Chapter XVIII: Istanbul, Not Constantinople
June 3, 2537 (UNSC Calendar)/
UNSC Inconvenience, Draco Prima System
It had been a couple of months since our last incident in Carentan system. Pavel and me were given the UNSC Red Legion of Honor. Didn't really think I deserved it, but the comitee was impressed by our stunt and they decided that we were worth it. It was given to me by one Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb. As he was clipping the medal to my chest I couldn't help but fearing that the large man was going to snap my neck with his fingers. He must've been born in one of those higher gravity colonies or mining asteroids, because he was built like a fucking rhino. He was around 6'7 and had arms as thick around as tree trunks. It's not usually that I am intimidated by people, not since Gabuka, but then again, it's not usually that I meet men that were a head taller than me, that particular man also happened to be the fifth highest-ranking officer in the UNSC Navy.
"Good job son," he said as he crushed my hand.
"Sir," was all I was supposed to say as I gave him my best salute. I was proud of that salute, it could've done for a recruiting poster. Me getting condecorated in my black uniform and saluting the intimidating man that represented leadership. It was probably going to be publicized or something. Nowadays every condecoration was being used as propaganda by ONI.
The admiral's shuttle left the ship and went towards the UNSC Disproportionate Retribution. I wondered what name was better for a ship, the one of his cruiser, or the one of my frigate. I was immersed in that thought when Ensign Layla Wickett interrupted me.
"Hey there," she said while smiling at me.
I smiled back at her, I was beginning to think that she was the only thing that I really had to live for. Well, that and Pavel's priceless quips, although those came rarely nowadays, it had to be a special occasion. Or so he told me.
"Well, it seems like you're finally as heroic as I am," she said.
She had been given a Silver Star for bravery under overwhelming circumstances a month ago. She had actually killed a stealth elite from a boarding party that managed to make its way to the bridge. Using my teachings with the handgun.
"Be thankful young one, had it not been for me, your shots wouldn't have hit anything but air." I said as I lifted her up in my arms.
"Besides, if it hadn't been for me and my fellow marines holding back the real Covenant forces during that incident you would've gotten your medal posthumously," I told her. I think it was a quite clever and funny comment, but she didn't really pay attention, as she kept yelling at me to put her down.
"Ajem Frank…" came a voice from the end of the hallway.
It was Warrant Officer Marina Bogdanovic, the pilot from Mary's Little Lamb. She had become the unofficial pilot for my squad. Well, for me and for Pavel, since the rest of my squad seemed to keep dying.
"Yes Marina?" I said with an irritated voice.
"The Colonel wants to see you in his office," she said before she hurriedly retreated down the corner, a little bit embarrassed by the situation she had found me and Layla in.
"I don't like her," said Layla matter-of-factly.
And how could she have liked her? Marina was a striking blonde from Croatia. She had eyes as blue as Pavels and her longer-than-regulation hair framed her lovely Balkan features. Her body was not that bad either.
Despite that, I still think Layla was prettier, hotter as well. Her light brown hair was usally tied in a ponytail (something I liked) and her green eyes were quite the sight, although lately she had been keeping them hidden behind glasses, God knows why. Her body was at least as good as Marina's so in my eyes she shouldn't have been jealous.
"You're jealous," I said.
"I am not!"
"Liar," I told her. "C'mon, you know you're way prettier?"
"You think so?" she asked, taking her hand to the back of her neck, as if she didn't believe it. Girls love compliments, especially when they're true.
"I know so," I said as I kissed her. "I'll be right back;" I told her as I left towards Colonel Zavala's office.
I suddenly realized that I did have some sort of thing that managed to draw attractive women to my life, Ramsey had been right for once. I made my small trip with a large grin on my face at the thought.
Those thoughts quickly disappeared when I entered Zavala's office. There were already a couple of other sergeants and a captain waiting there. It meant that we were going to be briefed for something, likely a mission, and since we weren't traveling in slipspace to another system, it meant that the Covenant had discovered Draco Prima and New Constantinople.
"Was little Miss Perfect keeping you from your duties?" Zavala asked in his granfatherly tone that he used to joke with us.
"She really is perfect, isn't she?" I said while making a lovestruck face and voice. Which in reality I was.
My comment was received by "Ughs" and "Whipped!" from the other soldiers and laughter from the Colonel.
"Let's get to business," he said after a few seconds of everyone laughing, that certainly cut the fun short. It wasn't often that the colonel got "straight to business."
"Listen up," he said, although we were already doing just that. "Not twenty minutes ago a slipspace anomaly was detected on the edge of the system, a probe was sent to confirm it, but it was destroyed by unknown forces before it could contact command. As you all know, this is the standard operating method for the Covenant, it is very likely that they have discovered the system. As per Winter Contingency, our ships will defend the planet and ground troops will counter-attack to any landing force that the Covenant may land on the planet," he paused for a breath. "This is not a sure thing yet boys," he said, although he clearly didn't mean it, "but we are now at our highest level of alert."
We all nodded.
"You all know what you signed in for," he told us, "you'll be sent to the planet as soon as the enemy lands their ground forces." He said as soon, and not if. "You know the kind of missions you'll be sent on, there isn't anything definite yet as we don't have targets, but good luck boys."
We all stood at attention and saluted him. He dismissed us and we returned to our respective squads, telling them what we had just learned and arm ourselves up. I opened the locker door that held my armor and weaponry. I eyed my ODST Body Suit. It was the second I had had in my relatively short carrer as a soldier. It was still completely black; I hadn't really gotten around to painting it.
I gotta take this to Marina for her to paint it before I get skewered by a brute, I thought to myself as I started putting it on. The boots were the same as always, they had been reliable and I hadn't needed to switch them. My old knife was still there, the metal brackets had done their job well enough. The knee guards I had had to replace a couple of times, but always for the same model. My left thigh contained regular armor and my trauma kit. On the other thigh I had a thiner, more flexible piece of experimental armor. I forget the name of it. It had my pistol holster attatched to it. I wasn't really a big fan of magnetic straps. They had failed me once a year ago.
A light kevlar ballistic vest and a special abdomen piece covered my abdomen. The abdomen piece functioned as a wide belt, attatching behind my back. Titanium and ceramic plates covered it, with the thickest one being on the front. The original plates had been replaced by thiner ones made out of ceramic armor. They were lighter and provided around the same protection as the original ones. On top of those plates I had my ammunition pouches. To cover my chest I had kept the classic ODST chest piece, the only thing differenciating it from regular chest piece was two inch-deep scratches running diagonally along the center section of the chest piece, courtesy of a Brute Bodyguard. I had spray-painted an A2 for Alpha 2nd into the right strap of the harness that held up the heavy chest piece, the other strap held my backup knife, while the larger knife was strapped across my lower back, right above my butt-pack. My helmet was the same as I had gotten it except that I had now upgraded it with the new fancy VISR technology and had the word Inconvenience written on the bottom back of it. My shoulder covers were still the same ones I had gotten from the armory when I came here. They had actually done quite well, stopping more than one plasma burst and spike. Forearm protection was the lighter version that the ODST body suit sported. Those were new and yet untried; you don't get hit in the forearms very often. The regular ODST full-hand gloves covered my hands, only that now they had pointy studs in the knuckles. You should've seen those babies in action, they had torn more than one grunt's skin from their ugly faces.
I finsished putting my armor on and grabbed my rifle. It was still the very same weapon I had been issued in Mars. It had lived through more than most marines on this ship and had saved my life in more than one way. I hadn't really upgraded it other than adding a "pig-stucker" bayonet. It was a thin metal piece that went under the barrel and ended in a sharp point. It deployed when I pressed a certain button and hid back in the body of the rifle when I didn't need it anymore. It was perfect for putting in between gaps of elite and brute armor. At least that was the theory; I hadn't been stupid enough to fight one of those monsters one-on-one.
My pistol had only been outfitted with a longer barrel that also acted as a silencer, that puppy could knock out a brute with a single headshot and no one would know any better. I holstered the pistol and headed to the armory, by now, the room was full of soldiers doing the same thing I was doing. I filled my ammo pouches with spare mags and slammed a specialized 100-round box magazine into my BR55. They were too large and uncomfortable to carry strapped on to your body, but they were perfect for turning your rifle into an LMG while you looked for cover after a blind jump. ONI had specifically designed them after someone from this ship requested larger magazines.
Once I was finished with conventional ammunition, I picked up two grenades and strapped them to the left of my body, halfway in between my armpit and my waist. I had found that that was the most comfortable position to throw a grenade quickly when a spike grenade landed in between my arm and my body. The brute that threw it wasn't quite so lucky and wasn't able to throw it back. On the same place, but on the other side I hung two flashbangs, they were always quite nice to use when you were outnumbered, and then quietly disappear after leaving behind a C7 pack. I smiled at the thought as I loaded my pistol. I slid back the slide and holstered it to my thigh.
I caught sight of Pavel just as I was leaving. The man had made so many additions to his armor that he made mine seem like minor tweaks. He had gotten the same shoulder plate that the Colonel had on his right shoulder, his left one had the two-piece pauldron of the CQB specialized armor. His helmet's forhead had some sort of extra plating and it sported a camera with the ability to zoom up to the end of the universe. It was creepy actually, recorded footage he had shown me from the camera was like a freaking telescope. His torso was covered by the standard ODST armor and so were his legs, but they had many add-ons, the man had gotten an armor plate to go on top of the abdomen armor as well as hard cases on both legs, to the date I still don't know what he kept there. He had his large M247L slung across his back. He had half his rucksack filled with ammo crates that connected to the LMG through a metallic hose. When those ran out, he had five 200-round packs strapped to his body. I am still not entirely sure how he managed to carry all that and still be able to move. Either he was on LSD or something like that, or he wasn't completely human. It seriously crept me out so see a man carrying so much equipment. He even had a sawed-off shotgun strapped to the bottom of his rucksack. That particular weapon was technically not allowed by the UNSC, it was an M90 without the top barrel-cooler and the stock having been removed. The barrel had been shortened until it reached the same length that the cocking handle had.
I pushed him on the shoulders.
"What are you doing?" he asked me with a raised eyebrow.
"I just wanted to see if you'd tip over from all that steel on your body," I said while making a worried face.
He smiled "This steel has saved my life more times than you can count," he told me.
"I've been with you ever since you started buying all this crap, and you haven't been hit once since you got on this ship, you lucky bastard," I told him.
He just laughed and walked with me towards the drop pod bay. We were halfway through when we heard the alarm sounding us to go to battle stations; we put on our helmets and sprinted to our pods.
We were joined by three other men dressed in ODST armor, the ship seemed to be becoming something closer to normal with regular marines and specialized ODST teams, Army troops were now non-existent in this ship. I kind of liked that, going back to normal. Of course, we still did crazy things that no other ship did. I was still drinking champion of the ship and had managed to win the rollerblading championship a couple of times. I didn't do so badly at the poker tournaments we had either.
The three soldiers that had joined us were seasoned veterans, they were all older than I was, which made it a little awkward for me to be their leader. They had been transferred to this ship just recently, and this would be their first battle on board the Inconvenience. I kept forgetting their names. For once I was thankful that the ship had assembled permanent squads with code names. Mine was Titan squad. I was Titan-1, Pavel was Titan-2, although he liked to jokingly call himself Cronus, he had even painted a schithe into his right shoulder-plate. I wasn't sure if he had the right titan, but I wasn't big on Greek history. The rest of my squad was Titan-3, 4, and 5. My HUD helpfully signaled which one was which.
We all hopped in on our SOEIVs and waited. The Covenant were in the system, but they hadn't sent a landing force yet, so we would have to wait in our cramped pods until they decided to land on New Constantinople.
We were in the pods half an hour until I got a transmission from our captain.
"Sergeant, the Covenant have sent a large landing force to the city of New Istanbul, kind of a weird name to name a planet and a city after the same place don't you think?"
"Sir?" I asked, confused.
"Nevermind, as I said, they have sent a large force to the city, luckily, it was evacuated in time and is now mostly empty of civilians. Your squad will be deployed to the point where the leading enemy forces are assumed to land, you will prevent them from establishing a strongpoint, do you understand?" he told me.
"Sir, my squad is supposed to halt an enemy advance by itself? You do realize we are only five men?" I said, outraged at the mission I was given.
"Oh, and you need to hold out long enough for our troops to arrive and form a stable front," he said, ignoring my tone.
"Isn't that job usually given to a company-sized force?" I asked, still mad.
"Your squad, will function as a spearhead, halt the enemy invading troops, and hold out until a stronger force can arrive," the captain told me, his voice dangerous now.
"Yessir, an honor serving with you sir," I said before the captain cut the channel.
"So, what you got Frank?" Pavel asked me through our squad channel.
"Pavel, it was a pleasure fighting by your side."
"That bad huh?"
"You have no idea," I said just as five pods were dropped from the Inconvenience and towards the planet under attack. It was already burning.