Chapter CXCV: Lock and Load
August 17, 2552 (UNSC Calendar)/
New Alexandria, Eposz, Reach, Epsilon Eridani System
"The Mendez Joint Base armory was built with the idea that one day it might be used to equip every single soldier in the planet. Nowadays, with the increasing size of the Armed Forces, the task couldn't be accomplished, but only by a little."
"New Alexandria. As pretty as ever," Schitzo said.
He had a point. Even with the numerous tanks, Warthogs, Armadillos, Pelicans, and assorted military materiel you could still see the beauty in the city's architecture. When I was younger I had taken it for granted. I had spent countless nights partying and getting drunk in this city, thinking more about alcohol and girls than what was actually around me. I would've preferred to be surrounded by alcohol and girls and have not yet regretted my choice of partying and inebriation yet.
Payat and Andy looked down on Polly's corpse as a corpsman zipped up the body bad. They had been his two closest friends in the team and had been the most upset when I informed everybody of his passing. Longworth and Mata stood a little bit to the back, both with deep frowns and arms crossed. The rest of the team wasn't as sad by his passing. Don't get me wrong, they were plenty upset. We had all fought along him for two years, but most of my guys were just fucking pissed.
I could see Tank tightening his hands into fists repeatedly and Marv seemed so tense that he shook. Crow, however, just looked at Polly's body bag with no expression.
"You alright?" I asked him quietly.
"We were talking about this right before he was killed, sir," he said softly.
I sighed. "I know.
"I know it wasn't my fault and that I couldn't have done anything," Crow told me matter-of-factly, "but I should feel like an asshole for this."
"Do you?" I asked.
"No," he shook his head.
"It'll hit you," I said. "Maybe not today, but you'll feel something."
Crow said nothing.
I turned back to my team and looked at Pavel, who only gave me a small nod.
"If anyone wants to say anything, then now's the time. We can't stay here forever," I said.
Payat cleared his throat awkwardly. "We all knew Hipólito Gibson as Polly. A lot easier to pronounce, apparently. He was a good friend to everybody in this team and a good friend to me. I loved him like a brother."
Everybody said a little bit, recalling a funny anecdote or story where Polly was the central character. There were some stories that I hadn't been there for and some that I recalled from a different point of view.
"He was a good man and a good fighter," I said when everybody had gone. "This fight isn't over yet and we have work to do, alright?"
A few of my guys nodded.
"Alright?" I repeated, louder.
"Yes, sir!"
01928-46513-HG
Just one more number to add to the list.
There were only enough AAG operators to make five different teams. There was one team that had been outside of the skyhook when we were attacked, but they were off in the highlands. Captain Nezarian and I were standing next to one another while the other three team commanders went over their new team rosters.
"Well, I'm the only handler left," Flatt stated. "All five of you are going to be reporting to me directly. We've all lost friends today, some more than others, but our losses can't distract us from the matter at hand. New Alexandria is quite possibly the most important city in the planet right now. Some jackass decided to put all the headquarters in the same place and here we find ourselves having to defend them."
I looked down at the datapad that I had been handed and thought about the locations that would likely be priority targets. The big UNSC multi-branch joint base was an obvious first choice. It was big and bright and was outside the city. That base would become a huge battleground in just a few hours, even before the rest of the city did. Next big choices were the hospital and, of course, FLEETCOM HQ. That last one was topped off with the unmistakably important and imposing Olympic Tower, headquarters to the infamous Office of Naval Intelligence.
"Hospital and FLEETCOM are both downtown," Nezarian noted. "It wouldn't make much sense to send us there if we're not going to see any fighting for a day or two."
"I know that," Captain Flatt growled. "I just thought that it went without saying…"
"Yes, ma'am. Sorry, ma'am," Nezarian apologized quickly, bowing his head.
"We have with us Team-7," she went on, giving me a small nod. "Team-29." For that she looked at Nezarian. "And teams 13, 19, and 22. Most of the troops quartered in Mendez Joint Base were dispatched to fight in Szurdok Ridge, the ones getting back will be sent to fight in different sectors of the country, but it doesn't look like they'll be defending Mendez JB. That place is still important strategically. It overlooks the city and blah, blah, blah. Long story short we'll be defending that place along with the two companies in charge of security.
"Two companies?" one lieutenant asked. "That makes maybe three companies with us included. It seems like a little bit of a stretch for us to defend the whole place."
"I wasn't done, Liang," Flatt told him. "To assist in our defense we'll have a dedicated air group assisting us. That's an air wing for you Navy boys."
"Nice," I said.
"And, we have full access to the vehicles left behind in the installation. I hear that the amount of Scorpion tanks is… substantial."
"Well, this might just turn out to be fun," Nezarian said gleefully. "Oh yes indeed."
I smiled with the other team leaders, as special operators we didn't get to work in tandem with tanks very often. Sure, here and there we'd come across a company or pull one Scorpion out of a bog, but it had been several years since I last used one of those. Grass usually got the drivers part when we were in Reaper and then we didn't really have a chance to drive a Scorpion. There was no way that I would allow anybody else to man a Scorpion MBT.
"Pelicans are already waiting for us," Captain Flatt said. "I'll be coming with you."
"Glad to have you on board, ma'am," I said.
She nodded in appreciation. "Let's go."
As we walked out I looked at my new battle rifle. It felt very new, there's no other way to describe it. The bolt moved back and forth perfectly fine, but each rifle was sufficiently different from each other that I would have to get used to mine. Once we left the building I saw the massive amounts of movement in the street. Squads moved back and forth along the sidewalks while vehicles of all kinds rolled past, heading towards their defensive positions. There were soldiers and Marines as far as I could see. The only thing that I could compare to this was the retreat from New Constantinople or the military bases during the Siege of Paris IV.
We crossed the street and moved into the tennis courts that were being used as landing pads. Nobody had bothered to take out the nets and the Pelicans had just ripped them when they touched down. I started jogging forward and gave the word for my men to climb back inside the Pelicans.
"Hey Frank," Pavel waved happily. "What's the job?"
"Why are you so fucking happy?" I asked him. "And we're defending Mendez Joint Base."
"MJB?" Mata asked. "I hate that place. Too much… people."
"Kind of like the city?" Marv asked him. "The one you live in."
"Just because you're a sergeant it doesn't mean you can sass me, boy," Mata told him.
"Uh," Marv stumbled over his words.
"That's 'uh sir' to you," I said. "Pavel?"
Marv just sighed and hopped inside the Pelican behind him.
"Nothing important," Pavel told me, but the smile on his face remained there even as he turned around and then stopped. "Before I forget, the needle rifle is underneath your seat just in case. I know you don't like covvie weapons, but we can't exactly leave it in a trash can, can we?"
I sighed and followed him inside. The Pelican was obviously right out of the assembly line. The green paint on the outside was fresh and there wasn't a single scratch on it. The real tell was the floor, the so-called blood tray. Usually there were scratches and wear on it, but what really stood out was that there wasn't a single spot of dried blood in the whole floor.
"Anybody want to inaugurate the tray?" Crow asked.
"Care to guess who'll do it?" Longworth asked him.
"Probably Magnet," he replied. "She always get shot."
I nodded in agreement. Andrea did tend to get shot very often. It was good that she wasn't in this Pelican with us, otherwise she would've been might angry. The guys in here started coming up with the most plausible choices to stain the floor with. Andy ended up being the most voted choice, quickly followed by Pavel and then me. I didn't get serious injuries as often as Andy did, but I did accumulate scrapes, cuts, and other injuries whenever I was in the field. Marv was fourth choice because he often got scrapes and cuts even with all the armor on. The discussion went on for a while as the Pelican spooled up its engines and all other AAG operators got on board.
"Lady, you've been quiet," Snark said. "What's up with that?"
"Well, we lost Polly not ten hours ago and you're acting completely normal," she said coolly.
"I thought you were supposed to be the heartless bitch," Snark replied.
"Hey," I interceded quickly. "Deaths are expected in the battlefield. We move on. None of us is going to forget who Polly was or why he died, but there's no sense in dwelling in his death."
Lady nodded sharply, even if she didn't appear entirely convinced. Her outburst cooled the mood a bit and the conversation died down. Instead my men began chatting quietly with whoever happened to be next to him.
"What the hell is taking so long?"
"We apologize for the delay, ladies and gentlemen. Our D77-TC Pelican is brand new and the controls are a little bit stiff," the pilot broadcast over the intercom. For some reason her voice was distorted. "Please strap on and secure any loose objects that may fly around the cabin."
The voice didn't sound human with the distortion and all, but the speech patterns and the attitude that went with them was something that I couldn't fail to recognize. I looked across at Pavel and tilted my head questioningly. He nodded back to me and the mysterious smile on his face turned into a shit-eating grin. I stood up from my seat and walked to the cockpit as the Pelican took off.
"I did say strap down to your seats, didn't I?"
I smiled broadly. "Marina Bogdanovic!"
"Pilot extraordinaire," she finished, turning around and smiling back. "It's good to see you Frank."
"You too, Marina. I thought you were back in Esztergom."
"I was up till yesterday," she said. "I've been trying to help out, but the re-enlisting process was a little bit more complicated than I expected. I had to call in a couple of favors."
"Grass?" I asked her.
"Yeah," she snorted. "When I called her she thought I was trying to ask her out or something from the way she stumbled over her words. I swear, sometimes she acts like she's right out of high school."
I nodded. "Sometimes it seems like it was only a couple of years ago."
"Sometimes it seems like it was a lifetime ago," she added. "And I'm not even that old."
"Well, it was nineteen years ago."
"We are old," she said, pouting.
"Well, you're still as pretty as always," I assured her, squeezing her shoulder.
"I was going for sexy," she sighed.
I laughed. "That was always my role in the relationship."
Marina groaned in annoyance. "Is everybody strapped up?"
I looked over my shoulder. "Looks like it."
I was only partially prepared for what came next. Marina always did enjoy doing barrel rolls during routine taxi missions, but I didn't actually think that she'd go through with it while I was standing up and unstrapped. Not to mention the fact that nobody in the back was expecting it. In fact, she usually called out before doing them.
"Do a barrel roll!" she shouted.
There it is.
I stretched my legs and arms out and pressed against the walls as hard as I could. Had I been in the cargo bay as opposed to the space right behind the copilot's seat. The walls were considerably tighter here than in the back and I managed to stay suspended for the duration of the barrel roll. I did slam hard on my side when Marina stopped it abruptly, but that wasn't too painful. Some of the men in the back did complain very vocally about the sudden and abrupt roll.
"Wow… Marina?" Snark asked. "No wonder!"
"Good to see you, Naveen," she replied. "Who else is in here?"
"Just me," Pavel called out. "Bee and Caboose are in the other Pelican."
"Well, let them know I say hi."
Lady scoffed. "You know this psycho?"
"That's Mrs. Pilot to you," Marina said.
"She and El-tee used to date," Bee explained. "And don't call her a psycho."
Lady grumbled something as I walked back and sat down. I made sure to strap myself tightly to the seats. The tall skyscrapers reflected the sunlight right back at my eyes. I squinted slightly and looked down at the traffic. Even with our best efforts there were still people trying to get out through the western side of the city. Roadblocks and barricades had been set, but if someone really wanted to get out they would. The Army had better things to do than stop every conspiracy theorist and idiot that didn't believe them.
"Damn, that's a nice line," Longworth noted with a small whistle. "Lots of people are gonna be pissed about that."
I nodded in agreement. The suburbs on the west end of New Alexandria were the most expensive piece of land to live on in the most expensive city to live on in this planet. The houses were more like estates where the wealthy and privileged lives. At low altitude I could make out the pools and beautifully landscaped gardens. I could also make the crudely dug trenches that were deep and wide enough for two Wraiths to fit at the bottom. There were small bridges crossing the trench, they would be blown up as soon as we had to pull back. Behind the massive trench were further fortifications. I could see the obvious ones, such as instacrete bunkers, but I knew there would be people hiding all over the mansions.
"Well, at least we're well-prepared," Crow noted. "It'll be hard to get through those trenches."
"They'll just throw grunts at us," Longworth said with a side. "Then they'll come through wherever the corpses have piled up high enough for them to use them as a bridge."
"They do tend to do that," Preacher agreed. "Well, their souls shall burn in hell for their crimes."
"You know, you're really violent for such a religion person," Pavel told him.
"It is the duty of every Christian to eradicate evil from this world."
"Just this world? Or every world? I mean, there's evil in plenty of worlds," Crow asked.
"Shut up," Preacher told him.
"Yeah, mocking religion is disrespectful," I said. "No matter how tempting it becomes at times."
I got a few chuckles from everyone except for Preacher, who just rolled his eyes. The flight of Pelicans veered off to the right after someone contacted our pilots. A few of the younger soldiers looked up from below and waved at us as we passed. I frowned slightly and gripped my helmet tighter. A lot of these men would be dying before this whole shitstorm was over. Command was very obviously pulling out the big guns for this one. There were Rhinos, Scorpions, and even Wolverines adorning the landscape below me. I had no doubt that there were a few thousand artillery pieces further back or inside the city. The Covenant would have a bad time trying to pry this city from us.
"Ladies and gentlemen we are approaching our final destination of Mendez Joint Base, please remain seated and refrain from removing your seatbelts until we touch down. I will be landing next to the armory area for your comfort. Thank you for flying with Little Lamb Airlines and good luck boys."
Her Pelican touched down exactly as she finished her little speech. Unsurprisingly enough, nobody had listened to her. We hopped off the moment the wheels touched the ground. Nine other Pelicans touched down almost simultaneously and men poured out and started walking towards the armory. One hundred of the best that humanity could field quickly shuffled so that they could get first pick in the biggest armory in the planet.
"Grab what you want," I told me men. "Knock yourselves out."
I genuinely laughed when they all started jogging towards the massive sliding doors.
"Well, looks like I have some free time," Marina said.
I turned around and smiled again at the sight for her. Even though Katie had been holding my thoughts for the last few days I had been worried about my other friends here. I had wondered whether Marina and Claire were safe and then thought about Captain Montgomery and Lys. From there I thought about the three Irishmen that were always in the Grenadier. I knew that Murphy and the guys had all been drafted back into the service as well as Clair, but there were fifty/fifty chances that they had been on leave.
"I'm glad you're safe," I told her.
Marina just smiled slightly and hugged me. I was surprised for a second. Even back in the day she wasn't a big fan of tenderness. Sure, she enjoyed kissing and some cuddling after sex, but she didn't thrive on it. I wrapped my arms around her, awkwardly holding my helmet in one of my hands. She remained there for a couple of seconds before she let her hands fall down.
"Have you heard anything about Claire?" she asked me.
I shook my head. "We barely keep in touch under the best circumstances," I told her. "I don't really know anything."
"I just know that she was planetside."
"How?" I asked.
"MySpace," she replied simply.
"I can find out where Army Rangers are deployed," I told her. "If you really want to know."
"Thanks," she said. "I know we broke up, but–"
"You and me?" I asked. "Or you and her?"
"Me and her," she said with a small smile.
"Did you try calling her?"
"Nah, she would've just called me a bitch. Besides, the lines went down a few days ago."
"Yeah," I said.
"How's Katie?" she asked me.
I snorted. "She's just fine. Pavel reached out to his wife, who in turn talked to my beautiful girlfriend."
"And her cousin?"
"Yes," I said.
"Well, I'm glad to hear that. Are they still in Esztergom?"
"Last I heard."
"Frank…"
"I know," I told her. "But they're in an evacuation port and already have guaranteed passage out of the city. They're as safe as the can be right now."
"Even if it's not that much."
"You are depressing the shit out of me, Marina. No wonder I broke up with you."
"Didn't I break up with you?" she asked.
I coughed. "It was mutual."
"Yeah… right," she said.
"Hey Frank!" Pavel called out. "You gonna come here?"
"Just a second!" I shouted back.
Marina was walking back to her Pelican. "I think that I'm going to be assigned to your platoon," she told me. "Command mentioned something about you guys needing quick transport at all times."
"Good," I replied.
"It's gonna be a lot more fun without a copilot."
"Yeah, right," I said, making my way towards the door. "I'll see you around."
"Stay safe, Frank," she said, hopping on the back of her Pelican.
"You know me, Marina!" I yelled.
"That's the problem," she called back.
I shook my head and walked inside the massive armory. It had every weapon that the UNSC used in any circumstance and it had at least a thousand of each. You started out with your obvious MA5-series and MA37 assault rifles with BR55 rifles coming up next. Shotguns and SMGs were located in the next massive row of gun racks. Pistols of all models also rested there, waiting to be picked up. There were gaps here and there, where a squad or a platoon had picked up weapons because they were missing theirs, but the amount of rifles, pistols, machine guns and the like was just incredibly mind-blowing.
"Where's the special stuff?" I asked Pavel as soon as I caught up to him.
"Down over here," he said. "It's about five hundred meters long, can you fucking believe that? There's even a basement section!"
"It's ridiculous," I said. "What are we getting?"
"All kinds of stuff," Pavel told me. "All shit's gonna hit the fan in a few hours and this might be the last time we have to grab some gear. I'm going to get myself a scope for my machine gun and whatever I feel like I might need."
"Let's see what I find then," I said, smiling at the thought of all these guns. "Come on."
"You know, I really hate it when you make it seem like you were the one waiting on me," Pavel said. "Asshole."
"Bitch," I replied.
Pavel laughed. It had been a long time since we joked that way. We had been through a lot, the two of us. I didn't know whether to hope for more misadventures with him or pray for them to stop.
"Over here, sir!" Payat called out excitedly. "It's just like heaven!"
"I seriously doubt that," Preacher shouted over a shelf.
"It's close enough for me," Bee jumped in. "I don't think I've ever had access to this amount of gear."
I agreed with him. The gear aisle or section had anything and everything that a firearm could ever need. I could pick anything ranging from grips, to mini-missile launchers, to heartbeat monitors. Some of the shit in here was ridiculous, but it didn't mean that I didn't appreciate it. I slowly moved to the section of BR55 accessories and started going through them. My rifle was a fresh acquisition, which explained why it didn't have any attachments. It just gave me a lot of extra working room.
I saw Miranda attaching a grenade launcher to one of the sides of her DMR. She had removed the front grip and replaced it with a thinner part that had a vertical grip instead. Upon closer inspection I realized that the grenade launcher in fact was one that fired rocket-powered and semi-guided AP grenades. It couldn't hold up to the M515 MGL, but it could certainly aid a lone rifleman, or in this case, riflewoman. She looked up from her gun and shrugged slightly at me before returning to work.
"Well, well," I muttered to myself. "Let's see."
I started with the important part. I replaced the carry handle in my rifle for a slightly longer version with picatinny rails. I proceeded to remove some of the side coverings of my rifle near the front and instead replace them with more picatinny rails. I used those to attach a state-of-the-art laser rangefinder that could also temporarily blind certain electronics. On the other side of my rifle I attached a small but powerful flashlight that could blind anybody that looked directly at it. I considered getting myself an underbarrel attachment, but decided against it for comfort reasons.
"Not upgrading your scope, sir?" Longworth asked me. "I know I am."
I looked at his BR55, it had a vertical grip and several of the parts had been stripped and replaced with slimmer ones, giving it a more skeletal look than my own. On top of his carrying handle he had attached a beautiful Oracle scope similar to those that SRS-99 rifles used but smaller and less powerful.
"I will," I told him. "I'm just getting rid of some extra weight."
"Alright," he said. "I removed most of the parts in the front and replaced them with lightweight alloys."
"I can see that," I said. "Where are those?"
"Right over there."
By the time I was done doing that my rifle weighed two hundred grams less. I had some room there, so I replaced my barrel with a longer and slightly heavier version that would increase range and accuracy. I was starting to feel very good with my main weapon, but I still had the matter of a scope to resolve. I considered getting a more powerful scope, but in the end I settled for a more expensive one.
I picked an Ushuaia Armories MulTec Mk. 50 Multi-Purpose Scope. It looked something like a slightly oversized holographic sight that one would find on a submachine gun, but it was anything from ordinary. Sure, it had a standard mode where it simply painted a red targeting reticle for you with no zoom, but it also had zoom capabilities up to 7x and three different modes. It had a neutron detector much like the Oracle N-variant sniper scope, thermal, and the ever-necessary night-vision. It also looked very damn stylish on my rifle.
"Ah," Longworth said when he saw my final product. "That was my second choice, sir. Looks like you've got a nice piece of work right there."
"Thanks Adrian," I replied, examining my weapon. "Tell me, why are you in the Corps?"
The question seemed to catch him unprepared. He stumbled slightly over his words before charmingly smiling and ruffling his hair. "Well, sir, I'm not exactly sure. I've always excelled at everything that I tried, not to sound arrogant–"
"But you are," I reminded him. "You're as arrogant as I am, and believe me when I say that that's not a compliment."
"Uh…"
"You were saying?"
"Well, I guess that nothing I ever did felt like a real challenge. I know I'm smart and that I could've gone into science. I could've gone into sports as well, but I never really felt like I enjoyed doing what I did, I only enjoyed the recognition. It started getting depressing after a while."
"So you decided to join the Corps?"
"Yeah, I guess. I knew that I would be doing something good and I wanted to try it. Thought to myself that if I did something because it was good for other people I might enjoy it."
"Do you?"
He smiled. "Yeah. I do. I guess you could say I found my calling."
"Well, forgive me, but I find that a little hard to believe."
Longworth sighed. "Sir, I honestly don't care whether you believe me or not, but I could've been any kind of civilian contractor making millions or even billions of credits a year, I know it is arrogant, but it's the truth."
It was.
"The reason I'm here," he continued, "is because I like the feeling. Every alien I kill and every battle we win is more time for humanity to deliver a knockout blow. I do this for my family and for my friends. I risk my life so that they might live theirs."
I looked at him and held his gaze for a second. Longworth was an arrogant douchebag, no doubt about it, but he didn't seem to be lying. I held his defiant stare until he blinked a couple of times and looked away.
"Cute. Did you rehearse that?"
"Yes," he admitted. "But that doesn't make it a lie."
"Have you been waiting for somebody to ask you that just so that you could explain?"
"I was kind of hoping."
"Well Longworth," I groaned, standing up. "I believe you. But good motives or otherwise you're still an arrogant shit and it would do you well to tone it down."
We were both silent for a moment.
"Have you been waiting for an opportunity to say that?" he asked me.
"Yeah," I admitted.
"Did you rehearse that?"
"Hell no."
"Didn't think so," Longworth chuckled. "Well El-tee, we're both the way we are and there's very little I can do to change that. If I know that I'm better than somebody at something I'll let them know it. It just so happens that I'm better at most things that most people are."
I chuckled with him. "Tone it down, ok?"
"I'll try."
"Good," I said.
Once that little matter had been settled I grabbed my rifle and left, making sure that all the pieces were nice and tight. The last thing I wanted was my barrel to slide off in the middle of a battle. Not only would my gun be useless, but I would also feel like a fucking idiot.
My next stop was for my pistol. Pavel, the dumb brute that he was, had lost mine in the skyhook. I had been issued a replacement, but a standard version just doesn't have the same appeal. I switched my M6C sidearm for a heavier, more accurate M6H officer's pistol. The one I picked had a KFA-2 scope right above the barrel and a flashlight/laser combination underneath it. I removed the scope from the pistol and examined the more square and angular look it had. Next up was a suppressor for it. Giving my M6H a SOCOM suppressor was almost an oxymoron, but the engineers did their job right and I knew for a fact that the pistol wouldn't make much noise when fired. I almost moved on right there, but I spotted some double-finger triggers that would speed up my rate of fire. I quickly switched the regular trigger for the double one and moved on.
"All ready?" Pavel asked me.
"Nope," I replied.
"Good, because I'm not either."
I laughed and slid the weapon into my holster, making sure to grab six 12-round magazines for it. That was about it for my sidearm, it's not like I needed a silly bayonet attachment for it. It sure would've felt good to stab a grunt in the face and then shoot it, but that was just ridiculously impractical.
"What else are you getting?" I asked Pavel.
"Guess?"
"An ACS like the one I bought you for your birthday so long ago?"
He laughed. "Nah, as much as I'd like to it would be too much weight for me. I'm not twenty five anymore."
"Please, you could beat the shit out of any twenty five year-old in the galaxy."
"I'm flattered," Pavel said. "But you know how it is. Wait, do you?"
I sighed. "Truth be told Pavs, I feel better than I've felt in my whole life. Physically speaking. I can run faster than before, run for longer times… I can hit harder, aim better. I'll probably never know exactly what was done to me, but it sure did help out."
"What do you know?" Pavel asked carefully. "Did they tell you anything?"
"Why so curious all of a sudden?"
"I've always been curious," he said. "It's just that I never asked you because it bothered you so much."
"I didn't earn this," I told him. "My speed or my strength is all artificial. How would you feel if everything that you did was thanks to somebody else?"
"Unfulfilled," he admitted. "But they did this to you for a reason Frank. Even before this happened you were the single most impressive fighter anyone had ever seen. Sure, we've got Marv and Longworth in this team and they are both impressive badasses in their own right, but I know I could still beat the living shit out of them and you damn well could do it with or without whatever you keep complaining about."
"Aw. Thanks."
"But seriously Frank," he said seriously. "Frank. What did they give you?"
"I don't know," I replied truthfully. "But I do know what they were trying to make me."
"No way…"
"Yeah," I said. "They wanted cheaper Spartans."
"Like the IIIs?"
"More or less," I said. "I think that they wanted supersoldiers, give augments to every single trooper in the UNSC or at least make a bunch of us. The details aren't really clear to me. I know that I'm supposed to be a failed prototype of the Spartan-IV generation."
"Well, I cannot wait to see the successful prototype."
"Pavel, I'm getting a gay vibe from you right now."
My best friend actually flushed at that comment. Even though he was fair skinned, blue-eyed, and blonde, it wasn't very often that you saw his face change color so abruptly. I had seen him uncomfortable many times, but this was probably the best one.
"Right. Sorry."
I laughed. "Who's gonna tell Amber?"
"Geez Frank," he grunted, pushing me away. "Back to the matter at hand. I have nothing against Spartans, but I wouldn't want to be one myself. They're like machines. Even the IIIs give off a robot vibe. Hell, the IIs we fought with in Paris IV could hardly be called sociable. Even the most outgoing one was withdrawn."
"Well, I'm glad I'm not one of those," I said. "Super strength or not I enjoy who I am."
"Most of it, at least," Schitzo said with a small shrug.
Pavel remained silent for a few seconds as we walked. We could hear AAG operators talking and chattering, but there were none in this aisle with us. "I'm happy we talked about this."
"Me too," I admitted. "Caboose always knew. It was his job."
"I suspected as much."
"But I actually feel good now. Because I talked about this, I mean."
"We're both being really gay right now," Pavel stated.
"Yeah, good thing we're in a room fool of weapons," I said. "Makes me feel manly."
We laughed together. It wasn't very often that we became sentimental, at least not with one another.
"So, what'd you do to your gun?" I asked him.
"Lightened it up some," he replied. "Changed the stock and got one of those vertical grips that also works as a bipod. Oh, right. I also got myself a scope and laser rangefinder. For my pistol I just got a better silencer."
"I'm surprised you didn't get a bigger caliber for your M247."
"It's how you use it," Pavel said. "And I can't carry all that extra weight."
We stepped out of the way as a tracked robot rolled by. It was one of those drones that followed a squad or platoon with military supplies or additional ammunition. I didn't like using those, they were very rarely worth it. Oftentimes they'd draw fire and fail to properly travel through rough terrain. The one that just rolled past appeared to be a newer version.
"Wanna give it a shot?" Pavel asked me, pointing at the tank-like drone. "Sure they can't move worth shit in mountain terrain, but we are gonna be in urban terrain for a while."
"Sounds good," I said. "Want to get three of those?"
"Yeah. I'll tell Crow and Tank to load them up with ammunition."
Pavel broke off and left me by myself. A few men that I didn't know were upgrading their SMGs and some men that I recognized as Captain Nezarian's were chatting as they walked past me. Their rifles had underbarrel grenade launchers of the more conventional type that would fire two 30mm grenades before you needed to reload.
"Oh, hey El-tee," Andy greeted me. "Marv and I were getting busy behind the shotguns."
I raised an eyebrow and Marv just turned to look at her with a confused expression. I just rolled my eyes. There was absolutely no way that Andrea would hook up with anybody she worked with. She was the most professional member of Team-7 along with Serge. It would be incredibly hard for her to betray her professionalism for something as materialistic as sex.
Besides, it's not even like Marv was that attractive.
"Are you getting shotguns?" I asked them.
"Nah," Andy replied. "I'm good with my assault rifle."
"I see you customized it," I noted. "Nothing else?"
"Nah, I'm good with my gun. Just gonna get some extra gear."
"I'm getting a shotgun," Marv said.
"Well, so am I," I told him. "Come on."
The shotgun section of the armory was a dream. There was your standard M90 shotgun, but we had all different versions of it. We had the M90, the M90A, M45, M45D, M45E, and a lot more models that I couldn't name at first glance. Marv immediately moved towards a rack of compact M45 shotguns with collapsible stocks and shortened barrels. He looked at it briefly before shrugging to himself and attaching it to the magnetic plates on his back.
"That it?" I asked.
"I'm just planning on using it during emergencies," he replied. "Just going to get some ammo for this and I'm set."
I raised an eyebrow. "Well, that's one way to go about it. It's probably the way I'm going to go, to be honest."
"You want one of these?" he asked.
"Nah, I'd like something smaller," I told him. "Have you seen those breaching-type guns?"
"They should be right down there," Marv told me. "Those little things pack a punch, but…"
"Yeah," I said. "Four shells ought to be enough in an emergency."
Marvin just shrugged again.
I sighed and walked down the aisle to the shorter and smaller shotguns. I found one that I liked and examined it thoroughly. It was about sixty centimeters in length and pump-action. It was basically a shortened M90 without the top sights. There was no stock and some of the non-essential parts had been stripped. The little shotgun only fit four rounds, but as I had said, it should be enough. I grabbed it and added shell holders on either side, giving me space for sixteen additional shotgun shells. Laser sights would be highly unnecessary if an enemy was in the same room with me, but a blinding flashlight could always buy me a millisecond or two.
"Hey Frank, most of the guys are done," Pavel radioed in. "You about ready?"
"Almost," I told him.
I pumped the shotgun a couple of times and then started loading it. I chose shells that would inflict maximum damage at extremely close range. I ended up picking a mix of incendiary and buckshot. Well, it was more like incendiary buckshot. The moment the shells made contact with anything they would detonate, shredding through flesh, armor, and shields alike.
Schitzo whistled, impressed. "Goddamn. Do we have any idea how much these puppies cost? About a hundred credits a piece? No wonder we don't use them more often. Did you see those bullets? The ones that automatically detect a surface and detonate inches from it. They have a three meter kill radius."
Yup, those are about five hundred credits each.
Three of those bullets could buy you an M6 pistol. No wonder we didn't get to use the super fancy bullets during every mission. I would've loved to use explosive bullets or guided bullets or any other kind of bullet, but these 9.5mm semi-explosive rounds that I used did the trick and didn't cost the taxpayers an arm and a leg. Pity, it was the middle of the twenty-sixth century and we still didn't have lasers. I should've had a laser blaster.
I jogged back out of the armory and looked at my men. "You ready?"
They nodded.
"We have three drones with us," Pavel said. "They are all carrying ammunition and a little bit of medical supplies. They also have armor plating on the side. You've all participated in engagements with these little guys, so I assume you know how they work."
"Team-7 is the only intact team," I began. "Which means we get the hardest job. We're going to defend the main entrance on the western end. You know, the only one that doesn't have a huge-ass ten-meter wall surrounding it. That's us. We've got machine gun emplacements, missile pods, the works. Coupled with near-unlimited ammunition I don't expect us to lose the gate. Even if we do fail we're going to have exactly five Scorpion tanks just waiting for targets to move through."
"You hear that?" Pavel boomed. "You better not mess this one up."
"Listen to him," I advised. "Move out. Snark, not you."
"Follow me!" Pavel shouted. "On the double!"
"Sir?" Snark asked, sounding confused.
"Follow me," I ordered. "I've got news."
I led Snark back inside the armory in complete silence. In truth I just wanted to make him nervous, so I said nothing and didn't answer his questions until he finally shut up. I walked to the restricted section of the armor and pressed my palm to the sensor that kept the door closed. Once it opened we both stepped inside. Snark looked at all the experimental weaponry and his eyes widened ever so slightly.
"Is this what I think it is?"
I turned and nodded with a big smile on my face. "It's all you."
"I'm going to need some help, you know?" he said. "That shit's heavy."
"I'll give you a hand," I sighed. "Come on."
Snark took a couple of steps forward and slowly, carefully, lifted the M102 SASR Sledgehammer railgun from its little stand. He looked the weapon over before gently setting it on its stock.
"Ain't she a beauty?" he asked. His voice was full of awe.
I chuckled. "That she is. How long has it been?"
"Ever since Catamaran Peninsula, when we took out that Scarab."
"Well, get reacquainted, because you might be giving this one a lot of use."
"Oh, I plan on it."
We walked out of the armory with more than fifty pounds worth of railgun ammunition. Snark was beaming. He had a massive weapon that would destroy a Scarab's main gun in a couple of shots and he would get to use it very extensively. I was practically beaming as well, I would get to see the Sledgehammer in action once again. The railgun was no longer experimental, but the technology used to make it portable and effective happened to be incredibly expensive. There weren't more than a thousand or so of these in the whole universe.
"Take a tower," I told him. "Keep the shots sporadic, ok? You'll become a big target."
"I know my deal, sir."
"Just making sure," I told him, handing him my crates of ammunition. Hurry."
"Yeah," he heaved through the weight.
To be fair to him, he was carrying a twenty pound sniper rifle, a forty pound railgun, and fifty pounds of ammunition. Not even the exoskeleton on his armor could lift that. He dropped his rifle and the ammunition and took two deep breaths. I'll make two trips.
I nodded and headed towards the security booth next to the gate. It had retractable windows and metal shield doors. This whole base was designed to be defended, but it would be pretty hard to pull off with just a few companies worth of men.
"Lieutenant Castillo," Captain Flatt called in. "Are you in position?"
"Yes ma'am," I said. "Any news?"
"We have enemy sightings two miles away. The treeline starts at a mile and a half from the walls. Anything in between here and there is a killzone. Oh, and I managed to secure artillery support as well."
"This is gonna be a good one," I told her.
"Good luck, Lieutenant. We're all gonna need it."
Thanks for reading this chapter. There was minimal proofreading to it much like the last few chapters, but I don't think there were any major spelling mistakes.
I've always enjoyed writing down the lock-and-load montage scenes where everybody gets their shit together and starts getting ready for combat. You know how in the movies the camera always lingers on those guys putting bullets into the magazine? Well, I decided to write a whole chapter around that. Frank with a shotgun also sounds like a good idea, so why not?
I took my time and wrote down Marina into this chapter. To be honest with you she's always been one of my favorite characters. She's a strong and independent woman that isn't afraid of kicking ass but at the same time she's also... well, a woman. I'll be honest with you guys, Marina is probably my idea of the perfect woman. Bisexuality and everything. Other than her I also gave a little spotlight to Longworth. I keep mentioning how he's so good at everything and talented, but never really explained it. Well, he's that guy that is always going to be better than you. You guys all probably know someone like that. The only difference is that Longworth is better at everything and not just a couple of things.
Pavel and Frank had this bromantic moment that veered slightly into the homoerotic. Personally I've got nothing against gay people, but the situation seemed funny and I wrote it that way.
Brief recap: Marina is back and likable as always. Pavel bonds with Frank. Longworth gets some insight into his character. Yup, they're all going to die. And let's see if I can hit twenty reviews for this chapter, shall we? Last one was thirteen.
Stay strong.