Chapter Eighteen: Landing Zone

Four and a Half Years Earlier. 0631 Hours, November 26, 2553. UNSC Roosevelt Air Base, Skagen, Denmark. "The Paradigm Shift," Planet Earth. Eight Months After the Human-Covenant War's End

"Honey, have you seen my cover?"

Willis was standing in the bathroom of their new two-bedroom apartment on base, a welcome change of housing from the single-room barracks they'd had to live in for a few months when the war had ended. At least now they'd been moved to something more manageable for a family of three - soon to be five - but even this wasn't permanent. Cooper had informed him yesterday that her new orders had finally come down - the first they'd had since the whole nightmarish war against the Covenant and Flood had come to a close eight months ago.

Much to her dismay but no real surprise, she'd found out her whole unit was getting dismantled soon. In three more months the 603rd Infantry Regiment would be no more, let alone the 102nd Battalion she was a part of; and instead of being a company commander for Bravo as she had been for well over a year now, she'd be getting transferred to the 8th Engineer Battalion to help with the post-war reconstruction efforts already underway across the planet.

Now that the hostilities were finally over, there was a much higher premium on those with engineering backgrounds than those with infantry experience. Cooper had both so the brass were eager to send her on her way.

For his part, Willis's request to transfer with Natalie to Florida, where her new unit was based, had yet to be approved, but he had little worry so far that it wouldn't. Bases everywhere needed a pilot, and with no war going on anymore and his wife four months pregnant with twins, he figured the chances of their family being split up were small. Cooper didn't seem to think the same though, so she spent most of her free moments fretting over the possibility while Hawk tried his best to keep her calm with reassurances.

This wasn't one of those times, however. At the moment, both of their immediate concerns were getting ready for another hectic workday, and making sure they were dressed and out the door on time along with their three-and-a-half-year-old son Gabe.

Willis finally glanced up from buttoning his uniform jacket in front of the mirror and yelled back to Cooper, "On the dresser, Coop! In the bedroom!"

"Thanks!"

The young captain shook his head to himself, a small smile on his face. It was true what they said about pregnant women - they were awfully forgetful.

Because of the war, Willis hadn't been around much at all during Natalie's past two pregnancies - one that had only recently ended in a painful miscarriage neither liked to talk about. So this was going to be his first time fully involved in his new children's lives from start to finish. If the transfer worked out.

It will, Hawk reminded himself. We spent six years mostly apart because of those Covenant bastards during the damn war. I'm going to make sure I get to spend the rest of my days in peace now with my family, no matter what strings I might have to pull to get that to happen. We earned this.

Moving into the bedroom himself now to pull on his boots, Willis frowned when he walked in. It looked like Natalie had found her cover to go along with her fatigues, barely able to hide the noticeable bulge now, but she hadn't walked out the door yet. Instead she held the camouflage hat between her hands as she sat on the edge of the bed, listless.

"Natalie? What's wrong?"

He heard her swallow. "Nothing, Will. It's just...everything's been happening so fast lately. I don't - "

Standing over her, he reached down and took one of her hands in his, giving it a light squeeze. "Hey. It'll be okay. I know there's a lot going on right now, but we'll be fine." He chuckled faintly. "We survived the war for God's sake. That's something. And we'll all be together when the time comes for you to leave, all right? I promise. Don't worry about it so much, Coop."

"It's not that." She swallowed again. "I mean, I think about that a lot too, but I meant...am I the only one having a hard time believing this is real? That after nearly thirty years of war, the Covenant are really done with us?"

Hawk let out a sigh this time and turned to sit beside her on their bed. "It's a lot for all of us to take in, Cooper. You're not the only one who feels that way. But yeah, from what I can tell, this is it. I know it's hard for people like us to fathom, but we live in a time of peace now. It's been eight months. The Covies aren't coming back." He squeezed her hand again and smiled. "We're finally free, Coop. We made it."

Cooper frowned. "Then why do I sometimes feel like it's not?"

"It was a long war, honey. Hell, when we were born it was already going on, and we're nearing twenty-seven now. It's the only reality we've ever known. It'll take some time to get used to that. But we can finally move on now, without fear of more attacks."

"I guess. But they're still out there, Will. Maybe not the Covenant, but the species that were a part of it. How long until they figure they've got no reason to leave us alone anymore?"

Willis reminded himself to be patient. They'd been through a lot, and his wife was pregnant. It was natural for her to worry to the point of exasperation sometimes.

She was still having nightmares almost nightly, most often about her best friend's death on the Tsavo Highway when they'd fought in Africa. She'd only just fully recovered from her wounds sustained there. Physically things were fine, but mentally, Willis knew she was still a work in progress. Both of them were. Most of humanity was. Shit, they'd just narrowly escaped extinction as a species.

He'd never figured a concept like "peace" would be something so hard to get used to.

They were Marines. Fighting was ingrained, an instinct. Now that there was no war anymore, there was plenty of doubt and uncertainty about the future that lay ahead for them.

Still, it was his job to keep her from dwelling on these things. This time instead of squeezing her hand, he leaned over and kissed her full on the lips. She kissed him back.

"Natalie, we'll be fine. Gabriel will be fine. The babies will be fine, and we're not getting split up. Okay?"

Slowly, she nodded. "Okay."

"And the Covenant aren't coming after us again. I can guarantee you that. It's truly, finally over now."

Present Day. 1454 Hours, February 19, 2558. Qamar Island Ruins, Planet Khan. "The Edge," Outer Colonies. Day One of the Dawn of the Prometheans

From the looks of it, things weren't going much better on the ground now than in the air.

For some reason, it was that moment that Hawk thought back to an old, brief conversation he'd had with Natalie a few years ago. His assertions that the Covenant - in any form - would never come back to haunt them suddenly rang hollow in his ears. At the time, he'd truly believed that. With time, Cooper had come to believe it as well. Now that the Storm were a constant thorn in their side out here in the Outer Colonies, however, he often thought how naïve he'd been to ever think that way.

Come on, you alien bastards, he thought to himself now as he went into a series of evasive maneuvers in his ship. Come and get it.

Pushing on the controls hard, the major sent his Pelican boosting forward, forcing it out of a tight roll he'd just used to avoid the two Banshees pursuing him. He'd thought things up here were bad before, but it looked like the action in the air was only getting thicker now. He wondered briefly if the Storm ship in orbit had launched more fighters. Shit, I hope not, he though. That'd be just what we need right now.

"Talon, dip low! I got 'im!"

Without thinking, Hawk immediately did as he was told, violently jerking the controls down so that his Pelican momentarily rushed closer to the planet's surface. He got to a point where he could make out individual moving dots - fellow Marines on the ground - and had to deftly dodge the friendly fire aimed at the Remnant crafts. Still, he didn't pull up again until he got the all-clear from his wingmate.

"Hell yes! Bogie down, sir," Captain Heat shouted over the COM. "Now the odds are two against one. I'm liking that."

Inside his own cockpit, Willis frowned. "I'm sure you do, Snoopy, but I'd really like it if I didn't have to keep flying fancy for you. Let's get this last Storm pilot out of the way and try to get back to helping the ground troops. Looks to me like they aren't faring much better down there than us."

"You're no fun, Tal, but I understand. On it."

Major Hawk continued his maneuvers as the second Banshee proved it was still alive and kicking behind him. He had his console screaming at him to avoid the oncoming lances of plasma it launched, as well as the friendly ordnance the Marines on the surface were sending up in an attempt to help. Rockets streaked through the air after the Banshee, narrowly missing it. Up ahead, Willis could see one of the Scorpion tanks attached to one of his wife's battalions, too - and further in the distance yet closing fast, Cooper's crown jewel from the recent supply drop from the Excalibur. A Mantis.

Despite the situation, that made Hawk grin. Not doing so bad after all, huh, Coop, he thought. Better than us at least. Keep it up.

It was easy to tell the new equipment only helped so much, however. Natalie's Marines were still clearly in dire need of more support from Willis's squadrons in the air. The major pushed hard again to try to get that to happen. He had to.

"Snoopy, how are you doing on that lock?"

"I'm close! Bastard keeps jolting out of the way at the last minute. Strafing!"

"Careful not to hit - !"

Hawk inadvertently moved up then at the same time the Banshee behind him moved down, forcing Captain Heat's shots to miss the target completely. What his wingmate hit instead was the back of Willis's own damn Pelican. And he felt it good.

Willis grunted as he was thrown forward suddenly inside the craft, only the heavy harness keeping him strapped tight against his seat. Pain rippled through his chest at the pull, but he managed to retain control of the Pelican and growl over the COM in response. Thankfully they'd only been rounds from the machine gun, something the Pelican's hull was well-prepared to handle. Still, it had been jarring nonetheless and left the craft a little vulnerable.

"Dammit, Heat! What the hell did I just say?"

"Sorry, T. Jesus, you know I didn't mean to - fuck. He's coming back around!"

"Get after him!"

Luckily for both human pilots, the Banshee didn't last long after that. Just as Willis's best friend was going in for the kill, another rocket launched up in the sky, hitting the alien target dead-on while somehow avoiding the two friendlies going after it. A mean feat from a skilled heavy weapons Marine. That threw the Storm pilot off its course, twisting suddenly to the right with sparks trailing its tail - and that was enough for Heat to finish it off.

The enemy aircraft went up a moment later in a burst of electric sparks and flames.

"Nailed him! You see that, Talon?"

"I did. Nice work picking at the leftovers, Snoopy."

"Aw, come on, man! I said I was sor - "

Willis chuckled over the radio. "You'll be more sorry when Cooper finds out one of your shots hit my bird. You could've killed me you dope."

There was a brief pause before Captain Heat's voice came back, sounding agitated. "Shit. You wouldn't. Natalie will bite my head off, you know that, right?"

"Sure do, buddy. That's punishment for you."

"Aw, hell."

The smug grin remained on the major's face for a moment after that before he realized what it was he'd noticed before - the sudden influx of activity. It wasn't more Storm pilots being deployed from the enemy ship upstairs. It was that many of the Phantoms that had made it to the surface to unload troops were coming back.

"T, you seeing what I'm seeing? Those damn aliens heading up to the garage?"

"Yeah."

"They rearming and refueling or what?"

"Don't know, Snoopy. But I hope to hell they're not planning on going back down with more troops."

They couldn't have more in that ship, Willis reasoned. The entire island was already crawling with them. Frankly, he wasn't sure the friendlies on the ground could take any more on. I have to warn Natalie about this, he thought to himself. Just in case. Let's hope this doesn't turn into more of an impossible situation than it already is.

He'd already keyed his COM to talk to her when something hard knocked into the Pelican's starboard side. Even strapped in, Hawk's helmet bounced off the side of the bulkhead, temporarily forcing him unconscious. When he came to, red alarms blared at him from his console, and he could taste copper in his mouth.

Instinctively, he knew what was happening. I've been here before, he thought. I'm going down.

"Talon!" his best friend's voice yelled into their shared channel. "What are you doing, man? Pull up!"

The sudden hit had come from a large piece of debris that had burst off the front of another Pelican just beside the major's. Not Heat's from the sound of it. The loose chunk of thick metal dug right into the craft's weakened section and sent it spiraling to the ground.

I wish I could, buddy, Hawk thought as his mind spun. It was getting harder and harder to think now, but he knew he had to. There was something important he needed to do. Something that might save Cooper. But what was it?

He never got the chance to remember. All in a rush the plummeting feeling in his gut stopped, and then the rest of the world ceased to exist.