition," Locke said once she had made her way to his position. The comms were still down within the city walls.
"Never made it, sir," Vale replied. "Area's thick with Soldiers that way. Spent hours just trying to sneak through. Can't even do that anymore."
Once again, Locke swore without transmitting the noise.
"Incoming Buzzards!" Delacroix shouted, using the newly-coined nickname for the enemy gunships. Locke's gaze snapped up to the sky. It seemed what passed for the Soldier airforce had finally taken notice of them.
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Tanaka took aim. The Spartan Laser's targeting scope beeped several times before emitting a steady chime and painting a red circle around the enemy gunship. Target lock. She fired the weapon. The Buzzard exploded. Another kill.
The final Buzzard oriented on Tanaka's position before the Laser had vented its excess heat. A ball of light gathered at the end of its cannon. Tanaka swore violently.
The Spartan IV leaped over the air filtration unit just before the enemy blast hit her position. A quarter of the roof collapsed into the 2nd floor. Tanaka's Shield flared brightly. Her steps became unsteady as the roof destabilized beneath her. She barely reached solid footing in time.
The Laser finished venting. Tanaka fell to one knee and took aim. The Buzzard was close enough that she didn't even need a target lock. Her augmented sight and reflexes enabled her to dumb-fire the weapon with pinpoint accuracy.
The enemy made a gratifyingly loud noise as it was blasted to oblivion.
The Spartan scanned the sky for targets. It seemed she had already downed the only Buzzards to have shown an interest in the human fortress. Once again, she found herself grateful for the illogical and uncoordinated behavior of these freaks.
Waterloo's roof looked wrecked. There was still room to maneuver up top but she definitely wouldn't want to spend too much time underneath it. Fortunately, there were no survivors gathered on the 2nd floor. However, she knew that the building wouldn't be able to take many more shots like that without collapsing entirely. She loaded a fresh battery pack into the energy weapon while looking out over the now-empty battlefield. It seemed things had quieted down for now.
Why did that always make her feel worse rather than better?
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The enemy patrol passed by Spartan Buck's position, never realizing that he was there. Buck's pulse never wavered. This was not his first rodeo.
The stealth expert eased out of cover and carefully moved to the next bit of concealment. He kept his cloak on the entire way. Upon reaching his destination, and making sure it was invisible to the street, Buck shut down his cloak. He'd been using it far too often and for far too long at a time. If he kept this up, he might burn out the circuits. Unfortunately, the city was so dense with enemies that he found himself unable to leave it inactive very often.
Someone screamed. Buck raised his silenced submachine gun and snaked a probe out of cover. He saw a small group of colonists trying to run away from a group of 12 Soldiers. The Soldiers had already killed 2 of them. Buck's instincts screamed at him to intervene.
He ignored them.
One of the civilians had his head vaporized. Another was shot in the back, a hole burned through his chest; a female colonist was holding his hand. She was dragged to the ground with him. Most of her torso was obliterated before she could free herself from her companion's death grip. The rest of the civilians were gunned down in a matter of seconds. The Soldiers inspected the bodies briefly before moving on. Buck settled back into cover.
It's gotten easier to do that over the years, Buck reflected. Early in his career he would have leaped to intervene and try to save those civilians. He'd once nearly blown an operation attempting to do something similar. Over time, he had learned the necessity of prioritization. He couldn't afford to reveal himself. If he didn't make it, the defenses would never be turned on. Those people would still be dead, only with everyone else along with them.
That still didn't make Buck feel any better about it. He clung to that feeling, that guilt. He knew that if he ever lost it, he would lose his way completely. He would become a monster.
Buck wondered if Locke still had that feeling whenever he did something horrible-but-necessary.
Alright, break's over, Buck thought, deciding he'd given his cloak enough of a rest. He continued moving toward the Administrative Building.
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The sound of a dwindling firefight drew Vale's attention. She had been sent back out to look for survivors, directing them to make their way to Waterloo. She hoped some more made it.
Vale came upon the ending of a battle. A trio of Security Officers lay dead in the street. A short distance away, a pair of Soldiers was about to execute a downed Officer. One had its foot on the man's right arm, preventing him from reaching his rifle, while the other was aiming its weapon at the Officer's head. They seemed to be drawing the moment out. It was almost as if they were savoring the kill.
Strange. Vale hadn't seen any incidents of this type of sadism until now. The Soldiers had just seemed like malfunctioning killbots up until this point.
Whatever questions this raised about Soldier psychology were best left to the experts, Vale decided. She opened fire, using controlled bursts. She was careful not to actually kill either of them. She didn't want the Officer to die in the blast. Both enemies immediately forgot about their former prey, turning to fire on Vale.
This proved to be a mistake. The Officer grabbed his rifle, vaulted into cover, and immediately opened fire on the Soldiers. With their attention divided, Vale was able to eliminate them 1 by 1. When the last Soldier burnt to ash, Vale approached the human warrior.
"Nice moves," Vale complemented. She hadn't expected such courage from a Security Officer.
"Likewise," the man replied. His eyes gained a pleading intensity behind his helmet's visor. "Please tell me you're from that safe house I've been hearing about."
"Yes, I am," Vale confirmed. "I-"
The Officer interrupted before she could continue. "Good, 'cause I was just the scout for a larger group of survivors. We've got about a 50 people holed up in a building just down the road. Can you help us?"
"Of course. Take me to them, Officer," Vale responded at once. This was exactly the sort of thing she had enlisted for.
The Officer led her to the group of survivors. To her shock and disappointment, she found Evelyn Collins among them.
"Sorry to say we got a bit sidetracked," Collins told her with a nervous chuckle. "Bad guys started popping up shortly after we parted ways. Wound up all the way over here by the time we met some friendlies."
"Well, I'm sticking with you this time," Vale said resolutely. She was going to get these people to safety. She examined the people present. There were 46 civilians and 7 Security Officers. Vale walked to the front of the group and addressed them all. "Alright, people, listen up. We're going to be getting you to safety. To do that, you need to do what we tell you, when we tell you. Understood?" The civilians nodded. "Good. I will act as your scout. I will move down the way we need to go, then send a signal if it is all clear. I will use flashes of light in Morse Code, as wireless communications are still down. Do not move forward without my signal. Understood?" More nods. "Excellent. Let's move out"
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Things were not going as planned.
The survivors had made their way through the ruined city reasonably well. With Vale scouting, they had known when to duck into buildings to avoid enemy patrols. They had avoided any combat. As they got closer to Waterloo, however, that changed.
Vale was leading the advance group of Security Officers through an alley. They would secure the alley exit and provide cover if the enemy closed on their position. If this worked out, they would cut precious minutes off the journey. They were half-way through what she hoped would be a good short-cut when Soldier infantry suddenly moved in from the opposite side.
"Assume position A-3!" Vale ordered, referring to one of the few maneuvers she had explained to the Officers. Fortunately, they had proven to be quick studies.
No longer caring about stealth, Vale used her thrusters in addition to her augmented strength to leap onto the roof of one of the buildings. She found a Soldier already up there. Before the enemy could even orient on her, Vale surged forward on her thrusters and knocked it off the edge.
Looking back into the alley, she saw the Officers performing as required. The Officer closest to the front was lying prone, the Officer behind him was crouched, and the Officer furthest to the rear was standing. This formation allowed all of them to fire their weapons at once without risk of hitting their comrades in the cramped quarters. Vale added her fire to theirs. The Soldiers were dispatched swiftly.
After scanning to ensure there were no more hostiles, she sent 1 of the Officers back to fetch the survivors. They couldn't afford the time it would take to secure another route. With the enemy seeming to close in on Waterloo, they had to push forward with all possible speed.
The survivor group made its way through the alley. Just as the last of them entered, the building behind them exploded. Showers of metals and plastics rained into the street. The survivors toward the rear pushed forward in a near panic. Vale looked to the end of the street. Her eyes widened.
The Spartan leaped off of the rooftop she was on. A few short seconds later the area of roof she had been standing on exploded as well. Down the street, closing on the survivors, was the culprit: a Soldier APC.
Vale ran to the forward of the group, past the Officers desperately trying to keep the regular colonists from panicking. She raced to the end of the current street. She peeked around the corner. All clear.
Vale motioned the survivors forward. There was no longer any time for true stealth. They raced forward like this for about half of a kilometer. At that point, Vale encountered the last thing she wanted to see: a large force of Soldier infantry, at least 20 strong, turned onto the street and moved toward her position. She rushed back, looking at alleys and sidestreets for a means of escape for the colonists. Every avenue she saw had Soldier forces coming down them. Looking back down the road past the colonists, Vale could see more Soldiers coming into view along with multiple APCs.
They had been led into a trap.
They needed to get the colonists out of the open. Now. Vale looked around, noticing a building that looked large enough to hold all of the survivors. She rushed over and hacked the door controls.
Like riding a bicycle, Vale thought, remembering her escapes from the diplomatic compounds of her youth.
"In here!" she shouted. The colonists began piling in. She loaded a special round into her rifle. She aimed it into the air and fired. The flare ignited. Hopefully, it would draw help. The Spartan desperately missed comms.
Vale ordered the Security Officers to guard the entrance while she rushed to defend the back of the line. She reached the rear and took cover behind a piece of collapsed building.
A force of enemy infantry advanced down the street. Vale opened fire. Several of them charged forward, blind to the danger. Vale rewarded them with a fiery demise. Some of the others, however, were smart enough to duck into cover.
I wish they'd make up their minds about infantry tactics, Vale lamented silently. She kept her weapon trained on the rubble her enemy had taken cover behind. Several seconds passed.
A cluster of red dots got closer on her motion tracker. They were attempting to flank her. Vale drew a couple of grenades and dropped them at her feet. She activated her thrusters, launching herself away just as the enemy sprung up from the side.
The grenades went off. The soldiers were hit with force and shrapnel. Vale fired upon the enemy while still flying through the air. Her rounds penetrated the weakened armor of a Soldier. It exploded, further weakening the shields of its closely packed comrades. The Spartan landed, opened fire again, and quickly disposed of the remaining hostiles.
An APC turned the corner into the street. There were now armored vehicles on both ends, with infantry blocking the alleys. Vale sprinted back to the temporary shelter, using her thrusters to give her maximum speed.
It was not quite enough. An APC fired, striking the ground less than a meter behind her. Her shield instantly failed. Her armor, weakened from her fight with the Spartan II, was breached. She was flung through the air. She landed hard in the rubble of a building next to the shelter.
Red alarms blazed on the interior of Vale's visor.
Warning: Armor penetrated in multiple points.
Warning: Internal injuries detected.
Warning: Foreign objects detected within body.
Warning: Internal bleeding detected.
Warning: Significant blood loss detected.
Warning: Administering biofoam.
Vale groaned in pain. Her head spun. Her vision was blurry. The biofoam helped numb the pain, but she could still feel her injuries. Her decision to minimize the amount and size of armor plates to maximize mobility had finally come back to bite her.
A pair of Security Officers rushed to her side. Each Officer grabbed one of her arms under the armpit and began dragging her toward the shelter. Vale was impressed. Her quarter-ton bulk couldn't have been easy to drag, even for a pair.
The Officers were about to drag Vale inside. She refused. She was not going to hide inside with the others. They helped prop her up against a railing. She rested her Assault Rifle on the top.
The Soldier infantry was moving in. Vale fired, remembering to use short, controlled bursts. She downed several Soldiers, but there were just too many.
The APCs moved closer from each end of the street.
The exteriors of buildings exploded as APC rounds hit them. Soldier infantry fire punched holes through every surface they hit. Vale's cover was pierced; her shield barely withstood the blow. She kept firing.
The APCs moved closer.
Security Officers started dying around her. One took a shot to the head. His skull disappeared from the eyebrows up. Another took a shot to the chest. Vale could briefly see clear to the other side of his body before he collapsed into a pool of his own lifeblood. On and on it went.
Before long, Vale was alone outside the shelter. She kept firing.
The APCs moved closer.
At this point, Vale could start attacking them by throwing chunks of debris at the vehicles, even in her weakened state. She faintly reflected that she may have to do just that. She was burning through the last of her ammunition.
The prospect of imminent death should probably be more disconcerting to her than it appeared to be. Everything just seemed so...hazy. Indistinct. Even the Soldiers getting ever closer to her position seemed almost to be far away. Vale realized that she was probably dying.
The APCs moved closer. Light began to collect on the ends of their cannons.
Vale loaded the last of her magazines into her rifle. She kept firing.
Suddenly, one of the APCs exploded.
Vale heard a rumbling sound coming from the end of the street. However, it was not the rumbling-clicking of the Soldiers' bizarre language. Rather, it was a more familiar noise. One that Vale could almost place...
Spartan and former UNSC Marine Olypmia Vale recognized the characteristic sound of an M808B Scorpion tank just before it rolled into view.
The Scorpion's main gun fired again. Another APC exploded, destroyed by the mighty 90mm tungsten shell. The remaining APCs fired on the Main Battle Tank. Their rounds struck the Scorpion's armor. Vale's view of the vehicle was briefly obscured by the flashes.
The Scorpion emerged from the visual obstruction, moving down the street as relentlessly as the APCs had mere moments ago. The Soldier infantry rushed forward. Apparently, they intended to get within the effective range of its main gun. What they didn't account for was the machine gun mounted just below the primary armament.
The computer-guided M247T Medium Machine Gun tore the enemy apart with precision. Soldiers combusted like rapid-fire fireworks on a Founders Day celebration.
The APCs fired again. They had as little effect as the first volley. The Scorpion methodically, almost casually, eliminated each enemy vehicle one by one. Vale reflected that it was nice to see a one-sided battle weighted in favor of human forces, for a change.
Once the last of the Soldier forces had been eliminated, a trio of Meridian Security Vehicles drove down the road to join their armored leader. Several Officers and what was clearly a medic rushed out. Most of the Officers moved inside to retrieve the colonists. Excellent. The civvies would be safe.
The medic went up to Vale and ran a medical scanner over her. He removed a baggie of synthetic plasma from his pack and asked her to open a port to allow an intravenous drip. She complied.
Maybe she'd get to live after all.
Bonus.
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The space outside the entrance to the Administrative Building was covered in human bodies. Judging by the ripped open door, Buck surmised that they had been locked out before the Soldiers arrived. The social elite probably hadn't wanted to risk enemies gaining entry to their sanctuary.
Thus, they had allowed their fellow colonists to be slaughtered right outside their door.
It hadn't helped them in the end. The door had been breached. The enemy had entered. As Buck discovered upon sneaking into the building, cloak activated, the Soldiers hadn't cared about social status. They murdered everyone, aristocrat and commoner alike.
Buck couldn't decide if the interior of the Administrative Building resembled a slaughter house or hell itself. Given the red emergency lighting and signs of human carnage all around him, he was leaning toward the latter.
A curious sight caught his eye. He spotted a corpse dressed in rather ornate armor. Gold was mixed in with the company red and blue color scheme. The nameplate on the chest-piece confirmed what Buck suspected: this was Captain Jackson, the peacock officer that had greeted Osiris upon their first arrival on Meridian. The body was missing its head from the neck up. Buck wondered if he had been wearing his beret when he died.
It seemed the late Captain's vanity had extended to his weaponry as well as his armor. He clutched an ornate SMG in his hands. The Spartan recognized it as one of the latest models. It had a distinctly non-regulation ivory grip and foregrip, as well as what appeared to be silver inlays.
Buck moved to strip him of ammo before remembering he was using DU rounds. Force of habit, he supposed. He laughed mentally at the madness of war. Only there could a man accumulate the habit of grave-robbing while performing perfectly legitimate duties.
The stealth expert moved further into the ruined colony ship. He was close to completing his mission.
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Spartan Locke thanked the Security Officer as his men hauled an unconscious Vale into Waterloo. The non-combatant civilians that Vale had found moved inside to join their fellow survivors. Locke felt a swell of pride, in his subordinate and in his mission. They were finally saving lives. The positive feeling was quickly swamped as his conscience reminded him that he was largely responsible for the fall of Meridian Station. He pushed any such thoughts away to be examined later. He looked at the Security Officer who had been driving the Scorpion.
It seemed that this 'Sgt. Ajit Singh' was an Army veteran. His implant enabled him to access and operate the Scorpion tank Vale had been unable to reach earlier. Apparently, it had been rather difficult for even the tank to punch through the enemy lines.
"Think you can keep this thing running a while longer?" Locke asked. "It should only be a couple more hours before the fleet arrives in orbit."
Singh seemed to almost collapse in his cockpit seat in relief. "Son, you have no idea how happy I am to hear that," he said. The sergeant set his features. "You can count on my help to hold the line. My people haven't survived this much just to die to these alien freaks now."
Locke nodded before the closing canopy blocked the sergeant from view. The Spartan wished he had taken the time to get to know this man before everything went to hell. He felt a shred of kinship with him.
An APC round detonated against the side of the tank.
Locke lunged back into cover along with the remaining Security Officers. He looked up the north end of the street. He quickly wished he hadn't.
There was an entire line of Soldier APCs rumbling down the street toward the human stronghold. Soldier infantry ran along the sides of the road, seeming to flow around the vehicles like a flood.
The Scorpion moved forward. Its main cannon fired, destroying an APC. Its machine gun barked a continuous stream of deadly rounds. Scores of Soldiers perished.
More kept coming.
Like the gunships' initial attack on the frigate, for every APC and Soldier that fell, 2 more seemed to rush forward to replace them. The Scorpion quickly found itself completely occupied holding back the tide.
A Security Officer was shot dead. Notably, the shot came from a direction other than the one the Scorpion was defending.
Locke whirled in place. Across the emergency starport, another wave of infantry was advancing. This time, there were hundreds of Soldiers moving forward.
Soldier infantry surged forward. Some of them had gotten the bright idea to use pieces of debris as portable cover. It didn't do much against the Spartan's DU rounds, but it did help deflect the standard ammo the civilians were using.
The world around Locke exploded.
He found himself lying against the side of the building. The Security Officer, Delacroix, was firing away above him. His armor blared red warnings. He tasted blood. His head swam for a moment. He shook it clear.
The cover he had been standing behind, the part directly in front of Waterloo's entrance, had been obliterated. It must have been targeted by one of the Buzzards. At least 3 Officers had been killed in the blast. He wouldn't know exactly how many until he counted all of the pieces. A gunship flew past overhead. Locke grabbed his Battle Rifle, rose to his feet, thanked Delacroix for covering him, and got back on the line.
Locke noticed a swarm of Buzzards flying toward the humans' position.
Locke hoped Tanaka was still paying attention.
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The Spartan Laser flashed. Yet another Buzzard was downed. Tanaka replaced the weapon's battery pack and waited for it to vent excess heat.
At least a dozen more enemy gunships were heading toward Waterloo.
Even if she managed not to get killed by the overwhelming numbers, she wasn't sure that she had enough battery packs to handle them all. Numerous profanities began flying through her head in a continuous stream.
"Hey, Spartan!" a voice shouted from the doorway to the 2nd floor. Tanaka's head snapped toward the noise. A Hispanic woman was standing in the doorway, trying to wave her over. What the hell did this civvie think she was doing?!
The Spartan rushed over to the door and practically shoved the woman inside. "Go back to where you belong!" she shouted.
The civvie was obviously terrified. She was trembling and the Spartan could tell that she only maintained her steady facial expression through sheer force of will. Despite this, and with a determination that would have impressed Tanaka in different circumstances, the woman held her ground. "You're gonna want to hear what I have to say," she insisted. Tanaka glanced upward. The gunships were getting closer. She had no time for this.
What the colonist said next changed her mind. "How'd you like to turn that thing on?" she asked.
She was gesturing at the AA battery.
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The Scorpion was still holding off the enemy to the north. A seemingly endless stream of Soldier infantry and APCs kept it from focusing its attention elsewhere. Every once in a while a Buzzard would deliver a blow to the armored vehicle. Each time Locke grimaced, expecting to see the tank destroyed. It held together, a testament to human engineering, but Locke could tell that the armor plating was beginning to warp. If it took fire much longer, Sgt. Singh would burn up like the enemies he was currently mowing down.
A group of about 5 Soldiers was making a bee-line for the molten hole in the defenses. Their intention was obvious: they wanted to get inside Waterloo. Locke opened fire along with the remaining Officers. An enemy exploded, but the Soldiers had spread out enough that the damage was minimal. It seemed they were learning. As the enemy got dangerously close to the human perimeter, Locke noticed several more Buzzards moving in from other parts of the city.
Where in the hell is Tanaka?
Locke's question was answered when Spartan Holly Tanaka landed on top of a Soldier.
Apparently, Osiris One had decided to jump off of the roof. She had deployed her hard-light barrier and had used that to land on, and crush, her enemy. Said enemy exploded, thrusting Tanaka into the air. She twisted mid-flight and landed on her feet. She fired her SAW around her barrier, peppering her enemy with DU rounds.
An enemy fell. Then another. For a moment, it looked like she might check their advance single-handed.
Then the Soldiers who weren't part of the charge focused fire on her. Tanaka's barrier began turning a brighter shade of red. It was close to overloading. Tanaka backed slowly toward cover, firing all the way. She deactivated her barrier just before it would have failed and lunged into cover beside Locke. They both crouched low to avoid the suppressing fire.
"Osiris One," Locke said in a deliberately calm voice, "I appreciate theatrics as much as the next man, but didn't I order you to stay on the roof?"
"Sure did, boss," Tanaka said, placing her SAW on her cover and firing blind. "But I think you'll be interested in what a colonist just told me."
Soldier fire continued flying over their heads. The infantry that was content to stay behind cover while a few charged the line had no intention of letting up. "Impress me," he said, wondering when in the hell she'd had the time to talk to a civvie.
"Turns out one of the new arrivals Vale found, a 'Michelle Cortez', is friends with the guy who owns this place," Tanaka explained. "She says the owner's got this huge industrial generator in the basement. Wanted it in case the power grid ever went down. Given the wattage, it might be enough to power the AA battery for a bit."
That was worth a thought. Of course, no generator would be able to power a laser AA battery for an extended period of time. There was a reason those things were hooked up to fusion reactors. It might last long enough to fight off the attacking Buzzard gunships, though.
Locke shook his head. There were too many unknowns. They would have to find a way to hook the generator up to the AA battery. Then, they'd have to hack the defensive turret itself and activate it manually. Even assuming that it worked flawlessly, they would then have to ensure that it would still come back online when Buck turned the entire system on. They didn't even know if the generator would have enough juice for one shot, let alone enough to make a difference.
"They're breaching the perimeter!" Delacroix shouted. His voice was tinged with desperation.
The attacking Soldiers had reached the human defenses. A Security Officer attempted to stop them. One of the Soldiers smashed his head in with the butt of its weapon and kept going. It didn't even break stride. The enemy entered Waterloo.
Another explosion sounded just outside of the perimeter. Locke turned to see a group of about 30 Soldiers advancing...in front of an APC.
Suddenly, Locke was no longer on Meridian. He was not a Spartan. He was not a warrior. He was not even an adult.
He was a 6 year old boy. He was back on Jericho VII, watching a bunch of alien monsters moving toward him in front of a scary armored vehicle. He was weak. He was helpless. And he, along with everyone else there, was going to die.
The flashback only lasted a moment, but the feeling of overwhelming powerlessness and despair lingered a moment longer. Locke returned to the present.
"Orders, boss?" Tanaka asked desperately. A Buzzard passed overhead, obliterating another bit of cover. The scream of a Security Officer was cut off abruptly.
No. Locke told himself. It didn't happen then. It won't happen now.
Locke transferred some hacking programs to a pair of data cubes. Tanaka would need them if she was going to access the turret. He shoved them into her hands before grabbing the Spartan Laser and some battery packs off of her back. "Get that fucking thing online!" he shouted. Tanaka nodded, put the cubes into one of her utility pouches, and rushed into Waterloo.
The Soldier forces continued advancing. Locke rose out of cover. Enemy fire splashed across his shields. His protection began dropping. 75%. The Laser started beeping. 46%. The Laser began beeping faster. 13%. The Laser achieved a lock.
Jameson Locke fired his weapon. The APC erupted in a ball of flames.
The blast shook the ground. The fireball seemed to burn itself into Locke's vision. The Soldier infantry that had been walking in front of the vehicle were staggered by the force of the explosion. Locke threw every grenade on his belt into their midst. Delacroix and a few other Officers followed suit. A dozen Soldiers were obliterated in seconds. Several more fell to the defenders' gunfire. The rest ran for cover.
Locke hefted the Laser again. It finished venting heat. He aimed it skyward at the approaching Buzzards. The Laser beeped and chimed. Locke fired. Another enemy vehicle died.
Just like last time, Locke thought with fierce triumph.
His jubilation only lasted a moment. The other gunships soon moved into range and began bombarding the area around Waterloo. The streets and emergency starport became a field of deafening explosions. Meter deep craters were blown into the pavement. Black clouds of debris were thrown into the air, obscuring vision.
The side of the building was struck. An entire wing collapsed into the street. Locke dove out of the way, narrowly avoiding being crushed. Soldier infantry began firing on his position. He sprinted to the nearest bit of deployed cover. He counted about 4 defenders left, including Delacroix. He looked skyward, counting at least triple that number of Buzzards circling in on their position.
Locke glanced at his Spartan Laser. It had finished venting. He took aim at the sky again. These bastards were NOT taking this building. He wouldn't allow it.
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This isn't happening. This isn't happening. This isn't happening.
16 year old Alex Lawson sat on the floor, rocking back and forth. He had been doing so for hours.
This couldn't be happening.
The building shook like God had just stomped on it. Half of the ceiling seemed to bulge downward. Everyone below it rushed to move to the other side of the room.
Alex was just a kid. He didn't know how to fight. He thought the War was supposed to be over. Besides, wasn't Meridian a backwater? Why would anyone come here? This didn't make any sense!
More time passed. Alex kept rocking back and forth.
The building shook again. If anything, it seemed worse than last time. Alex could distantly hear children crying.
Gunfire erupted nearby. Someone screamed. Alex looked up just in time to see one of the cops get blown in half. One of the monster-soldiers stepped into the room. Then another. They aimed their guns at the people.
The monsters opened fire.
Without moving from their place in front of the door, the monster-soldiers gunned down dozens of colonists. Their weapons cut through people and kept going, not stopping until they hit the wall on the other side of the room. Alex watched, transfixed. This was it. This was the end.
Then, something amazing happened. No, not amazing. Ridiculous. If someone had told him this happened to them, Alex would have called bullshit in a second. Yet, it was happening right in front of him.
Red Raven—the superhero!—rushed into the room and knocked one of the monsters to the ground. She rushed at the other one, knocking its gun aside, and grabbed it by the neck. She twisted it around, putting the monster between it and the first one, who had gotten back to its feet. Monster #1 was either very slow or didn't like its buddy much, because it opened fire anyway. Red Raven shoved her foe towards their attacker. The former hostage exploded, knocking Monster #1 off its feet again.
Before Monster #1 could get up again, Red Raven jumped on him. She knocked the weapon out of its hands. She drew a combat knife and slammed it into the monster's visor. Before her enemy could explode, she withdrew her blade and summoned her signature Spirit Shield. The Shield weathered the blast flawlessly.
Red Raven lowered her shield and looked at Alex, who had unconsciously gotten to his feet. She looked just like she did in the comics. She was huge, at least 2 meters tall. Her armor was dark blue and looked like it could take a tank shell without scratching. And, of course, there was the red raven painted on the chest-piece. She walked over to the dead cop, took his rifle, and shoved it into the hands of the shocked teenager. "Congratulations, kid, you've been deputized," she said. She rushed out of the room at superhuman speed.
Alex Lawson looked at the rifle in his hands. He shrugged and moved to take the deceased Officer's position defending the hallway. He figured he must be in a dream, and if that was the case he wasn't going to spend the rest of it crying in the fetal position.
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The Soldier forces continued to press the attack. The ground around Waterloo had ceased to look like pavement and now resembled the surface of Luna.
APCs were now moving in from every direction. The Scorpion was being rocked by a near-continuous stream of fire from the enemy armored vehicles. The tank's weapons were beginning to glow red hot from continuous fire.
Only a few of the Security Officers remained. Locke could see Delacroix, ballsy as ever, firing away from behind cover a few meters away.
All the while, the enemy gunships circled overhead like the scavengers they were named after. The Spartan Laser lay discarded by Locke's feet. He had run out of battery packs.
The few surviving defenders were huddled within the last piece of cover. Locke had wrenched the ends of the cover into a U shape, forcing the fused-shut hinges to move, thereby providing at least some protection from the enemies that were closing in from all sides.
There was no longer even the option to fall back inside the building. They would be cut down almost instantly if they tried. More of the pavement in front of their position erupted. Locke looked up to see the gunships lining up for a strafing run. It seemed they had finally gotten organized. There was no way the human forces could survive a coordinated strike. The Buzzards entered their attack run. Light gathered at the ends of their cannons.
Suddenly, one of the Buzzards exploded. Then, another. Within seconds, every enemy gunship within a kilometer had been blown out of the sky. Locke glanced at the roof of the building just in time to see the AA battery fall dormant once again. It seemed the generator had held out just long enough to do its job.
Had things been going better on the ground, a cheer might have gone out. Unfortunately, all of the humans were busy fighting for their lives.
Delacroix fell down at Locke's feet. A hole had been burned in the center of his chest. His eyes stared up at Locke, unseeing, devoid of expression. Of life. Locke pulled off the man's helmet and closed his eyes.
Another of the Security Officers fell on his ass behind cover, dropping his weapon and clutching his head. He began crying and screaming. His voice was drowned out by the cacophony of battle around them. Locke would have been pissed, but honestly at this point he couldn't blame the poor kid.
This must be what the end of the world looks like, Locke reflected, firing blind over his cover. C'mon, Buck, we're counting on you.
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Spartan Edward Buck entered the office of the late Administrator Adomar. If the files he had scanned earlier in the week were any indication, this was the place he would be able to activate the colony's defenses. He moved to the computer console on the man's desk and pressed the power button experimentally.
To his surprised delight, the computer turned on. It seemed power was still working in the now-derelict colony ship. Whoever designed this baby deserved a raise.
Before he could input the programs that would authorize the activation of the fusion reactor and the defense grid, a squad of 3 Soldiers entered the room. Thankfully, Buck had left his cloak on. All he had to do was use his silenced SMG to eliminate these hostiles. While making sure not to damage the computer in the process, of course. Piece of cake.
Buck's stealth tech shorted out.
The Soldiers turned and looked directly at the now very visible human. There was a pause.
Abruptly, the pause ended. The Soldiers opened fire. Buck dove to the side. Normally, he would have ducked behind the desk. The shots would have gone straight through the thin metal, of course, but it would offer some concealment, which was better than nothing. Unfortunately, he couldn't risk damage to the computer system.
Thinking on his feet, Buck rushed over to the expensive looking couch on the wall opposite the administrator's desk. He used his augmented strength to fling it across the room with one hand. The Soldiers bashed it aside. However, it did buy Buck enough time to unload on one of the Soldiers. It exploded as expected. In the close quarters, the remaining 2 enemies suffered some damage to their armor.
Unfortunately, it was not enough to destroy either of them. Both Soldiers unloaded their weapons on the exposed Spartan. Bucks shield dropped...and failed.
Gunfire erupted from the waiting room just outside the office. Showing their characteristic lack of discipline, both Soldiers whirled towards the new threat without finishing Buck off. They each fired once. There was a scream.
Buck emptied the last of his magazine into 1 of the remaining Soldiers. Showing remarkable instincts considering its brethren's behavior, the lone remaining Soldier dove out of the way before it could be damaged by the blast. Lacking time to reload, Buck drew his combat knife and rushed his foe.
Perhaps also needing to reload, the Soldier discarded its own weapon. It evaded Buck's slash. Rather than drawing its own blade, it swiped at Buck with its hand. Buck dodged. The tips of the Soldier's fingers sheared through the bulkhead like copy paper.
Huh. They've got talons on those things, Buck thought.
The battle was joined. Both combatants fought furiously, one driven by malevolent programming, the other by duty and survival.
The computer console glowed silently in the background.
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The last of the Security Officers fell dead at Locke's feet. All of the men he had begun this fight commanding, and the reinforcements Singh had brought, were now gone.
Locke feared Buck had failed.
Vale was lying unconscious inside the building.
Tanaka seemed to be firing away from the roof with her SAW, but with the sheer numbers they were facing, it didn't even stem the tide.
The Scorpion was clearly on its last legs. Its rate of fire had dropped noticeably in the last few minutes. Heat rose in waves off of the barrels of both its main gun and its machine gun. It was only a matter of time before they both failed and the Scorpion was overrun. If the enemy units coming from the other direction didn't decide to swarm it first, that is.
This was it. The end. Locke had to admit, it was a lot more noble a death than he ever expected to get.
It was doubtful anyone would remember him, of course, or even hear about what had happened here. ONI would destroy any record of his working for them other than those locked deep within the Point of No Return itself. He doubted Captain Lasky or any of the other Spartan IVs would mourn him. The events on Meridian Station would probably be viewed as an embarrassment by those in Command, so they'd bury that, too.
Enemy fire began wearing away at the last of his cover. The dense metal began to melt around him. Enemy shots started to punch through, the cover finally worn down enough to be rendered inert.
Ah, well. He'd had a good run. Locke inserted his last magazine into his Battle Rifle. He braced himself in his crouch.
Jameson Locke leaped out of cover with a roar, unloading his Battle Rifle on his enemies. It would only take moments for him to be cut down.
Suddenly, unexpectedly, Locke failed to die.
It took him a moment to realize what was happening. It seemed at first like the entire world was catching fire around him. A cataclysmic noise overwhelmed his helmet's sensors; the equipment completely shut out all sound to protect his hearing. His visor polarized to the point where he could barely see the world around him; the light had jumped in intensity so much that it would almost certainly have blinded him had he been unprotected.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Locke realized what was happening.
The Soldiers were dying en masse.
Infantry were being converted into improvised funeral pyres by the dozen. APCs were exploding in a solid line up the street away from Waterloo. It was as if God Himself were striking dead the enemies of his prized creation. All enemy fire ceased.
Locke directed his gaze to the rooftops. Turrets all over the city were active. He could see Buzzards in the distance flash and burn out of the sky. Having eliminated all airborne targets, the laser turrets decreased the intensity of their shots and directed their fire toward the enemies on the ground. They joined their fire with the dedicated anti-infantry turrets.
The city cast an orange glow into the night sky. It seemed like the city was truly on fire now. It finally looked like what sacked cities were supposed to look like.
In a matter of minutes, the noise began to die down. A few minutes after that, it died entirely.
A silence descended upon Meridian Station that was almost as deafening as the battle had been. The only noises came from the settling rubble and the pops and cracks from the Scorpion's overheated weapons.
For the longest time, Locke just stood in awe. It was too much to process. He could barely comprehend the fact that he was still alive. Finally, his mind recovered enough for a single idea to spring into his consciousness.
When this is over, he thought, I'm going to buy Buck a beer.
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Spartan Buck sheathed his combat knife and reloaded his SMG. Judging by the readings he was getting on the computer, the plan had worked. The turrets were active. Time to get back to Waterloo.
He glanced one last time at the scorch mark on the wall that marked the death of his latest enemy. The melee had been brutal, but Buck had come out the winner. He felt slightly better about losing to the member of Blue Team earlier in the night.
As he exited the administrator's office, he came upon a new body. It seemed he found the backup that had saved his ass at the last minute. It was a woman. Average build and height. She was clutching a pistol in her hands. It took Buck a moment to recognize the secretary that Locke had bullied when they first arrived. What was her name?
Buck searched her pockets and removed her employee ID. 'Maria Belmonte'. He stowed the ID in his pack. She didn't have dog tags to police, so he'd make due with this. Remembering her was the least he could do.
Had she deliberately come to his rescue? Had she even known there was a human in that office? Or had she merely been attacking in a mindless panic? Buck would never know. The fact that she survived as long as she had seemed to indicate nerves of steel. That, or incredible luck.
Spartan Buck pushed those thoughts to the side. They would join the ever-expanding group of questions, doubts, and regrets that had been accumulating for his entire career. Eventually, they would probably give him an ulcer.
He'd just have to get the UNSC to clone him a new stomach when that happened. It was in the benefits package.
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"I thought you said you hadn't been trained for that thing, sergeant," Buck teased as he approached the now deactivated Scorpion. Singh had joined Locke, Tanaka, and Vale around what remained of Waterloo's defenses. Given how little that was, and how beat up and exhausted his teammates looked, Buck guessed he'd missed quite the fight.
"Well, let's just say I took a bit more of an interest in the Station's biggest toy than I let on," Sgt. Singh replied with a grin. Buck smiled as well; he wouldn't have been able to resist playing with the thing, either.
Singh's eyes didn't quite match his smile. It probably had something to do with the dead Security Officers littered around the battlefield. Buck chuckled politely at the sergeant's joke. He was familiar with using humor to mask pain.
"How did the city look on your way back, Osiris Three?" Locke asked.
Buck grimaced behind his visor. "About as bad as here, actually. The Soldiers going boom makes for a pretty show, but it played hell on the already beat up architecture. Honestly, I'm surprised the entire place hasn't collapsed around us."
The group grew somber as they examined the ruined city once again. Barely any of the buildings were intact. Most of the streets were cluttered with rubble, if not blocked off entirely. Scorch marks had turned all of the intact pavement they could see into a patchwork of black soot and cracked ground. Many of the buildings that supported turrets on their roofs had collapsed from the force of the Soldiers' demise. From what they could tell, there were maybe a quarter of the total number still in operation. There was no telling what or how many Soldier forces had managed to escape the culling.
"How long until that fleet of yours shows up, again?" Singh asked, a bit nervous. Locke checked his visor.
"About an hour," he replied. Shit, had the battle only taken that long? It felt like a whole week could have passed since he had last thought about the time.
The ground began to shake. Before anyone could even wonder what was happening, an earthquake rocked the entire city.
What remained of the streets fractured. Chasms split open and cliffs were thrust up as if a new mountain range was forming all around them. Buildings collapsed left and right. A massive cloud of dust and debris was stirred up, covering the entire Station in an impenetrable fog of war. All of the surviving defenders were knocked off of their feet.
After a while, the shaking stopped. The dust settled. The defenders cautiously stood up, their weapons at the ready. Locke glanced at the remaining rooftops.
Oh, no...
What few turrets survived were inert. The backup power grid must have been destroyed. Hell, the reactor itself may have been damaged. They could be moments away from a catastrophic radiation leak.
"Get ready to move out, people!" Locke shouted to his subordinates. "Our timetable just got a lot shorter."
The first stage of the battle for Meridian draws to a close. Tune in next time to see the climactic conclusion. I'll try to get it out sometime next week. Probably Monday or Wednesday.
Note: Bet you didn't think I'd do anything with the whole 'Tanaka's armor was based on a superhero' thing, did you? Another thing I've been waiting so long to be able to pay off.
Note: This is my first attempt to depict a war scene, rather than a fight scene. Feedback?
Note: I tried to lampshade the Soldiers' behavior not making any sense. This is due to 2 reasons: 1. My alternate explanation for their origins, which I'll reveal later in the story. 2. It gives me a lot of leeway in terms of what I have them do. Normal soldiers would have annihilated the heroes pretty early on with standard tactics.
Note: I was happy to see readers really disliking Locke early on. He started out this fic as a villain, after all, and I was relieved to learn that I successfully conveyed that. However, I also want him to be redeemable. I won't spoil my plans for the end of his character arc, but let's just say that the events of Meridian will play a huge roll in the future for Jameson Locke.
Thanks for reading. Love you guys.
Slipspace Anomaly