Chapter CLXXVII: To Die
May 8, 2549 (UNSC Calendar)/one week later
Valern Spaceport, Valern, Paris IV, Paris System
"Tell us, why do you want to be a United Nations Space Command Marine?"
"Good, we're all here. Now we can proceed."
Colonel Bourne was a grim-looking man, but his somber expression and snappiness could be forgiven when you remembered that his home was burning. The man was in command of the Army forces in the city, what little remained of them. While Darbinian was the highest-ranking Marine officer on location, Bourne was of higher rank so he got command of all UNSC forces in the city.
The few of us left.
I crossed my arms under my chest piece, the skin was completely healed from the burns inflicted by that plasma grenade and the tautness was gone too. My throat still itched from time to time, but for the most part I was in fine working order. Darbinian seemed to be fine too, but there was a patch covering his right cheek and his eye seemed to droop slightly from time to time. The other officers in the room all had minor injuries of some sort ranging from scratched knuckles to missing teeth. My face was relatively clean save for a few persistent bruises running the length of my jaw that seemed to want to stay there for a long time.
The Spartans… the four of them still here looked ready to pounce at the slightest sign of danger. They held their weapons loosely across their chests, but there was an air of danger about them. Even when they walked, fluidly but looking like they could break a tank in half without a second thought. The one with the knives walked almost as if on his tiptoes, like he was in the middle of a martial arts tournament all the time. The knives strapped to his armor did nothing to diminish his threatening appearance.
But their armors were battered, even worse than my own. I had a neat slash across my chest piece, pieces of a spike grenade embedded on my right shoulder plate, a long groove on the back of my helmet. One of my bootshad been slightly melted, giving it a wave-like pattern. My kneepads were worn and beaten almost beyond use. The rest of the armor had scratches all over from sliding in and out of cover, slamming into the ground, and just general use.
The Spartans' armor looked even worse, and they had amassed all the damage in just three weeks while it had taken me a few years to get mine to its current level.
"I just got word from Spartan Sierra-058," Bourne announced, drawing interested glances from all around him. "Her mission was a failure."
Even the Spartans seemed shocked by it.
"The target wasn't present in the main Covenant camp, instead it was spotted fighting in the frontlines."
"Fucking elites…" an Army captain muttered angrily.
"After seven days of waiting Sierra-058 decided that the risk of discovery was too great. She dispatched two general-class elites, but the field marshal is still at large."
"Smart hingehead," Schitzo complimented.
"Command has assessed our current situation and they've decided that this city is as good as lost."
"What?" a man exclaimed. "We've been fighting for months to keep this city from their hands and now we just decide to throw it away?"
The commander nodded grimly. "This is my home too. But we're effectively surrounded. The river is the only thing that has kept us from being overrun. Even with Green-Team we're hard pressed to hold the entire spaceport."
Commander Bourne took a deep breath, suddenly looking sad and tired.
"We're pulling out. Civilian personnel will be evacuated in airliners, flying low with SkyHawk fighters as escorts. We've got enough atmospheric liners to fit the survivors, even if it's a little bit tight."
"What about military personnel?" a Marine lieutenant asked.
"We'll pull out later. Myself and my own staff will go first along with a couple of companies. After that we'll collapse onto this point right here. It's the most defensible building in the entire spaceport."
"From there we hold until we're all evac'd?" I asked.
"That is correct, lieutenant," he said. "There is an exception. Green Team will be move past enemy lines and take out three enemy SAMs here, here, and here. We need you to do it quick."
"We can do it," Sierra-005 said with a quick nod that was imitated by the other two Spartans.
"Good." Bourne turned back towards me. "Lieutenant, I was actually hoping that your unit could help with another two SAM emplacements here and here. They're not as big a risk to the airliners but could still pose a threat."
"Excuse me, sir," Darbinian came in. "Castillo's platoon is still recovering from the beating they took last week, and the attacks on the perimeter haven't sped up that process."
"Your point?" Bourne urged.
"My point is that my unit is better suited for this task."
As of right now, I added mentally.
Commander Bourne turned to look at me, with a seemingly amused expression on his face.
"Your call, sir," I said.
"Very well Captain," he told Darbinian. "Your op."
"Thank you, sir," Darbinian replied, shooting a self-satisfied smirk my way.
"Green Team and your unit will be pulling out by Pelican in any of the evac points that you designate, but you'll be too far from the airfield for us to provide any support."
Darbinian nodded at the same time S-005 did.
"That's about it," Bourne said. "I'm sending the specifics to everybody, the order of withdrawal is right there as are the positions and key strong points. Go talk to your men. Civilian evacuation will commence shortly. Dismissed."
We saluted and started walking out.
"Sir," I said after everybody had left.
"Yes?"
"Do you have any news from the Navy?" I asked. "The Flawless Battle Group in particular."
He shook his head. "Last I heard things weren't going too great up there, but I don't have any specifics."
"Thanks, sir," I replied, walking out.
"Wait, lieutenant."
"Sir?"
"Are you all right?"
I smiled. "As all right as can be."
Bourne nodded grimly and waved me away before returning his attention to the hologram in front of him, allowing me to leave the room. The massive landing pads for spacecraft and shuttles were an imposing sight. Kilometers of polycrete paving welcomed me along with several huge hangars to be used whenever particularly repairs needed to be done. A refit station in orbit was always a good choice, but it couldn't beat a groundside port.
The open area was filled with tents and improvised housing. I could see damaged barracks and vehicles here and there. The hangars were further out back, they housed the airliners that Bourne had been talking about as well as several dozen civilian refugees that hadn't gotten their own tents or housing.
The spaceport was a grim sight. People were low on morale and they barely did anything other than sit down and stare at the ground. Occasionally one would see small children running around, laughing, but then you'd remember that for those two you saw there were another ten that had been killed by the Covenant. Valern had been hit hard by the covvie onslaught and the survivors were shellshocked.
I shook my head sadly and made my way through the refugee camp and to the barracks. My platoon wasn't faring too well either. We'd taken no casualties during our diversion mission, but most of my men had been wounded. Hoff was still recovering and barely spoke due to the pain it caused. Miri had been hit by shrapnel and a pretty large piece had dug into her shoulder, leaving it numb and painful to move. A jackal sharpshooter had hit Montri and Zepeda both in the right arm. Both had made it out on their feet, but the injury was painful and I often saw them twirling their injured hands around experimentally and with grimaces on their face.
Marv had receives several second-degree burns and Takacs had gotten a concussion when the truck blew up. At least his helmet had stopped the piece of shrapnel going straight to his head.
Pavel's squad had fared comparatively better, but d'Arc still had a slight limp. When the truck blew shrapnel tore through one of the two tendons on the back of her left knee. The doctors had patched it up well enough, but the tissue was still mending.
Most of my wounded had that stupid truck and the Locust to thank, but we had taken it out and were in relatively good shape.
"Frank," Pavel greeted, his voice hoarse. "What news?"
I let myself fall down on a folding stool and groaned loudly. I explained everything to my platoon, not bothering that they didn't appear to be listening.
"Why didn't we get to go to Udinia?" Sandor asked. "No way the brutes down there are doing as well as these elites…"
I shrugged. "If this was an easy mission…"
"It wouldn't be a Helljumper mission," my platoon finished half-heartedly.
"That's what I like to hear. We'll get some downtime before this goes down, alright? I want you all to rest up, take a couple of painkillers or something. Get some rest."
"Yes, sir," my men said, sounding slightly more eager about being able to get some quick zees.
I stood from my small stool and headed towards my bed.
"How's the jaw?" I asked Hoff. His cheek was still horribly scarred, but they would fix that up as soon as we were back on Reach.
"Hurts," he said, sounding like he had just recovered from a stroke and was learning to talk again. "Got news from family, they're in Udinia, in the spaceport.
Their permits still valid."
I nodded and smiled while clapping his shoulder. "Good. That's good, I'm happy for you."
He nodded and attempted to smile before wincing from the pain. "Fuck."
"On the bright side," Andy called out from the other side of the room. "We don't have to listen to your annoying voice anymore."
A few men laughed while Hoff threw a box of tissues with deadly accuracy, clocking Andy in the nose. She laughed and thanked him for the tissues before blowing her nose and sitting down on her bed. Most of my men were already asleep, it was a talent that you had to develop quickly.
I myself didn't know whether I should go to sleep. Dana's face was often in my dreams, accusing and damning. Atkins was there too, looking at me with disapproval in his eyes. The worst of all was when Scarecrow and Almers were there too, yelling at me for not doing my job right. Schitzo was present every time, sitting back and looking over their shoulders with a satisfied expression on his face. Sometimes he would remind me that this is what I was, a man destined to see the men and women he knew and cared about die.
"Frank," Pavel said quietly, making me jump. "Not going to sleep?"
"Don't think so," I replied.
"Nightmares," he said knowingly. "Ah well, not much can be done about those. Hey, I never did pay you back for saving my ass back there."
"You'll pay me back when you save my ass," I told him.
"So you don't want this?" he asked, offering a king-size Kit-Kat chocolate bar.
My eyes went wide open. These things were often the first to go. Marines and soldiers took them whenever they went past a store. They usually didn't last long, we ate them pretty quick most of the time.
"How did you get it?"
He whistled enigmatically and smiled, giving me the candy. "Enjoy it my man, that's for saving my ass."
"Thanks."
He shrugged and promptly went to sleep. I liked to think that he often dreamt about his wife and daughter back home, thinking about the moment when he met them again after so much time away from them. It sounded like a good way to pass your nights. Better than my dreams at any rate. Better than the dreams most of my men had, if the way that they abruptly woke up in the middle of the night or jerked in their sleep was any indicator.
I sighed tiredly. Maybe it wouldn't be good for my mind, but sleep would certainly be good for my body.
I woke up and some of the aches in my body were gone. It had been a pretty long time since I had slept this well without drugs. I remained as I was with my eyes closed, just enjoying the comfort and warmth that the sheets offered me. Even then I could hear the faint sounds of battle in the distance, but those were like background music to my life and I quickly forgot all about them. I could hear my platoon breathing, some light snoring, and the sound of people talking in the way they do when they don't want to wake someone up.
I focused on my latest injuries. The skin on my back was still somewhat stiff and the front of my body felt as if I was recovering from a bad sunburn. I hadn't gotten sunburned since I was seventeen.
I curled my toes and flexed my muscles. It had been a refreshing nap, maybe even four hours long. I finally allowed myself to open my eyes and slowly brought myself to a sitting position. From there I promptly put on my socks and slid my feet into my armored boots, clicking them shut. After that I slowly put on my thigh armor, doing one leg at a time and making sure that they were tightened on the most comfortable level.
I sighed contentedly and looked up as I stretched my neck.
"Enjoy your nap?" Andrea asked me. She was rubbing the small shrapnel scars on her chest.
I nodded. "Your chest still hurting?"
Andy looked down and noticed that the undershirt she was wearing didn't do much to cover her rather sight-catching assets, especially considering that she wasn't wearing a bra and that the air conditioning on the barracks made the temperature slightly chilly. She promptly blushed and tried to cross her arms over her chest in the most nonchalant way possible.
She failed. Miserably.
"You're as bad as Miranda," I told her as I smiled and shook my head. "I was talking about your injury."
Andy turned an even deeper shade of red but didn't uncross her arms, instead she looked down and examined the small scars. For a moment I wondered what her cleavage looked from her eyes, but I promptly shook those thoughts from my mind.
"The scars aren't bothering me much," she said. "It's that piece of shrapnel still in there that hurts. Sometimes it aches and when I move a certain way it feels like it's pushing against something."
I nodded, the few shrapnel wounds that I had suffered had been minor. A spike grenade detonation had sent jagged metal through my calf several years back and I had constantly been in the need of micro shrapnel removal when needler rounds detonated nearby, but those rarely if ever caused any pain.
"Suck it up, Helljumper," I said. "It might be a long time before you get the chance to have that removed."
"Yes, sir," she replied, instinctively losing the embarrassed demeanor and adopting a professional one. Andrea grabbed her sidearm and started cleaning it before she realized what she was doing. Marines were conditioned to follow orders, Helljumpers were conditioned to be Marines. The moment I spoke to her as a superior officer she started acting like an enlisted ODST. Tough as fuck.
I smirked inwardly, had it not been for my own past experience I never would've been able to play her like that. She had gone from embarrassed to determined and fierce with a change of tone. It made me wonder how many times that trick had been used on me.
Probably a few dozen, I reasoned. I did spend some time digging latrines for Darbinian, after all.
I checked my watch and frowned when I saw the time. I really had slept for little over five hours. It was to be expected that the civilian evacuation would take that long, but not without something going wrong and waking me up. I smiled and removed my watch. Something would go wrong eventually.
My undersuit was off at my waist, I quickly pulled it all the way to the top and put it on. The black material clung to my body before adapting to it and losing most of the stickiness that came with it. I put on the vest that went under all my torso armor and sat back down on my bed. Something would happen soon enough.
A few minutes later the few of my men still asleep woke up. Chatter became louder and everybody started armoring up. We had enough ammunition in our barracks to do with in case of an emergency, but it was always better to be laden with spare magazines. If they were too heavy you could just shoot them off until you felt lightweight enough. Win-win.
"Tell us Marvin, why did you join the United Nations Space Comand Marine Corps?" Sandor asked.
I could picture Marv shrugging at the question. In all likelihood he did just that.
"They pay," he replied, drawing some laughter. "The glory." That earned more laughs. "The food!"
I was forced to chuckle lightly myself.
As soon as the laughing died down Sandor kept going.
"Seriously man," he pressed. "I joined because I'm a little off in the brains. Thought that shooting aliens would be fun and all. Don't get me wrong, I have a blast, but the rest of the time… not so much."
"We've all got our reasons," Marv told him.
"Each as valid as the other," Miri chimed in.
"But not all of them are as good," Dotsenko shouted over from the other side of the room. "I joined to impress a girl."
"I joined because I believed I would be doing something good," Ramirez said, drawing some good-natured jeers from the rest of the platoon.
"I joined to make my dad proud," d'Arc said.
Someone guffawed.
"What does he think of you now Sarah?" Carver asked her.
"Don't know, don't fuckin' care," she said, eliciting 'Oorahs' from the men. "What about you, Dan?"
Carver took his sweet time answering. "I joined to avenge my brothers."
"I joined to kill the fuckers that murdered my best friend," PFC Sutton said.
By this point my eyes were open once again and I was sitting back up, examining the exchange with interest.
"You sure he wasn't more than just a friend?" Lizzo joked, shoving the medic on HW Squad lightly. "I joined to pay off my debts."
"Spent too much on gas and water?" Miri asked with a small smile.
He shook his head. "I wish. What about you Miranda? You don't seem like the kind of girl who would end up in the Corps."
"Why is that?"
"Because you look down when someone speaks too loudly!"
The whole platoon laughed at that.
"I joined because my home was burned," Miranda said after the laughter died down.
Andrea placed a hand on her shoulder. "I joined when it became clear I wasn't good enough to be a doctor."
Hoff punched her gently on the shoulder. "Washed out athlete," he said brokenly, pointing to himself.
"Washed out athlete," Sandor said, imitating Hoff's hanging jaw and voice, drawing some laughter and a not-so-light shove in retaliation.
"O'Malley! Why did you join?" Ramirez asked.
"To perfect her English accent, of course!" Carver said, getting a glare in return.
"Because it was expected of me," she replied. "How 'bout you Montri?"
"I joined to protect my family."
"My hero!" Dotsenko said in a high-pitched voice, getting some rude comments from the rest of the platoon.
"Han?" Montri asked his squad medic.
"I joined to honor my ancestors."
"Boo! Come on," Lizzo said, waving his hand in mock disgust. "What I really want to know is why quiet Stan Zepeda joined."
The entire platoon went deadly silent in perfect imitation of our platoon sniper. Eveyrbody, myself included, turned to look at the man. Zepeda raised his head to return our gazes. For several seconds it seemed like he would remain like that, quiet and cold to everybody.
"I joined because I was drunk," he said finally.
The place erupted in laughter. My men laughed so hard that some of them doubled over and started taking deep breaths. The man was so quiet, so serious, so cold and professional all the time that a comment like that had that much impact. Platoon Five laughed as one, every last one of us laughed except for Zepeda himself. Even Caboose allowed himself a hearty chuckle. I had rarely seen the man smile, let alone chuckle.
"Why did you join, eh Sarge?" O'Malley asked Caboose, gently elbowing him in the arm.
Caboose looked at me and then shrugged. "I joined because it was my only choice."
"And I joined because otherwise you worthless shits wouldn't know the business end of a rifle," Pavel said, standing up. "Armor on everybody!"
My men laughed and chuckled some more as they stood up from their beds and began putting on the few pieces of armor that they hadn't been wearing.
"Hey El-tee! We still haven't heard why you joined our damned Corps," Carver said.
The tacpad on my left forearm chimed and I grinned. The Covenant had attacked many places at many different times, but never before had I considered their attack to come at an appropriate moment.
I finished strapping my chest piece and grabbed my battle rifle before answering.
"I joined for the same reason we all joined," I said.
"Because I was stupid!"
"Because I was innocent!"
"Because I was young!"
"Because I was naïve!"
"Because I was crazy!"
"I joined for the same reason we all joined," I repeated, this time louder in order to make myself heard over the screams and explosions outside.
"For glory!" Pavel shouted.
"For honor!"
"For pride!"
"For our families!"
"For humanity!"
I put my helmet on. "The Covenant have figured out what's going on, they're attacking on all sides and shooting at escaping civilian craft," I told my men.
"Why did we all join, sir?" Marv asked.
"We joined to die!"
The two Marines on my left suffered an extremely quick and brutal death when the hunter's fuel rod atomized the top halves of their bodies. The heat and subsequent explosion threw me to the side and at an improvised tent.
The flimsy fabric did nothing to stop my impact and I grunted as my shoulder hit the hard polycrete floor. I was immediately pulled back to my feet by another Marine and resumed my dead-man's-sprint. The pair of hunters giving chase had busted through the barricades as if they were nothing more than paper and then led the assault that forced us from our first line of defense prematurely.
Two fucking aliens had done that.
"Two fucking aliens that happen to be walking tanks," Schitzo reminded me sensibly. "Don't you forget that. We're not that easily bested, you and I."
"Pavel! What's the sitrep on those Molotovs?"
"We're moving them to the second line Frank!" he shouted right back. "We've got elite Rangers and grunt shock troops hitting our flank."
"Do what you have to, but don't let the line break."
"Yes, sir!"
I yanked the Marine that had pulled me to my feet towards me and both of us fell on top of the other as another stream of green plasma flew overhead. The heat lit up some of the cruder tents around us.
"Thanks, El-tee."
"Don't thank me yet," I told the man. "Let's go!"
"Sir, we've reached Strongpoint Delta," Marvin came in, sounding out of breath.
"Provide support immediately," I ordered, looking at the secondary control tower to my right. "Focus on the big guys, stall them. Any info on Recon?"
"Sergeant Konstantinov and his men were headed towards the hangar last I saw, but I can't pinpoint their location, too much interference."
"Let me know if anything happens," I said, vaulting over a polycrete divider.
About two dozen Marines were still running away from the hunters and the covvies behind them. My companion Marine and I were the ones further back and closest to being fried alive.
"Oh shit!"
I looked over my shoulder to see one of the hunters bull through tents, improvised housing, and polycrete barriers alike with its shield. It seemed to be intent on catching up to us and then smash us to bloody pulp on that massive slab of metal it had for an arm.
"Faster!" I yelled hoarsely. "Faster!"
The crack of gunfire flooded my shouting and drew a roar of wrath from the hunter. I could feel my bones shaking from the noise the hunter made and knew that the rest of my squad had pissed it off. Their actions bought me some time, time which I put to good use as I hastened to put more distance between the covvies and myself. A few stray bolts flew here and there, but Marv and the others seemed to have drawn enough attention to turn us into less valuable targets. Bloody good thing too, had these covvies been under brute commanders I had no doubt that they would've gone for the most vulnerable target, not the most dangerous one.
Of course, had brutes been in charge they wouldn't have gotten past our defenses so easily.
"That's the second line right there!" I shouted, pointing at the rough wall of cars, dividers, and useless armored vehicles.
There were two Armadillos with still-functioning turrets facing this direction, they'd prove to be our most valuable assets when the covvies tried to storm through us.
"Frank!"
"Pavel, the Molotovs?"
"Right there," he replied, pointing at a large crate. "Should last us a while."
I clasped his forearm and nodded before I started issuing orders to the Marines and soldiers scattered through the wall.
"Sir, they've got us suppressed," Marvin informed me. "We're relocating."
"Understood, booby-trap sniper perches."
"Yes, sir," he said, signing off.
"They're coming!" I shouted so that everyone could hear. "Be ready!"
Pavel directed his men with quick hand gestures, spreading them where they would be most effective but keeping them close enough that they would be able to regroup at a moment's notice. I climbed one of the Armadillos and placed my battle rifle on the top, scanning the flaming tents for enemy movement.
"Hunter!" someone cried.
I ducked as a blast of green plasma nearly took my head off. The two Armadillos immediately opened up on the massive alien. Heavy explosive rounds dented and damage the thing's shield, sending it backwards from the impacts. The shield finally snapped and the hunter's heavy armor could do nothing against the autocannons. Orange pulp flew in every direction as the rounds detonated.
"Let's see you mess with someone your own size!" another unknown voice taunted.
"Watch out!"
A green beam flew from behind a large tent and hit the other Armadillo's turret, melting the canon and rendering it useless.
"Well, there goes half of our tactical advantage," Pavel deadpanned.
The hunter started charging at my Armadillo as the cannon swiveled towards it.
"Molotov!" I shouted. "Give me a Molotov!"
Someone tapped me in the back and handed me two bottles with the cloths already ignited. I turned back around to throw them only for the hunter to shoulder-tackle the armored fighting vehicle I was standing on. I flew backwards and landed on my ass, my rifle clattering a few feet past me. The hunter then kicked at the car next to the Armadillo and squeezed its way through our line.
I threw one of the cocktails still in my hand, hitting the hunter's leg and igniting it. The fuel was mixed with motor oil and maybe egg whites in order to make it as sticky as possible. Most of the mix stuck to the ground, but a good portion clung to the thing's leg and started burning.
The hunter barely seemed to notice all the heat through its armor, but it did turn around to face me.
"Hey dipshit!" Dotsenko taunted, firing at the hunter's head.
The hunter turned to the side briefly enough to allow me to jump to my feet and prepare another throw. I tossed the bottle with all my strength at the hunter's relatively unprotected mid-section. The glass broke against its tough skin and the mixture ignited, lighting the whole thing up. Bright orange flames and thick black smoke blocked whatever was going on from view, but I could hear it well enough.
For the first time in my entire life I heard a hunter howl.
"Watch it, watch it!"
The hunter twisted from side to side, slamming back against the Armadillo and trying to hit someone with blind swings from its shield and cannon. It fired wildly, most shots impacting the ground next to it or flying way past our heads and landing harmlessly amongst the tents. It made that strange howling noise and moved from side to side.
"What are you waiting for?" Pavel asked. "Shoot the ogre!"
I think that most of the men and women here would've enjoyed to see it burn to death, but pragmatism dictated that we removed the threat as fast as possible.
Over ten different rifles were directed at the burning alien, and within a few seconds it was down on the floor, twitching and crackling as the fire burned its flesh.
"Damn," I exclaimed, picking up my rifle and examining my handywork. "Covvie kill of the week?"
"Covvie kill of the week," Pavel agreed.
By that point a celebratory beer or a victory cigar would've felt quite nice, but I didn't often get that luxury. With two hunters down the enemy onslaught decreased in intensity, but it didn't stop completely. Instead, the elites ordered their forces to spread out and started deploying shields. The tents would do little to stop a bullet, but they could hide grunts and jackals behind them. The smoke from the flames didn't further our cause either.
"Watch the left side!" I shouted, hitting an elite on the leg. "Don't let them flank us!"
I ducked behind the Armadillo once more and looked towards the hangars. The airliners were still taking off. Most of them took some fire from the ground, but so far only three had been shot down. Small arms didn't do much damage to the massive aircraft, but with enough lucky shots they could bring one down. My ears thundered as yet another airliner hovered above us, gaining speed as its thrusters switched angles. Blue and green plasma hit the bottom, leaving small scorch marks behind.
"Sir, we've relocated to the third line," Marvin came in. "No casualties."
"Good, who's in command there?"
"Army captain, don't know his name, seems to know his business well enough."
"Recon?"
"Still no word."
"Dammit!" I cursed, as much from the bad news as from the shards of needles that bounced off my armor. "Does anybody have a radio?" I asked. "I need a fucking radio!"
"Sir!" a soldier said, running towards me with a hand keeping his helmet in place. "I have a radio," he told me, pointing at the relatively large pack on his back.
"Thanks,"I grunted, grabbing the thing and pressing it against my helmet's speakers. I switched the tuner to Recon Squad's personal line and started hailing them.
"Lieutenant? We've been trying to contact you," Caboose came in, sounding tired. "They must have some sort of jammer in place."
"Never mind that," I snapped violently. "Are you in position?"
"Negative, sir. We're two minutes out."
"Well move faster. I need you on that rooftop right fucking now!"
"Yes, sir! We'll do our best."
"Thanks," I told the soldier with the radio, dismissing him.
The enemy kept on coming, making use of a variety of tactics and using all weaponry available to them. I ducked underneath plasma bolts and felt the sting of one as it passed a little too close for comfort more than once. HW Squad and their gunners were the only thing keeping them at bay. They couldn't come at us through open ground, but they sure as hell could fire from behind cover.
They did that to pretty good effect. We didn't get many kills in those minutes, but the jackal sharpshooters knocked down at least six men. I was forced to keep my head down more and more as green rounds and needle rifle shots weaved their way around my head.
"Sir!" the soldier with the radio shouted. "Sir, Recon Squad is in position!"
"Tell them to go for it!"
Not four seconds after that the enemy assault seemed to slacken. They stopped firing at our positions and instead I could hear a few tentative bolts headed towards a different direction. I couldn't see Caboose's squad or the rounds they fired, but I knew that from their position they would have a perfect vantage point for the task at hand.
I opened up a small screen that showed me what Zepeda was seeing through his scope and immediately smiled with satisfaction. The smoke from the tents barely interfered with his line of sight. He shot an elite and started tagging different aliens. Their red silhouettes appeared on my HUD, our helmets would cross-reference information and give me the location of enemy soldiers. This far from one another the margin of error was about four to six inches.
Good enough for me.
"Fire, fire, fire!" I ordered my platoon. We were the only ones with the fancy helmets, but we should be enough.
Zepeda and Recon stopped firing, not wanting to give away their position. While they pinpointed and tagged enemy troops we did the dirty work. Most of the aliens were hiding behind cloth and plastic tents that wouldn't do absolutely anything to slow down the trajectory of a bullet. We tore through several jackals and grunts as well as a few unfortunate elites with low shields. After twenty of their number had gone down in just two minutes they decided that it was best to fall back and build their numbers for another assault.
"Two civilian transports to go, sir," Marvin came in on the radio. "The captain wants you to start pulling back some of your men."
"Understood," I said. "Tell him we're on our way."
"Yes, sir."
I ordered the Marines to pull out the wounded, both Marines and Army alike and tightened the positions of HW Squad. The Armadillo gunner started firing at whatever target he could find, wanting to make the most of his immovable vehicle before having to abandon it.
"Take the Molotovs," Pavel ordered two men. "Leave the mines, we've got those."
Pavel grabbed two soldiers and ordered them to plant bouncing mines in three different spots. The wall had been designed in a way that if the enemy came through it they would form four different bottlenecks. If we left three of them mined the covvies would get the gist of it and start using the fourth one. That fourth one happened to be directly in line of sight of Recon Squad and the sharpshooters on the control towers.
Colonel Bourne was a good strategist and knew how to play dirty.
"All right, non-ODST units start pulling out," I broadcast. "Keep to pre-designated orders of evacuation."
More and more yellow dots disappeared from the small map on my HUD, but with Recon on a flanking position we could hold out for a little bit longer.
"All mines are set, Gunny," the two soldiers said.
"Good, go!"
The two men saluted and hastily retreated back to the third line of defense.
"Frags ready!" I shouted.
"Ready!" my men shouted back.
"Throw!"
All of us tossed our devices as far down range as we could handle. Most of us could throw about fifty yards, but it was still short of the enemy line. The dust and noise was all we needed. Pavel's men immediately grabbed their machine guns and pulled back while Recon covered us. We made our way through strategically-placed cars and then climbed the small hill upon which the smaller landing pads for VIPs were located. The hill was a flattened pile of dirt with an area of about six and a half acres. Most of that space was flat polycrete floors for space yachts and shuttles, but there was also the customs building and the main control tower for the entire spaceport.
High ground and an excellent killing field…
We'd put the fear of god in the covvies when they tried taking our last bastion. In this case, we would be playing god.
"El-tee," Marv waved at me. "This way."
I nodded and followed him towards a man in Army armor leaning over a sand-filled barrel. The Captain was examining a map and folded it as soon as he saw me.
"Lieutenant," he acknowledged with a curt nod.
"Sir," I replied, giving him a quick salute.
"We can h-"
The captain was cut short as his head exploded in a gory mess. His body fell on top of mine and I was forced to unceremoniously shove it away from me before sliding into cover behind the barrel.
"Sniper!" Marv shouted.
"Where is he?"
"Stay down!"
All activity ceased as men dropped to the floor and behind cover. I looked around, not daring to leave cover. I pulled my legs closer towards me and avoided looking at the disgusting mess that was the captain's head. Blood and brain matter were splattered all over my visor, and already there was some more blood pooling around the poor man's head.
"I need someone to contact Recon!" I shouted. "Marv, who's got a radio?"
"Helmet radio's aren't working," Andrea shouted. "We need radios!"
"That's what I just said," I muttered quietly. "Radio, who's got a radio?"
"I have one, sir!" a Marina shouted from behind a car.
"Ok, listen closely," I said. "I want you to switch the frequency to Zero-Zero-Juliet-Charlie-Five-Three-Romeo."
"…Three-Romeo," the man finished saying. "Done!"
"Get Zepeda to start looking for the sniper."
"Yes, sir, right away, sir!" he shouted back. "This is Private Menendez, I've got Lieutenant Castillo here do you copy?"
There was some barely audible reply on the other end of the line.
"We're pinned down by a sniper, best guess is that its firing from our west side. Can't see a goddamned thing."
Another beam rifle shot rang out.
"Man down, man down!"
"You see that?" Menendez asked, some desperation edging into his voice. "Lieutenant, they're working on it."
"Tell me as soon as it's clear," I said, taking a deep breath and attempting to calm myself down so that I could think clearly.
I heard another beam slice through someone and someone shout out in pain, followed by another voice crying for a medic.
"No!" I shouted. "Stay behind cover!" I cursed at myself and punched the ground in frustration at being forced to give that order.
It didn't take long for Zepeda to pinpoint the location of the sniper, but the jackal had enough time to kill another soldier before Zepeda finally took it out. I heard the sound his SRS made when it fired and waited tentatively for the all-clear sign. It didn't take long for the Marine to cry out that the sniper was dead.
"All right," I said, jumping to my feet. "No more saluting! You hear me? They got the captain that way. I want one squad to clear out those two buildings over there."
"Sir, I volunteer!" a soldier immediately stepped forward.
I looked him over and nodded. "You've got a radioman?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good, stay in touch and booby-trap the most likely sniper perches."
"Got it," the man nodded before waving at his men to follow him.
"And sergeant…"
"Yeah?"
"We won't be able to provide support if you get caught in the open."
"We know, sir."
The large squad departed, jumping over the improvised wall and running down the small hill. I traced them with my sight until they disappeared through the smoke and dust.
"Get ready!" I shouted. "Mortar teams, I want you firing at designated targets as fast as you want. Snipers and sharpshooters, you'll take out high-ranking elites and nothing else unless absolutely necessary! Machine guns and heavy weapons, go for the big guys. You know how it goes, bigger the fucker the faster I want it to hit the floor. Let's make them bleed!"
I got a chorus of 'oorahs' and 'hoo-ahs' in reply as soon as I finished my little speech. Men started moving about and the wounded man was immediately attended to. He would lose an arm, but it was better than losing his life. They pulled him back towards the landing pads and stabilized him there. The rest of us spread out and manned the defenses.
"El-tee, call for you!"
I approached on of the radiomen and picked up the phone. "Yeah?"
"Lieutenant, they tell me that the captain's dead?" Commander Bourne said.
"Yes, sir," I replied. "Sniper."
"Shame," he grunted. "Well, you're in command now, you hear me?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. We have Pelicans coming our way already. We're pulling out the wounded first and then we'll start evacuating, back to front. The less time we stay here the better. Soon as we don't have boots in the city Hammerdown and Bandersnatch will be declared."
"Yes, sir," I said. I knew this already, but it didn't hurt to go over it another time. "How long until evac arrives?"
"First birds should be here in ten, the rest will keep on coming after that."
"All right, got it, sir."
"Bourne out."
The moment he signed off I returned to shouting at everybody that happened to be close to me. I ordered Marines and soldiers alike to fix their positions, pile up additional items in front of them and make sure that they weren't exposed to enemy fire from any direction. I did my best to look as just another soldier, but occasionally I was forced to wave my arms around or point in an attempt to make an emphasis on what I was saying. The last thing I wanted was to end like the captain had.
"Every squad get at least two Molotovs!" I shouted. "Don't use them on anything smaller than a hunter!"
"Down!"
A mortar blast hit a car lying on its side. The explosion melted through it and sent shrapnel flying all around. The two soldiers unlucky enough to have been behind it were cut to ribbons immediately.
"Eyes up!" someone shouted.
"Mortar teams, neutralize the threat!" I shouted. "Fire, fire, fire!"
Almost immediately I heard the thudding noise that the mortars made and caught four black flashes disappearing in the distance. I heard the explosions in the background but a moment later another Wraith mortar hit. More people started shouting and crying for help, but it seemed like this second blast hadn't come close to anybody.
"I see it!" Miri shouted. "By the building the medical clinic was in!"
"Quadrant Ten-Ten-Niner!" a Marine shouted. "Hit it!"
"Fire!"
The four explosions were quickly followed by Miri cheering loudly.
"It's a hit!" she announced. "Finish it off!"
Two more plasma mortar rounds landed behind our lines before the massed mortar fire could take out the Wraith tank. Another Marine died in those two explosions, being incinerated by the blast.
"Enemy foot-mobiles incoming!"
Everybody knew what they were doing and everybody knew the stakes. I didn't need to micromanage everything going on. As soon as the battle started in earnest I let the men and women under my command do their own thing. We had the high ground and a fortified position, we would hold.
I hung back from the frontline, observing everything with as much calm as I could muster and occasionally barking out a quick order. My platoon was spread out amongst the Marines and soldiers, I hoped that their presence would boost the overall morale in here. We weren't Spartans, but I was prepared to kick teeth in if anybody voiced that opinion. And I'll be damned if we weren't the next best thing that humanity had to offer.
"Friendly birds inbound!"
"Pavel! Hold down the fort!" I shouted, backing up and trotting towards customs. "Menendez, tell me if the situation changes!"
"Yes, sir," the private acknowledged while Pavel just sent me a green light.
I was running towards the main entrance when two Banshees appeared out of nowhere and blasted one small hangar to kingdom come with fuel rods. The explosion was too big to have been caused only by the green bombs. Something inside there must've been flammable. I covered my face and shook slightly from the shockwave before I kept on running.
"LC!" I shouted. "Bourne!"
"Lieutenant!" he shouted back, coughing through the thick smoke. "That was all of our wounded and half our able-bodied officers right there!"
"Goddamn," I cursed. "What now?"
"We follow the evacuation plan," he said. "Birds are still intact."
I looked at the four parked Pelicans and wondered whether the pilots were nervous about having to fly through Banshees.
"Shouldn't all enemy air assets be neutralized?" I asked, half to myself. "Sir, senior officers are next on the evacuation list."
"No way in hell I'm leaving my men right here!" he shouted back. "I've got over two hundred men still fighting there!"
"I know, sir," I replied. "There are many Marines down there as well. You can coordinate after you've left the danger area."
"Don't think for a moment that you can order me around, son."
"It was merely a suggestion," I quickly apologized. "Your call, sir."
Bourne looked around, examining the medics attending to the few wounded that survived and piling them inside the Pelicans. He seemed doubtful, but the man was a good strategist, whether he liked it or not he would work just as well with another unit if all of us died here. Whether I liked it or not he was more important than the men down there to the war effort.
"Goddamn," he said after a while, no doubt reaching a similar conclusion. "I don't like it, lieutenant."
I shrugged. "We can hold the line long enough to pull out everybody. I promise my unit will be last one to leave."
He nodded and placed his hand on my shoulder. "Much appreciated son. Captain Custer was supposed to have command after I left… Seems like you've got that honor."
"Hardly an honor, sir," I replied. Highest-ranking officer in an entire city. Sounded like a lot of pressure, even if it was only for a few minutes.
Bourne nodded curtly and slapped me in the shoulder. "Very well then, good luck."
"Thank you, sir," I replied, not saluting in account of recent events.
I walked him to his Pelican and helped a couple of wounded soldiers up the thing. The bird looked overcrowded even as it was, but it would be best if the pilots made as few trips as possible.
"Watch out for Banshees," I said jokingly.
Bourne smiled and nodded as the hatches closed and the Pelican took off. I traced its flight as it slowly turned back around and gained altitude. The two Banshees were being engaged by one of the more heavily armed Pelicans. The bird simply fired most of its missiles at them to gain some time for the rest of the Pelicans.
Lieutenant Colonel Bourne's Pelican finished turning around and then exploded.
Two Seraph space fighters screamed past at supersonic speeds. The shockwave threw me backwards and into the ground. A few rockets flew after them, slowly catching up, but the damage was done. The Seraphs had killed three out of the four evacuation Pelicans.
I was the highest-ranking officer in a whole city. Fun.
"Sir!" Menendez shouted over the radio. "We've got elite shock troops coming in! There's too many of them!"
"Hold the line Marine!" I told them. "I'm on my way. We just need to hold out a little bit longer!"
What I wouldn't have given for those Spartans right now…
The moment I hit the frontlines two blasts almost took my head clean off. The elites had made their way to the bottom of the short hill, but they didn't have the numbers to swarm us, not yet. Most of the men here were focused in keeping the elites where they were while the rest took out the squads that came in after them. There were more than we could handle, and the Covenant seemed to be taking their losses in stride, barely giving a second thought to destroyed squads and decimated units.
"Menendez, get me Recon!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Their location."
"Banshee's made them. Something about O'Malley killing one of the fliers before they were forced to relocate."
I looked at the large terminal building running almost the entire length of the spaceport. Caboose and his squad would be running through the second floor right now, no doubt seeking to put as much distance between their previous position and the new one. I could vaguely see the black smoke from where a Banshee had collided into a rooftop, but the other flier was still around and searching for Recon.
"Shit," I cursed. "Menendez, tell them that two squads are heading their way to cut them off."
"Yes, sir!"
A needle brushed past my neck and I ducked as three flew through the space that my head had been occupying.
"Sharpshooter!" I warned from behind cover.
"Dealt with!" Hoff shouted through his mutilated jaw.
I popped back from cover and propped my rifle on the car's hood. I fired two shots at an elite and then switched to another one, finishing it off with a headshot. After that I started focusing on grunts and jackals, but most of the time I could barely get my head up, let alone an accurate shot.
"They're suppressing us!"
"HW Squad, handle it!" I ordered.
The staccato sound of gunfire intensified as Pavel's men started firing as fast as their weapons mechanisms allowed them to. The enemy fire stagnated for a few seconds before it returned to its previous intensity, but it was less accurate, more guarded. Maybe the desperate barrage had killed a few of their number or at least scared them into being more careful.
"Grenade!"
"Contact left, contact left!"
"We've got a sniper!"
"Man down, man down!"
"Medic!"
I blocked out the cries of pain and desperation, even those of my own men. The only thing I focused on was the progress that the Covenant troops were making. Ever so slowly they pushed forward, cementing their gains with deployable covers and the occasional rolled car. The elites were the worst of all. Most of them were clad in fancy armor that marked them as specialists. The bodies of human men and women around me didn't do anything to improve the situation. Not one bit.
"Lieutenant, Recon reports a high-value target. They think it might be the same field marshal from Caradhras!"
Menendez had no way to know what Caboose or Zepeda had seen, but he reported everything in a professional voice, even if it wasn't exactly cool and collected.
"Can they neutralize it?"
"Negative, sir," Menendez replied. "Don't have a direct line of sight. They marked the estimated position."
"Thanks," I replied after ducking under yet another failed attempt to remove my head from my shoulders. I wondered how long it would take for my luck to run out. Odds dictated that I should be dead by now.
"Odds dictate a lot of things, Francisco," Schitzo chided. "Yet here you are, physiologically augmented beyond what any normal human could hope for, crazy enough to see me and who knows what else from your past, and you happen to be commanding over a hundred and fifty men. Odds should hold little or no meaning to you and I."
I slapped a fresh magazine into my rifle and sprayed a trio of grunts trying to set up a turret close to our line. Two fell and dropped the turret, but the survivor dragged one of them back behind cover the moment I was fired at with plasma pistols. I felt my helmet and quickly removed my hand. The metal was hot at the touch. Must've been a glancing blow.
"Shit," a soldier said, looking at my helmet with a raised eyebrow.
"What the hell are you looking at soldier?" I snapped. "Carry on killing!"
Marvin and Andrea both slid into cover next to me. Andy quickly dabbed a bandage to my neck while Marv tossed the last of his grenades over cover.
"Sir, we need to pull back the wounded to the evacuation point," Andrea said. "Next wave of Pelicans is going to be here shortly."
I winced at the stinging pain from the disinfectant and nodded. "Got it. Do they know about the Seraphs?"
"Pilots wouldn't turn back," Marvin informed me.
"Brave men," Andrea said.
"Stupid fuckers," I disagreed. "Start pulling back the wounded. Keep an eye in the sky, got it?"
"'Course," she replied with a small smirk before polarizing her visor.
Andy took off and Marvin reloaded his rifle.
"That woman thinks the world of herself," I noted drily.
"She has a right to," Marv said before chuckling slightly. "We all do."
"Damn right," I agreed. "Now back to killing!"
Both of us returned to the matter at hand and started firing at the enemies closest to us. I decided right then and there that as soon as the wounded were evacuated we would pull back a little bit further and torch the line with Molotovs.
"Sir, we've got enough room for ten more men," Andy informed me.
"Fifth Squad, Army," I ordered. "It's your lucky day."
"Thank you sir," the squad leader replied. "Good luck."
"Thanks, now move it soldier!"
This time no Pelicans were shot down. I smiled as the five birds disappeared behind the thick curtain of smoke that the battle had lifted. I slowly started pulling men back, massing enough soldiers behind this line to provide cover for the few that remained.
"Flashbangs! Frags!" Pavel ordered in a booming voice. "Now!"
We used the distraction that the explosions caused to abandon that frontline and head back to the smaller fortifications closer to the control tower and landing pads. We didn't have the luxury of wrecked cars here, but the sandbags came with a few heavy machine guns that would cut through any covvie trying to make the run in between the first line and us.
"Molotovs!"
Two dozen cocktails flew in beautiful arcs and hit the cars. The flammable mix inside them torched the defensive line, rendering it nearly useless for the covvies. Sure the elites could handle the heat with their shields, but the grunts and jackals would boil if they remained there for long. One way or the other it was good for us.
"Menendez, where's Recon?"
There was a slight delay before he replied. "They bypassed the enemy unit sent to stop them, but had to make a large detour, they're headed our way."
"Tell Konstantinov to send Zepeda to the control tower, we need sniper cover."
"Yes, sir!"
The man sure was eager about his job.
The first covvies over our line were all elites. No surprise there. They were all quickly gunned down by a soldier manning a machine gun, leaving them crumpled corpses. A few jackals vaulted over next, immediately piling together in order to form a shield wall. The gunner redirected his fire towards them and slowly pushed them back towards the flaming vehicles. The jackals couldn't take the flames for long and a few seconds later they tried to fall back. Most of them were cut down before they could retreat.
"Hell yeah!"
Our small victory was sweet, but it didn't last long. Several bright blue plasma grenades flew over the flaming cars. I ducked behind cover to protect myself from the explosions. I heard a few cries of pain, but I couldn't afford to attend to them. I ordered the gunner to start firing again before the covvies could capitalize on our brief moment of distraction. What came over the wall wasn't exactly what I expected.
"Drones!"
Fuck.
I raised my rifle and hit one of the fliers, tearing its arm off and then toping it off with a burst as it slammed to the ground. The gunner adjusted his aim and started strafing from side to side, clipping and grazing the buzzing aliens as they flew at us. Most of the men quickly recovered and began trying to hit the elusive drones. I managed to hit another one before a soldier finished it off with a sustained burst. The only good thing about them being so hard to hit was that their rapid movements threw their aim off.
Needles and green plasma bolts flew at us, but most of the time they went wide. A man or two were hit and cried in pain as they went down, but so far as I could tell we didn't suffer any KIAs.
The man next to me was thrown backwards as two blue bolts evaporated against his chest. I looked back to the wall and saw an elite charging at us.
"The elite, hit the elite!" I ordered the gunner. "The elite!"
A bolt hit me in the shoulder, knocking me all the way around and flat on my ass. The soldier on the machine gun lowered the weapon and clicked the triggers just as the elite swiped downwards with its sword. Over half of the three barrels fell to the floor with a loud clang, leaving the HMG shortened and with a smoking barrel. The elite and the soldier just stared at each other for a second before the man depressed the trigger buttons again and burned through the elite's shields and armor in a matter of instants.
"There's something as too sharp," he quipped before returning to strafing the line of cars and dividers that the covvies were vaulting over.
I smiled, quickly noting that the HMG wasn't nearly as accurate as before even though it was still functional.
"Next batch of Pelicans is coming up!"
"Second Platoon Marines and Squads One through Four!" I shouted. "Move, move!"
The sound of plasma grew louder even as our gunfire slackened. We had been outnumbered from the beginning, but now there weren't enough of us to cover the entire line. It was beginning to get… frustrating.
"Pavel, how are we on the Molotovs?"
"Half a crate!"
"Use 'em!" I shouted. "Hoff, this is your kind of deal!"
"My pleasure," he grunted in reply.
A few elites burst in flames when Hoff hit them with the incendiaries. I noticed that not one of the men tried to shoot them while they were vulnerable. We wanted them to suffer as much as possible. Besides, we were running low on ammo.
"Pelicans are up and safely away," Andy came in.
One of the Pelicans blew up and crash-landed just as it was clearing the gates of the spaceport.
"Most of the Pelicans are safely away," she amended.
"Get back here, I need every man," I ordered. "Hurry!"
Medic or no medic, woman or no woman, Andrea Livingston was one of the best damn killers in this side of the galaxy and I did need every last possible able-bodied man to help hold back the covvies.
The next Pelican convoy arrived with two SkyHawk fighters as escort. One of the Seraphs attempted to make a run, but the fighters quickly spammed it with missiles before it could even get within strafing range. The other Covenant fighter veered off and disappeared in the distance.
"Pull back to the control tower!" I shouted. It was our last defensible position. The area around it was fortified to hold off an assault for a brief period of time, and the tower itself would be a big advantage for my sharpshooters.
A fourth of the men under my command had been killed or wounded. I never really thought that I'd be past the point where the word decimation was considered too mild for me. Several corpses had been left behind when we pulled back, we could carry either our dead comrades or as much equipment as we could handle. In the end I chose to pull back with three HMGs as well as several crates of ammunition. I got a few of the wounded to start reloading empty magazines in case it really became that kind of situation.
"Sir!" Hoff warned, tossing me a lit Molotov.
I turned around and threw it into an elite, covering it in flames. The elite roared in anger before its body registered just exactly what was going on. The anger quickly turned into pain and it started jumping around, trying to get rid of all the flames. Another large hingehead pushed it aside without a second thought only to run straight into a face full of buckshot.
"Zepeda?" I asked Caboose.
"On the tower," he replied. "We're good."
"I want O'Malley to shoot down that Banshee, got it?"
"She's looking for it, we think it might go for Stan as soon as he racks up some kills."
Hoff tossed me another Molotov and I promptly threw it at another elite, hitting it in the neck. The alien dropped to the floor and rolled in an attempt to get rid of the fire, but instead it just started groveling in pain. A single pink round went through its head as a fellow elite tried to shorten its pain. The elite looked up at me and growled, raising its needle rifle.
Zepeda decided to start shooting right then and there, blowing the elite away with a headshot.
"That's one," Caboose noted drily. "A few more should do."
"There are sharpshooters on the tower, shouldn't take too long for them to draw attention."
Caboose nodded and blasted at a jackal. The impact broke its arm and left the shield hanging limply by its side, allowing me to take it out with a headshot. Caboose looked at me and nodded as we repeated the tactic on other jackals.
"Reloading!" he shouted, ducking behind cover.
"Birds are coming!" Menendez announced loudly. "Six of 'em!"
"First and Third Marines!" I shouted. "Rest of Second Army and Fifth Army goes too!"
I was down to my unit and two squads that hadn't suffered any losses. The few of us lucky enough not to have been seriously incapacitated started firing with wild abandon, shooting at everything that moved in an attempt to rack up as many kills as possible. O'Malley killed the last Banshee the moment it showed up. Our sharpshooters were wasting dozens of the covvies, but they didn't seem to mind the losses. They had reserves and they just didn't care.
"Cloaked elites!"
Our automatic fire turned into strafing automatic fire. Whenever someone with sharp eyes saw the rounds ping off an invisible shield he'd focus on that and call for help. A grand total of two elites fell before the rest jumped over the sandbags. Menendez jumped back as a sword materialized in front him. The radioman raised his rifle and fired half his mag at the elite, uncloaking it. Unfortunately for him, the alien still had shields and a thirst for blood. Another quick swipe cut through his armor and opened a massive gash on his belly. Menendez dropped to his knees and tried to keep his intestines from spilling out.
The elite collapsed as a burst tore its head apart. I saw Montri and Han rush towards the wounded radioman and pick him up by the arms and legs, ignoring his cries of pain. I kept on firing while I walked backwards.
"To the tower!" I shouted. "Inside the tower!"
Most of the Marines and soldiers maintained discipline, firing as they retreated, but in this situation it might've been better to just run. The cloaked elites slashed through three more men by the point I reached the door.
"Hurry!" I shouted at Han and Montri. "Hurry up!"
They started moving faster, but about ten meters from the door two white plasma blades appeared through Montri's chest. I could hear him gurgling in surprise at having been killed and cursed when he dropped Menendez and fell next to him.
A massive elite in golden armor materialized over Montri and then stabbed at Menendez, cutting through his throat and face.
"Move!" I shouted, firing a burst at the elite. I took notice of the small gash on its chest plate, courtesy of one of the Spartans back in Caradhras. It was the same fucker that had led the assault that pushed us out of there. This field marshal was in charge of all the elite troops on the planet, and like me, it had come here to die.
I fired another burst and ran towards the elite. Han jumped away, barely dodging a swipe from the field marshal's energy sword and raised his battle rifle.
He was at least three meters away from the alien and the elite had staggered from my fire, but somehow it flashed and then Han dropped to the floor with a gaping wound from shoulder to hip. Only his spine held the two halves of his corpse together.
I roared as I charge tackled the elite only for it to sidestep me like a minor nuisance and bat me aside with its free hand. I rolled backwards and fired wildly in an attempt to stall it from stabbing me to the ground. The marshal jerked sideways as Caboose hit him with a shotgun blast, but it didn't falter, instead drawing a pistol and shooting Caboose twice in the belly, making him double over.
It rolled to its side as another blast missed him. Caboose cursed loudly and cocked his shotgun one handed, holding his wounded belly with the other hand. I fired at the elite, emptying the rest of my ammunition on it and draining its shields. The alien raised its plasma pistol and aimed right at my head when my rifle clicked empty.
The bolt went wide by a mere inch. I saw the trail of vapor and realized that Zepeda must've shot the elite.
The field marshal had dropped its plasma pistol and was grabbing onto its side, bleeding. He rolled around again and dodged two more sniper rounds that way. Zepeda had missed an unshielded target at a distance of less than twenty meters. He never missed at anything less than a mile and a half.
I drew my sidearm and aimed at the elite, firing just as it cloaked again and disappeared.
"Fuck!" I shouted, grabbing Caboose and pulling him towards the door.
"Watch out!"
I tore his shotgun from his hands and blasted at another elite that had tried to go for what seemed to be like two easy kills.
I ran inside the tower and Marv slammed the door shut behind me just as three Marines tipped over a footlocker and propped a table against the door.
"Shotguns, who's got shotguns?" I asked.
"Reno, Shindi, and yourself, sir," the sergeant said.
I tossed him the weapon. "Guard the door," I ordered. "Any word on the squad that went out to flush out jackal snipers?"
He shook his head and I cursed, punching the footlocker propping the door closed. I climbed up the stairs, helping Caboose up and urging the men to climb to the last floor. The Pelicans could pick us up on the rooftop and then we'd declare Bandersnatch. I would've preferred to kill that fucking marshal with my own knife, but I guess that nuclear fire would have to do instead.
"They're trying to get through!" a frightened Marine shouted.
"Well don't let them!" his sergeant ordered. "Through the door!"
I heard two blasts and a grunt of pain.
"Andy, how much longer?"
"Don't know," she replied, tending to a wounded soldier. "Lost all radio contact."
"They're coming, they have to!" a man shouted.
"Of course they're coming," Pavel told him. "This isn't the time to lose it!"
"What happened?" Sutton asked, grabbing his SAW and approaching Caboose and me.
"Plasma bolts," Caboose grunted in pain.
"Two of them," I said. "Seems like the armor did its job." My own armor had done a terrific job, absorbing a plasma bolt on the shoulder. I'd probably get some minor burns, but that was about it.
"Anurak and Jin?" O'Malley asked for her two squadmates.
I shook my head. "Sorry."
She nodded quickly, not saying anything. Now was not the time to grieve. A bunch of exceptionally skilled elites could make their way through the door any minute now and kill all of us. She could mourn her two friends later, on our way back home.
"Pelicans!"
"To the rooftop!" I ordered. "Wounded go first!"
"Like hell!" Caboose complained.
"O'Malley," I called her. "Make sure he boards the Pelican. Sutton, go with them."
"Yes, sir," they said, manhandling Caboose up the last set of stairs.
This whole thing had been one huge clusterfuck after another. We deserved some respite in the end, but it seemed like we wouldn't get it just yet. Two of the Marines covering the entrance ran upstairs and shut the door, firing two blasts through it. The other man was without a doubt dead right now. They looked at me and I jerked my head at them to go to the rooftop. The sergeant tossed me Grigori's shotgun. I promptly fired the last three shells through the thin metal door, killing at least one elite. I smiled and emptied the magazine on my pistol before moving back to the base of the stairwell. I tossed my last frag when I heard the door bust open and hoped that it would kill at least two hingeheads, but knew that those were pretty high hopes.
"El-tee!" Miri shouted from a Pelican, offering me her hand. "Come on!"
I climbed onboard and without further ceremony we abandoned the city of Valern to the Covenant onslaught.
Thanks to SpartaLazor and defarcher for proofreading this chapter.
Sorry for the long delay in between updates, but I've been pretty busy lately and may not update as often as I do for the next month or so. I hope that the length of this chapter more than makes up for it. Don't really have anything special to say about this one, other than the two platoon deaths I think it was a pretty standard chapter, maybe a bit more dramatic than usual. I especially liked the "I joined" part, but you'll let me know what you thought about this one.
Stay strong.
-casquis