The Life

by casquis

The Great War was a long one, millions made it, more didn't. Frank is an ODST, a human just like us, that has managed to survive the most grueling battles for years. With so much experience under his belt he has some amazing stories to tell. This are the life stories of an immature, not-all-in-there, and talented Marine just living, fighting, and being plain badass during the war.

215. Step and Go

Chapter CCXV: Step and Go

October 20, 2552 (UNSC Calendar)/

New Mombasa, East African Protectorate, Earth, Sol System

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"Pardon our dust."

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Sometimes hell comes all at once, but sometimes it trickles down gradually. Personally I have no particular preference, I've experienced both and can attest that it always ends up being the same thing. Mombasa was in a weird funk. Some areas were reportedly under complete control of the Covenant and some others were in the same state that they would've been had on a regular Tuesday. We could see the mass of civilians evacuating towards the bridges and docks. Many of them were moving to the military bases in an attempt to get evacuated by air. The city was being emptied at an astonishingly quick rate. I wondered how Old Mombasa was doing, the district had seen some heavy Covenant presence if reports were anything close to accurate. Initial estimates put the civilian casualties at around 10,000 with a third of those being deaths.

"That's the building," I said. "Everyone ready!"

My men simultaneously stood up, reaching towards the security grips that popped from the ceiling. Multiple AA rounds streaked through the air, a majority of those were Covenant, owing to a lack of military ordinance in the city proper. A green explosion shook the plane and made me close my eyes, but the blast didn't harm anything or anyone.

"Ready!" the pilot shouted from the cockpit.

The Pelican abruptly slowed down near the landing pad on top of the building. We all rushed towards the exit and jumped out as the craft slowly inched forward, trying to keep moving. Longworth had to roll backwards in an attempt to minimize the impact from the jump, but everyone else managed to either stumble or awkwardly maintain their footing. The blast from the Pelican's engines nearly threw us back down as the pilot sped off away from the danger zone, but the poor fellow was caught by four different shells as he began to turn, tearing his Pelican into shreds and instantly killing the man.

"Keep moving," I said, looking around for my men. "Crow, take out that Wraith!"

I had considered who would be our new heavy weapons specialist since Bee had died. Crow seemed the obvious choice, everyone else was as good as he was, but they did some things better.

The man rushed forward, toting the newest model of the SPANKr and took a knee. He fired the two guided missiles at the AA Wraith with one second between each of them, standard procedure. The guiding mechanism wasn't needed in this situation, as the Wraith was on top of a building and had limited maneuvering space. The warheads penetrated the armor and detonated, giving Crow a tank kill. As the Wraith tore itself apart with secondary explosions we moved through the rooftop and inside. Our mission was clearing the building's ten floors as soon as possible. Members of the 17th had been dropped off a few blocks away in territory we controlled, but they had to get through a particularly feisty section of the Covenant invasion force in order to link with the 13th Rifle Battalion. Once that happened we would have a nice little ring around the orbital elevator. It was our first priority, even ahead of protecting the civilians.

"Caboose, take point. Grass, with him," I ordered. "I want this top two floors cleared as fast as possible."

I had a good reason for that. Everyone and their mother had seen us land. By now the covvies in the building were either fortifying their positions or rushing to meet us. The ones occupying the nearest floors would have less time to prepare for obvious reasons. That wasn't the only thing either, I wanted Snark doing sniper work with a roof over his head. Once we moved to the lower floors we'd be lured near the windows so that the covvies could get their own sniper support. Snark would counteract that. It'd be a shooting gallery for him while we acted as one for the jackals and elites.

Caboose cleared the first room almost by himself, killing two elite minors with blasts to the chest and neck. He then put some buckshot in the grunts behind them letting Grass take the last one. Longworth split to the left, firing his DMR with Miranda going with him. Lady and I moved to the right, leaving behind Snark and our two gunners. I hit a couple of elites as Lady focused her assault rifle on the smaller aliens. It took less than thirty seconds to clear the whole floor and five more to meet up on stairwell.

"Pavel, did you find it?" I asked.

He raised his hand and nodded. Suddenly a small screen appeared over my ammo counter, showing a camera view of the hallway under this one. Currently the city's superintendent was doing its best to help UNSC forces coordinate and keeping the infrastructure working in our favor. The countless security cameras in the city would be a godsend until the Covenant managed to neutralize them.

Four elites and six grunts were moving towards the stairwell. Pavel and Dotsenko aimed at their feet and began firing. It was curious seeing how the bullets penetrated the floor and then watching the results in the camera. The other eight of us climbed down the stairs and finished the job for them, moving forward as the machine guns fell silent. Snark used his SMG to pepper jackals' shields, letting heavier weapons finish the job. He would get his turn soon enough.

A minute later we were clear.

"I have my spot," Snark announced, moving towards a different room.

Pavel and Dotsenko climbed down and proceeded to fire through the floor at another group of Covenant troops waiting for us. The aliens freaked out and shot back, but their plasma weapons couldn't penetrate the floor. However, the needlers and carbines had more than enough penetrating power to do just that and then some. My gunners made sure not to fire for long enough to give away their position, but their shooting really helped out, wounding grunts and weakening elite shields.

By the time we reached the second floor Dotsenko was almost out of ammunition and Snark had had to pull us out of more than one ugly situation when a sniper pinned us down from another building. Luckily, no one was injured in that march.

"Twenty four minutes," I announced. "We're late."

"Better than failure," Grass replied with a small shrug.

"Colonel Omondi, this is Castillo. Colonel?"

"Copy, status?"

"We're green on the target building. My sniper is taking care of enemy sharpshooters as we speak."

"You're late," he replied. "My men are moving up."

"We'll provide cover," I said. "Over and out."

The 17th didn't have much armored with them. They had some thick skinned vehicles, but for the most part they were modified Warthogs. The 12th and 13th were rifle battalions, but curiously enough, they were exactly what they sounded like, no integrated armored. Omondi and other Brass were working on getting us some heavy-punching vehicles while we moved the Scorpions and Tortoises into the island. Old Mombasa was having a better time in that department.

"Spread out," I ordered as soon as we deemed the ground floor empty. "Cover the entire plaza."

We did that in the fourth floor, giving ourselves a reasonable vantage point while staying low enough to also be playing sitting duck. It wasn't the most pleasant of situations, but we trusted Snark.

"Just like the old days, huh?" Grass said quietly, aiming at the opposite building.

"We missed having you on the team," I told her.

She nodded. "I know, but I could do more good working with ONI. Sounds like an oxymoron, I know, but it's the truth."

"I believe you."

"Do you resent me?"

"No," I said truthfully. "If I could I would find a way out of this life, but this is the only thing I know how to do. Plus, you lost your arm."

She awkwardly twisted her artificial limb. With the armor covering it you would not be able to tell that she had once been crippled. She could karate-chop through concrete and pulverize flesh by squeezing with her hand. I had seen her tear a brute's throat out with it, very gruesome, very useful.

"So did Dotsenko, and he didn't quit."

"He couldn't afford to. You know you're the smartest person in this squad. Probably in the city."

She chuckled. "If you say so."

The lead elements of the 17th were beginning to come through to the plaza. It wasn't exactly the terrain that anybody would want to find themselves in, especially in hostile terrain, but this plaza would become a fortress once we could secure it. Just three ways to come in, easily defensible buildings, and terraces that would function as walls. It was every defensive planner's wet dream.

"We see you," I checked in with them. "Don't be surprised if you start taking fire, but we've got a man on the job."

"Well that's reassuring," the reply came. At least they were good natured.

I didn't know if the 17th had seen action. I assumed that some of the members had been deployed, but I wouldn't have been surprised if the whole unit was stationed on the planet and didn't do much. The 12th and 13th Rifle Battalions would presumably be completely unprepared for what was coming, but they were going to be very well trained indeed. The Covenant wasn't going to have an easy time going through us, not if we got our armored and air support.

"Do you have any word on the armored?" I asked Grass.

"Not yet," she replied. "Most of the fleet was scrambling to meet the Covenant fleet. I heard rumors that the enemy fleet was only a dozen ships."

"That doesn't sound right," I muttered.

"And then I heard another unconfirmed report about an assault carrier being taken out in orbit."

"Well, if the dozen enemy ships are all assault carriers then we aren't exactly in a good spot, are we?"

She shook her head. "Still, I don't think that's the case."

"Why aren't we getting support from the Navy?" I rolled my right shoulder to try and work out a knot. "At least a couple of ships should be coming down to drop Marines."

"Logistics are shit right now," Grass told me. "I think that the Navy is preparing for a second attack, setting up a defensive perimeter. Still, I heard that one or two frigates might be showing up soon. You know the In Amber Clad?"

"You mentioned it in your email," I acknowledged with a small nod, watching as the lead platoons of the 17th fanned out and entered the other adjoining buildings. "Wasn't that the ship with that lady commander? Keyes' daughter."

"Yeah. Which brings me…"

"What?"

"Master Chief was supposed to be up in Cairo Station earlier this morning," she began. "I missed him by a couple of hours, but I did get to see Commander Keyes and overhear some chatter. Apparently he was in a series of Top Secret operations or some such thing. Very shush-shush, even I couldn't get clearance."

"That doesn't sound like you," I said.

"Well, regardless of what he did, I heard that the Chief left Reach in the UNSC Pillar of Autumn."

The name was one that I knew. As soon as she said that my heart skipped a beat and my hair stood on its end. I suddenly felt very cold.

"Did Marv make it?" I asked.

"Two people survived," she said. "From what I gather. Master Chief and Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson, but the names Staff Sergeant Pete Stacker, and Private First Class Chips Dubbo were dropped as well so the overall number might be four. There was some talk about another Spartan, but everything was too vague and black. I'm lucky I got this much information."

"So Marv's dead?" I asked.

"In all likelihood," she said with a sad sigh. "I'll try and pull some favors, see if I can see what happened exactly, but for now it's best if we assume the worst."

I sighed and closed both my eyes for a moment. "God-fucking-dammit."

"I'm sorry Frank," she offered. "I thought I should tell you first."

"I'll tell the men later," I told her calmly, working on that knot on my shoulder again. "I'm sure he took countless bastards with him."

"If he died," I said. "Which we don't know for a fact. You saw him fighting. He was the toughest SOB around."

"In a team with you, Pavel, and Grigori. Unlucky him, eh?"

I shook my head. "He could go toe to toe with Caboose and probably outfight Pavel."

"Not you?"

"I know better than to be modest with you," I told her.

"True."

The 17th flooded the plaza after the adjoining buildings. There were audible gunshots and Snark had to join in to provide support for the teams clearing the buildings, but for the most part the Covenant couldn't really do anything in the face of overwhelming numbers.

"Looks like we have the plaza," Grass noted. "How many Wraiths did we count on the rooftops?"

"At least four more," I told her. "We'll handle them."

"Frank, we good?" Pavel asked.

"Yeah, looks like we're good for now," I replied over the radio. "Give it a minute."

And of course a minute was all it took.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit. Incoming!"

Plasma shells hit the building opposite us from above. The explosions tore glass and steel from the polycrete, sending debris flying down at the Marines below. I watched as more and more shells tore larger sections of the building until finally the top began collapsing. Everyone started running away from the section of death and rock falling at them, but at least thirty men and women were trapped by the building as it fell. Immediately after that eight Banshees streaked past, strafing the survivors near the mountain of rubble.

"Phantoms approaching," Snark broadcast on the open channel. "Ready!"

Crow fired off two rockets, filling the adjoining room with smoke and drawing some curses from his teammates, but the missiles each collided with an enemy Banshee, sending them crashing into the damaged building in fiery explosions. The Phantoms then approached, targeting Crow's room with their heavy front cannons. Grass and I were forced to duck under cover as plasma splashed around us and destroyed what was left of the windows. I popped back up just in time to see an elite get shot in the head as it jumped from a Phantom. Snark hollered and fired again, this time shooting at another one on the ground.

"Targets right, targets right!" I shouted. "Pavel, light them up!"

His M247L roared loudly, taking down a dozen grunts that had just hopped out of a hovering Phantom. The elite and jackal leaders of the unit tried to take cover, but Longworth and Miranda brought them down before they could reach safety. We had to stop our onslaught when the other Phantoms began returning fire on our positions.

"Move out, move out!" I ordered. "This is AAG-7, we need someone to take out those Phantoms!"

"We're on it, sir!" a Marine squad leader replied almost immediately.

"Grass, come on!"

I dragged her by her good arm and threw her into the hallway just as two heavy explosive rounds hit the floor of our room, tearing it apart and throwing me to the floor. I pushed myself back to my feet and moved to the stairs as fast as I could. Blue-hot plasma punched through the walls behind me, inches away from atomizing parts of my body. I could hear missiles flying and some detonations, but I could not see what was happening.

"Target down, target down! Redire- shit!"

Another large explosion.

"Grass, why don't we have any air support?" I asked.

"All of our Pelicans are busy transporting troops," she said. "Or evacuating civilians. We're on our own for now."

I cursed and climbed to the seventh floor with the rest of my men. Once there we could fire at the Phantoms from above. By we I mean Crow. He had to wait until they presented their underbelly before shooting, and he had to lean out of a window while one of us held him by the belt. It was a tricky operation, but we succeeded in bringing another dropship down before the rest had to fall back. Despite our best efforts there were at least 150 Covenant troops on the ground and in control of the western end of the plaza. The 17th was still in the game, but they had to bring the troops around the debris, leaving the few survivors inside the plaza pinned down and outnumbered for the next few minutes.

"Alright, they're going to need support," I said. "Pavel, Dotsenko, how's your ammo?"

"Bad," Pavel said. "Last drum."

"Shit," I muttered. "Alright, fuck it. Everybody open up, prioritize and let them have it."

It wasn't very often that I let my men do whatever they wanted. For the most part we had to follow the golden rule of combat. Don't let the enemy know where you are. Usually we would kill those that knew our position first and then move on, taking out the important targets without letting them know where we were. For the most part it worked, there were obviously exceptions to that rule, but I preferred to follow it as often as possible. In this particular instance we had the advantage of seven stories worth of height as well as the impenetrable cover of floors and walls. We were at a definite advantage, but that's not to say that we weren't vulnerable to…say, an elite with a plasma launcher or a grunt with a fuel rod. Shit happens.

Not that my men seemed to care, they immediately opened fire at the Covenant in the plaza.

I sighed.

"Thanks for the assist, Lieutenant!" a sergeant transmitted.

"We can't maintain it for long," I told him. "Tell your men to hurry up."

"Will do, sir."

The Marines in the plaza weren't pushovers either, but they were outnumbered two to one and had the disadvantage of being on the end of the plaza without much cover. Their right flank was protected by the mountain of debris, but everything else was pretty much exposed save for a few stray rocks. The Covenant on the other hand, had the advantage of three destroyed Phantoms for cover. It was giving me a headache just trying to target the leaders.

"Snark, can you spot the one in charge?" I asked.

"Negative. Should be an ultra or a major, but I don't see anything."

"Keep looking," I told him, drilling a blue-armored elite through the skull. "Keep them disorganized."

"What was that?" Miranda asked suddenly.

"I heard that too," Longworth growled.

"It came from the rooftop," Snark said.

"Caboose, with me," I ordered. "We'll check it out."

The two of us climbed the way back up to the rooftop. Just as we climbed the final flight of stairs the metal door flew at us. I ducked and Caboose pressed himself to the side as the door spun through. We both looked up to see a hunter blocking the light.

"Is it…"

"Gold?" I finished the question.

To be honest, other than the trivia value, I didn't really care. Caboose was of the same opinion, as he fired two blasts into the alien's midsection before I could bring my rifle to bear. I switched to auto as I stood up and emptied my magazine into its neck and face. The hunter recoiled from the impacts before bringing its shield up and raising its cannon. The confined space made it nearly impossible for it to aim properly, but we had to jump back and around the corner as a stream of green plasma flooded the stairwell.

"Gold. Seriously?" I asked.

"Beats me. Didn't seem any bigger than the average ogre," Caboose said.

We shrugged just as the stream of green plasma finished and popped back out. I had to fire low while Caboose hit the head with buckshot. The hunter had somehow been stupid enough to walk through the doorframe and inside the building where it was as good as trapped. I kept firing while reaching for a grenade with my left hand and timed the toss. I threw it over the hunter's shoulders, bouncing it off the ceiling and into the floor. The explosion tore one of its legs off, but the hunter wasn't dead yet. It simply pushed itself into a sitting position and aimed.

"Well, color me impressed," I said. "Want to take it?"

Caboose nodded and tossed a grenade upstairs without leaving cover. The explosion was mildly muffled by a fleshy sound and a pair of long orange eels landed at our feet, torn apart by the shrapnel. I looked at one of them and then popped out of cover. There was no other hunter roaring in anger.

"That's weird," I said. "Let's clear the rooftop."

We moved up and checked to make sure that there was no one there and indeed the only sign of life there was a pair of cracks where the lone hunter had landed. I couldn't help but wonder why there would only be one hunter here, but if they were giving us a freebie then I didn't really have any right to complain.

"All clear," Caboose said.

"Looks like it," I agreed. "Let's mo-"

"Lieutenant," Colonel Omondi came in. "I'm sending a bird to pick you up."

"Sir, we're assisting the 17th in taking the plaza," I responded. "The airspace is not secure yet."

"We've got two Scarabs moving towards the elevator, I need your team to move there. I'm already deploying several squads to stop them."

I sighed. "What about the Spartan units, sir?"

"They're not available," Omondi informed me. "The Pelican is on the way."

"Yes, sir."

I had my men up in the rooftop just as the bird landed. Fifteen Marines hopped out of the Pelican and moved towards the rooftop, firing down at the Covenant still in the plaza. My men climbed inside and began filling their pouches with magazines. I jumped with them and did the same thing, keeping my eyes on the AA Wraiths that hadn't been taken out yet. One of them fired at us, but the Pelican turned around a building and easily avoided the flak. The city was now completely lit up by explosions and gunfire. For a moment I wondered how the evacuation was going before we banked hard to the left.

"What the hell was that?" I asked.

"They set up AA guns," the pilot shot back. "I'm ducking under the buildings."

It was a lose-lose. Under the buildings we had no maneuvering room to avoid the smaller projectiles fired at us even if they were slower and less deadly. If we went out in the open the big AA cannons would shoot us down in a matter of seconds. The Covenant sure did love it when they had air superiority. The Pelican rocked as flak from AA Wraiths exploded behind us. I would've felt safer with Marina at the helm.

"Almost there," the pilot called out. "You're in for a tough one, El-tee."

"We've had worse," I assured him. "Trust me."

"Good luck," the pilot said as he slowed down and dropped us off on yet another rooftop.

This time we were on top of a very large warehouse near the orbital elevator. It is hard to get across just how mind bogglingly large this warehouse was. Actually, that's a lie, the warehouses surrounding this particular elevator weren't even close to being the largest in existence, but they were still incredibly large. This one in particular must've had a surface area of around 30 football fields. And that's just in the ground level. Anyways, the size doesn't really matter, it is the proximity to the orbital elevator at our backs. Now that, that is something that you could call mind bogglingly large. Perhaps long would be a better word, considering how the cables could wrap themselves around the planet if the elevator were to collapse. Not to mention the size of the base itself, it was truly a thing of greatness this space elevator.

"Lieutenant," Omondi checked in. "There are two Scarabs in the sector, one of them already broke through our lines and is headed your way. There's no doubt that they are preparing to storm the elevator."

"Why not take it out?" I asked.

"The risk of damaging their assault carrier it's too great," Grass said.

"Correct," Omondi agreed. "And they would facilitate transport of goods since the UNSC isn't willing to target the single greatest engineering achievement in human history without a good reason."

"Makes sense," I agreed. "What are our resources for dealing with it?"

"I'm moving troops to block off the Scarab, we'll funnel it in your direction. Specs indicate that it is only a few meters shorter than the building you are standing in."

"Boarding action?" I asked.

"Yes. I hear you're good at such things."

"There's no one that is actually good at that," I grunted. "But we've done it before. I'm going to tell Flatt to stop bragging about us."

"You'd better, otherwise I might use you for everything that goes wrong. Omondi out."

"Well, we're in for a good one," Crow grunted.

Snark scoffed. "Nothing we haven't done before."

"Because you're the one that's usually safely behind cover providing sniper support," Crow shot back.

To be fair, none of them were exactly the main guys when it came to storming a Scarab. Caboose was the best one for sure, he had the most experience. Longworth was a natural at all things violent, nearly as good as Marv had been and tied for third best fighter with Pavel. Lady could kick anybody's ass, Miri would have a hard time climbing, but she could easily participate. Pavel and Dotsenko would stay on the side, lay down suppressing fire on the top of the Scarab.

"Frank, you're pacing," Pavel said after what must've been a minute.

"Sorry," I grunted. "Spread out along the length of the building. We keep quiet and don't draw attention. Snark, that goes for you too. Pavel and Dotsenko, I want you at about a hundred meters apart on either end of me. Caboose, you're on me."

My men spread out, it took a lot longer than expected, but the length of the warehouse was quite intense.

"I'm green," Crow stated.

"Ok, we're all good. Now we wait."

Again, short wait.

"Lieutenant Castillo, this is Sergeant Perez, the Scarab is right around the corner! My men are pushing it into the-" an explosion cut him off. "Shit! It's one of the big ones, sir! It's turning around!"

"I see it!" Crow shouted. "I see it!"

"Stay down!" I ordered. "Perez, I need you to do me a solid, alright? How are you herding it?"

"Warthogs and Mongooses, sir!"

"I need you to send two Warthogs to the front of the Scarab on my word. You need to slow it down enough to guarantee my men a safe landing."

"Holy shit, sir! They'll be sitting ducks!"

"Just for a few seconds," I told him. "We need to take this walker out, Sergeant!"

Already Crow was running parallel to the Scarab, trying to keep up. Lady would have to begin running pretty soon if the Scarab didn't slow down. Two missiles flew past the walker, taking a sharp turn before colliding against a building. Tracer rounds flew through, hitting the hard armor of the Scarab.

"Half a click," Caboose said.

That meant that Miri was already sprinting alongside Crow and Lady. The Scarab was beginning to overtake them.

"Longworth, get your ass over here!" I shouted. "Now!"

Longworth began running as fast as he could. Considering just how fit and athletic that man was, it was incredibly fast for your average human being. By that I mean that it took the Scarab a few extra seconds to catch up and overtaking him. Pavel would let the walker through, but it wouldn't do him any good if he could only fire at the rear.

"Goddamit! Sergeant, send your men now. Now!"

"On it!"

I could vaguely hear the two vehicles speeding up in the street. I got up and looked down at the Scarab. There was a single elite in golden armor standing at the top, looking down the side at the Warthogs driving underneath. The two Warthogs passed through the Scarab's front legs and then dashed forward, weaving through abandoned cars and trucks, avoiding hitting cargo crates and the like. I began jogging down the side of the warehouse, with Caboose following next to me. The Scarab was moving fast, it would be just him and me for the initial assault.

"Snark, you ready?" I asked.

"As soon as it comes by I'll join you," he said. I could hear him switching his rifle for his submachine gun.

"I'm coming at you," Grass said. "Don't rush this."
The Scarab had already crossed half the length of the warehouse and was less than thirty meters behind us. We dashed past Dotsenko, running faster and faster.

"Take out the zealot," I heaved in between breaths. "Time your jump."

"Don't I always?"

I laughed and stepped on the short wall before jumping at the Scarab. Time slowed down a little bit. The first thing that went through my mind was that I had miscalculated the jump distance. The Scarab was fifteen feet below and at least that distance away. The elite was right on the edge. I realized that I would not hit the elite, but Caboose was flying next to me and he was certainly going to make the shot.

I stretched out my arm while holding my rifle and hit the elite in the chest. I made sure not to make my arm too stiff so that Caboose could do his own thing.

I landed on the Scarab and rolled forward. I heard boots hitting armor behind me and turned around to see Caboose slide past the elite.

I turned and fired at its side before jumping at its arm as it began drawing an energy sword. I pinned its arm like I had done countless times before Caboose ran at us and kneed it in the head. He stood up and blasted his shotgun into its face.

"Good work," I complimented him, grabbing my own battle rifle as two jackals emerged from the interior.

I fired at the lead jackal, but it shot back. I ducked behind nothing just as the blast hit my rifle. I fired another burst, but the plasma had damaged the bolt. I cursed and dropped it, drawing my sidearm.

"Heads up!" Grass shouted.

I saw her rolling behind me, near the front of the Scarab. She fired her rifle at the jackals, who had now put their shields up. I cursed in Spanish as the two birds used the walls to their advantage and slowly moved forward. Caboose tried to close in on them and make use of his shotgun, but they fired at him, nearly taking his head off. I would've used a grenade, but the Scarab was moving too much for a reliable throw.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuck," I grunted from behind cover.

"More aliens are moving behind," Grass said. "Two elites, majors."

"Shit, shit," I cursed.

"El-tee, my men are in position!" Sergeant Perez shouted.

"Fire at the knees!" I ordered. "Slow it down a bit!"

"Yes, sir! We'll do it!"

I was thrown to the floor when a missile detonated against the Scarab's knee joint.

Maybe I didn't think this one completely through.

"Almost there!" Longworth shouted. "Hold it there!"

"Perez, hold it there!" I repeated.

"On it!"

A second and third missiles hit the Scarab, once again shaking us all violently. The front cannon began powering up.

"Get out of there, Sergeant!" I shouted. "Now!"

"Move!" he shouted, presumably at some of his men. "Move!"

The blast caught one of the Warthogs, but I couldn't afford to look. I popped from cover to fire at the jackals only for an elite to barrel through me and tackle me towards the front of the Scarab. I barely caught a glimpse of the other major engaging Grass while Caboose took care of the jackals, leaving me alone to handle the elite. It tried tossing me down the front of the walker, but I grabbed onto its wrist, nearly bringing it down with me. The alien was a strong one, however, and it managed to pull me back inside the Scarab. Once I had my footing back the elite found itself facing an opponent that was out of its league.

All arrogance aside, the situation was a little bit humorous. On one side we had an eight foot tall, 350 pound biped that combined the best of a tyrannosaurus with the best of a gorilla with the best of a wolf and a number of other cool animals. Throw in some intelligence in there and you've got yourself a death machine. On the other side there was little old me. Relatively tall at 6'4 and a bit heavy for my size in account of the denser muscles, but the elite still had a hundred pounds on me.

I grabbed the top of its plasma rifle and held it down before gripping its other wrist. I jumped up and headbutted it in the jaws. It was then that I let go of the right wrist and brought my knee up into its groin. I'm not entirely sure if the pain was as great as it would've been on a human male or a brute, but the elite certainly felt it. I took the opportunity to grab my knife and slash at the gaps in the armor. Hip, shoulder, throat. The elite fell to its knees clutching its severed throat. I grabbed its helmet with my left hand and stabbed it through the right eye.

I looked up to see that Grass had emptied her magazine into the elite's belly and that Caboose had taken out one of the jackals, but more aliens were flooding out of the Scarab's interior.

"We're there!" Longworth shouted.

He jumped off the warehouse along with Lady and Miri.

Days later I would thank Providence for having my helmet cam on at the time. You don't get any more badass than that. The sun was hitting them at a right angle and if you paused at the right time there was a lens flare crossing diagonally across the three of them. Thrown in the top of the Scarab at the bottom of the frame as well as the orbital elevator in the background and you had a shot that seemed to be almost too good to be real. Longworth was in the middle with his DMR held tightly against his body. Lady was on his left with her assault rifle held by the guard in the front with her right arm over her head to keep her balance. Miri had also jumped awkwardly to Longworth's right and slightly behind him, holding her own DMR and aiming it upwards one handed with her left arm extended behind her.

Like I said. Picture perfect.

They hit the Scarab's top and rolled to absorb the shock. You should've seen them coming out of their rolls and literally tackling the lance of jackals from the side. Longworth pressed his DMR into a bird's neck and then pushed down, breaking its trachea. Miri and Lady were more pragmatic in their approach, drawing their sidearms and shooting once. The few aliens still in the upper deck suddenly found themselves surrounded by three of the deadliest killers in the galaxy. It was no contest. My three men made short work of the aliens on top and then jumped down to the main deck, helping us finish the few survivors. I made sure to pick up my pistol and rifle as Caboose threw grenades down the ramp, discouraging any attempts to storm us.

"Caboose, take point!" I ordered. "Grass, Lady, follow him."

The three of my men moved down and cleared the room in a very short amount of time. We joined them and called in the success of our operation.

"We're clear, Colonel."

"I'll be damned," Omondi replied. "Very well, can you climb down?"

"Uh, negative, sir. We're a bit stuck for now," I admitted. "We could rope down."

"You do that, Lieutenant, I'm firing a missile to take out the Scarab."

"Very well, sir. I'll let you know once we're clear of the blast zone."

"Alright, you heard him!" Caboose shouted. "Get some rope and slide down. Move it!"

"Pavel, meet us on the ground," I told him. "After the Scarab is destroyed."

I slid down last, hitting the ground a little bit harder than I would've liked. I shook myself up and moved towards Sergeant Perez's unit. The man was exhausted, but he thanked us for the assist on taking out the walker. I wondered how many other men had died herding this thing our way. Considering the fact that it was one of the bigger Scarab models it wouldn't have surprised me if the number approached a couple of hundred. I sighed and jogged towards the edge of the blast zone.

"You know what I haven't seen in a long time?" Lady said all of a sudden.

"What?" I asked after no one prompted her to go on.

"Hellbringers."

I frowned slightly. The flamethrower specialists were very desired commodities in urban warfare. The weapons they carried had an incredibly long range and could make anything short of a Locust useless in a matter of seconds. The chemical fuel in their flamethrowers could burn through shields and melt the flesh off the bone in less time than it took me to snap a grunt's neck. I had seen the guys fire a sustained burst at a Wraith and leave the tank completely useless. Granted, their death rate was as high as it got. Prior to the war the ODST took pride in their impressive kill/death ratio even when you accounted for entry casualties. Now that we were sent into the most dangerous missions on a regular basis our death rates had skyrocketed, but the Hellbringers and some rather unlucky units still had the advantage on us.

Not that I minded, but I'm sure that AAG didn't have a stellar survivorship rate. Even my own team had a 45% survival rate at two years. Grass hadn't been in the team to begin with, so her presence here didn't really count in that particular aspect. Forty-five percent. Imagine twenty of your closest friends and then imagine over half of them gone. That's how much it is. Half doesn't sound like much, but when it comes to human lives, it is a lot indeed.

"Duck," I ordered half-heartedly once the missile began its descent.

Nobody ducked. It wasn't really necessary. The missile would punch through the top armor of the Scarab and detonate inside. We could've used explosives to destroy the control system, but that wasn't a guarantee that the Covenant couldn't repair it and use it against us again. The missile would leave the Scarab completely useless for anything other than scrap metal. Once the battle was won then ONI would come in and examine the remains. It wasn't very often that they had the chance to do that. For that to happen you'd have to kill a Scarab, which was difficult enough in itself, and then win the battle in order to be able to transport it behind the frontlines.

"Good work, Lieutenant," Colonel Omondi congratulated me again after the missile hit. "It cost me a lot of good men, but we stopped the Scarab."

I didn't want to think about the trail of destruction that the walker had left behind it. Those things were no walk in the park.

"Are we getting armored soon, sir?" I asked.

"Negative, El-tee, "I'm directing all of my available armored to Old Mombasa, there's another Scarab there and it's plowing through the defenses."

"What about reinforcements?"

"The UNSC In Amber Clad just deployed several Pelicans. Not heavy on the numbers, but they have a lot of special operators or so I hear."

"What about us?"

"Stand by… Alright, you've earned a short break. I will let you know."

"Thanks, Colonel."

My men sighed with relief at the news. Sergeant Perez and his own unit also nodded thankfully when they heard that. They looked exhausted. We already had a semblance of a line it seemed, but it would be at least an hour before it could be properly plugged. In the meanwhile there were going to be a few Covenant squads sneaking past us and causing some problems, but the elevator was secure, at least for now. I looked in the direction of Old Mombasa, wondering how the situation on the other side of the canal was. The faint explosions in the distance indicated that it wasn't too good, but then again, it wasn't exactly quiet in New Mombasa either.

"Alright, we're moving towards you," Pavel let me know.

"I'll be waiting," I replied.

I moved towards a hastily assembled line of road barricades blocking off one of the intersections. A few of the men from the 12th had set up shop there, working together with the elements of the 17th Marine Regiment that had made it up there. The men and women were too shocked to engage in any inter-service rivalry, they were instead being productive as they worked, fortifying the position and moving what few vehicles they had to provide excellent overlapping field of fire. Textbook really.

"You alright, sir?" Lady asked.

"What?"

"You're limping."

I looked down. "My ankle," I explained. "Must've hurt it during the landing."

"If you didn't notice until now it should be fine."

"Indeed it should," I agreed, surprised that she was behaving in such a civil manner. "How's Earth turning out for you so far?"

She scoffed. "Not pleasant at all, sir. The moment I made landfall I already had a dozen different associates of my father trying to get me to talk to them. They know damn well I don't have any say in how my father does business."

"Ah, that explains that evening gown I heard about."

She gave me that look that everybody in the squad was so familiar with. The impact was even greater through the depolarized visor of her helmet, framing her face in a way that made her seem even angrier than you'd think possible. I returned her look with a stern face, daring her to say something. She had improved over the last year, but sometimes Lady needed a bit of reminding of just who was in control here.

"A gala," she then said simply. "In my honor. Will you believe it?"

I suspected that she had enjoyed every moment of it. She was the kind to bask in the attention, after all.

"What happened to the dress?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Dumped it," she said with a careless shrug.

"How much was it?"

She gave me a figure.

I whistled. Rich bitch. "Sometimes I wonder why you would be stupid enough to enlist, but then I remember that you're still alive and it becomes clear that you're not quite that stupid."

"Lieutenant, I don't apprec-"

"Can it, Lady. I don't care," I growled. "Off you go."

She muttered something in Russian and walked away angrily.

"And she was just beginning to act a little nicer," Grass said, walking up next to me. "You're a mean fuck, you know that?"

"Grass…"

"Sorry," she sighed. "But it wouldn't hurt you to be nicer."

"No. But it also doesn't hurt anybody if I am the way I am."

Grass shook her head. She did it in the way she reserved for when she was annoyed at me. It was a weird shake, one that mixed in disapproval as well amusement. She struck me as the team mom.

"Get some water," Pavel ordered. "You might not feel it, but it's hot out there."

And some other times it was Pavel that seemed to have that role.

I considered his words carefully though, not all of us had the luxury of an undersuit. In fact, it was only Miri, Longworth, and myself. The rest of the guys had been yanked from whatever place they were spending their leave in and had a short amount of time to gather their gear. I had the climate control functioning at 100% effectiveness. The other guys had their armor cooling them down, but the heat would get through the gaps, especially when they began moving around, sprinting and rushing.

"Thirty-three degrees, eh?" I muttered to myself. "Hot for October."

"Fucking global warming," Pavel said.

"I'm not entirely sure global warming is at fault here," Grass said, jerking her head in the direction of the carrier and then towards the elevator. "Those things heat shit up?"

"Do they?" Snark asked. "I don't think that's right."

For once, Grass seemed to consider her previous words. For all I know she could be right, maybe the two massive objects did produce enough heat to visibly affect the temperature of the city, but her words did sound like bullshit.

"Well I-"

At this point I don't even know why it still surprised me.

"Take cover!" I shouted after the initial explosion. "Down!"

"Fire! Fire!"

Someone returned fire from one of our Warthogs. My men put their helmets back on, dropping their canteens and spilling water everywhere. Snark fumbled his rifle as another nearby explosion sent him to the ground. I cursed as a plasma bolt nearly took off my shoulder and then dropped down to the ground in an attempt to minimize my profile. Caboose and Longworth took cover behind a marble pillar as Grass dove behind one of the barricades. I crawled forward towards the Warthog, listening to Pavel and Dotsenko deplete their magazines at an enemy that I couldn't see. Another explosion took apart a large section of our barricade, sending a trooper flying backwards at speeds too fast to survive.

I flinched when the corpse of the man that had been manning the Warthog's turret fell backwards, two big smoking holes in his chest. I rolled my eyes and hopped up, grabbing the LAAG and aiming at the newly appeared enemies. There was a Spirit dropship that must've showed up out of nowhere. Hunters and elites were shooting at us, firing plasma repeaters from the hip. The only thing I could not make out was the source of the explosions.

"They've got artillery support," I said in realization. "Shit."

That's why they waited so long to attack us, they needed to pinpoint our coordinates. And now they were giving us hell for it.

"Hunters first, goddamit!" I cursed, aiming at the massive creature. "Hit the exposed spots!"

Almost immediately there was a visible shift in fire. The men and women not on my team were probably targeting the elites because their rapid firing and faster speed made them more visible, but everyone that has seen combat knows that the first thing you target is the fucking tank, especially if the fucking tank can reduce your fortified position to nothing, letting the elites do what they do best. Kill.

"Frank!"

I jumped out of the vehicle and then took another jump forward as a blue flash sent the Warthog spinning over me. I had to push myself backwards to avoid having my left arm crushed by the falling Warthog and then roll out of the way once again as it fell back, upside-down.

"Lieutenant, I need your men to plug another gap."

"We're a little busy, sir!" I shouted back. "There's an enemy unit breaking through our lines."

There was a pause. "Shit. I'm redirecting troops and equipment your way. Can you hold three minutes?"

"Yes, sir," I assured him. "But not much longer before we have to fall back."

Crow grabbed me as I struggled to get to cover and pulled me to safety before popping back out and shooting at an elite that approached. The two other Warthogs fired at the lead hunter, finally bringing it down at a distance of about fifty meters. The Spirit was still in the background, shooting heavy bolts at people who stayed out of cover for too long. It couldn't open up completely, unless it wanted to risk falling prey to Crow's missile launcher.

"Want me to take it out?" Crow asked, as if reading my mind.

"No," I told him. "I got this one."

I holstered my rifle and grabbed his SPANKr from his back, shouldering it. The weight was familiar and comfortable, but it had been a while since I had handled a rocket launcher in a combat situation. Not to say that I wasn't good with it, but it still felt a little bit strange.

"Cover me!"

My men knew what that meant. The others did not. Still, the sound of gunfire intensified and drowned out that of plasma. I walked out and aimed at the Spirit. It was hovering very close to the ground, the rear cannon was nearly at shoulder level. I aimed, squinted slightly, and fired. The missile crossed the distance in less than half a second. The impact was nearly enough to take the turret from its hinges, but the explosion certainly finished the job. An elite had to dodge out of the way as the missile nearly took its head off. My second shot was aimed at the thrusters. It was a tricky shot because I couldn't get a direct hit from this angle.

Predictably, I missed. However, I missed because an elite jumped out from behind a car in what was certainly a misguided attempt to fire at us. The missile exploded against its shields and completely reduced the alien to a steaming pile of hamburger meat. I had to go back behind cover, grabbing a set of missiles from Crow and reloading the SPANKr as fast as I could.

"Pavel, what's the status on that hunter?"

"Pissed but keeping its cool," he grunted. "Can't get around its shields."

"Can you give me a window?" I asked.

"Maybe," he replied. "A small one."

I thought about it for a moment and then gave him the order to go for it. I might've not been the best rocket man in existence, but I did have two missiles in my launcher. I called in for some covering fire, pinpointed the Hunter's location, and then popped out of cover for the second time. I aimed at the behemoth of an alien and then adjusted a little bit. If I hit its shield directly I would tear its arm off, but the hunter might survive to angrily rush us and kill us all. Another rocket would solve that, but I wasn't one to waste ammo. Not to mention that I wanted to kill it with only one shot.

The explosion happened just next to its left foot. The fireball itself was enough to tear the leg completely apart from the body. The concussive blast in addition to the limited shrapnel penetrated deep into the hunter's torso, killing the thousands of worms that composed it. In the end it wasn't a particularly spectacular kill, but it was enough to grant us brief respite. The elites were now on more even terms with us and had to take cover. The dead hunters allowed us to focus our turrets on the enemy dropship and drive it away, smoke coming out of the left section.

"Hold them where they are!" I ordered, once again behind cover. "Pin them down, Perez, I want your men to prepare to flank them."

"We still have a Mongoose, sir!" the sergeant replied almost eagerly.

"Send two men with heavy weapons," I said. "Machine guns."

"Yes, sir!"

The Pelican with reinforcements arrived before they could get around the block and hit the enemy from behind. The dropship used its powerful front cannon to pepper the enemy positions, making a trio of cars explode in a fiery blaze before firing some of its Anvil missiles at the survivors. The few elites still alive were taken out by more conventional methods without too much trouble. Only then did the Pelican finally settle into a hover and drop off fifteen Marines.

"Alright, hop in!" I ordered. "We're redeploying!"

Once again my ten men boarded a Pelican. I took the opportunity to take my helmet off and rub my forehead clean of sweat. I rolled my head around and kicked at the blood tray before sitting down. Pavel tossed me a couple of magazines which I promptly stashed in my empty pouches. The Pelican rocked as it traveled and Crow moved to man the rear gun, but the trip was mostly a silent one. I was surprised to find myself back in the base suddenly.

"What the hell are you doing here?" a corporal asked as soon as I stepped off.

"We got dropped off here," I replied with an edge on my voice. "Colonel Omondi said-"

"Are you Lieutenant Castillo?" he asked, looking at a datapad.

"Yes."

"Shit, you should be heading to the bridge ASAP!"

I rolled my eyes and contacted the colonel for a quick confirmation. Once that small matter had been settled we all jumped back in the dropship, having lost valuable time. The pilot repeatedly apologized for his mistake. I felt bad for the kid, but his inexperience was no excuse for dropping the ball, especially in moments as critical as the ones we were living through. About halfway through I was contacted by a Marine lieutenant.

"Lieutenant, the reinforcements from the In Amber Clad were shot down by a Scarab. The Walker is pounding through everything that we have in the old city, it's headed towards the bridge."

"Can we blow it up?" I asked.

"Too valuable," the woman replied. "We're holding it off at the entrance, back away slowly. Hopefully we'll bring it down."

"That's the spirit," I said. "Any backup?"

"There's an Army unit at the end of the bridge, in the tunnels."

"Roger that. I'll see you there, Lieutenant."

I looked at my men, all of whom rolled their eyes or avoided mine. We had just taken out a Scarab in an inspired ambush. Granted, we weren't the ones that came up with it, at least not fully, but AAG-7 had undoubtedly been the one to deliver the killing blow. I didn't like the idea of hundreds of men and women having to die in order to take out a Scarab, hell, I didn't even want to think about all the civilian casualties due to the crossfire.

"Sir, there are a couple of Gauss Warthogs on this end of the bridge," the pilot reported.

"Drop us off there," I ordered. "We'll drive the rest of the way."

"Yes, sir."

The ship rocked slightly as the pilot slowed down. It was very unlike the smooth riding that I was used to with Marina. I couldn't help but roll my eyes, but the pilot sounded young and was probably nervous. This was certainly his first time experiencing combat. The same held true for most of the 17th Marines. As the Pelican slowed down in the small space between the bridge and the tunnels linking the old city to New Mombasa we hopped down. I was not very surprised when a Banshee attempted to strafe our position, getting shot down before it could begin its run and splashing into the water.

"To the Warthogs!" I shouted. "Let's go!"

Turns out the lone Banshee wasn't the only one. Two more began strafing once again, the Warthogs in question were blown up by dead-on fuel rod cannon strikes, sending shrapnel flying our way. I ducked as pieces of metal flew above me and the Pelican took off. Some of the troopers already here fired at the Banshees, damaging one's wing and sending it crashing down into the tunnel walls. I had a vague sense of where my men were before follow-up detonations threw me down to the ground. I turned around on the floor and looked up just as the surviving Banshee screamed past, tracer rounds following after it. The Pelican pilot turned his ship around and fired two Anvils at the enemy. The Banshee was destroyed, but the Gauss 'Hogs were already gone.

"Get up!" I ordered. "Pavel, is everyone fine?"

"We're good," he coughed. "What's the plan? Hol-"

A green stream of superheated plasma crossed the entirety of the bridge, just a few feet outside of the cables that propped it up. I followed it with my eyes and winced as it hit our Pelican, melting through the cockpit and igniting the fuel cells. The explosion made me close my eyes and look away. By the time I looked back up the Pelican was gone and there was a loud splash as its remains hit the water. I shook my head and drew my rifle.

"Lieutenant, what happened?" the officer in charge of the bridge defense asked. "Lieutenant!"

"We made it out," I said. "Warthogs are gone and so is the Pelican. We're crossing the bridge on foot, I repeat, we're crossing the bridge on foot."

"Negative Lieutenant, it's at least a mile of open ground. You'll be taken out immediately."

I growled lowly. "Not if we have rockets up…"

Crow looked at me and shook his head slightly.

"Looks like we don't," I said. "Do you have any transports available?"

I heard another blast from the Scarab's main gun.

"Not anymore we don't," she said. "We'll stop the Scarab."

"Good luck," I said. "Alright, AAG-7, move to the mouth of the tunnel, keep your eyes in the sky."

The way the bridge went up meant that we couldn't see what was going on with the Scarab, but the lack of human-made explosions was not a good omen. I scarcely picked up any screams on the radio, instead just the occasional cry for additional fire. It took all of thirty seconds for the walker to eliminate the platoon and then a minute for it to begin crossing the bridge. I groaned as I saw the massive Scarab. It was the same model of the one we had helped destroy about an hour ago, but it seemed heavier, as if it had more armor on it.

"Shit," Snark grunted. "It's keeping the front legs extended, I can't get a shot on the deck."

"That means it can't fire at us either," Lady pointed out.

"Do we have anything to take it down with?" Pavel asked me.

"Negative, and neither do the troopers," I said, gesturing in the direction of the Army unit.

"Fall back?" Pavel asked.

"Through the tunnel?" Caboose asked. "It won't be long before the Ghosts pull up."

"What makes you say that?" Longworth asked.

"Terrain," I said. "Ideal for mechanized forces." In fact, I was surprised that the Covenant hadn't sent Ghosts and Spectres forward yet.

"Shoulda blown the bridge," Lady put forward.

"Colonel Omondi," I tried checking in. The line was busy. No wonder.

"We need to make a decision soon, Frank."

I looked over at the Scarab, three Wraiths were using their boosters to dash underneath the walker and heading towards us. The Army unit had begun unpacking and was heading towards the entrance of the tunnel. I jerked my head at Pavel and he shouted for my men to follow after him. A few moments later it was just me and Caboose standing outside of the tunnel while I frantically tried to make contact with Command.

"No shame in running," Caboose said.

"Like I don't know that," I replied. "We run too often for my comfort. I want to let him know we're running."

"Can't we do that while we're on the run?" he asked, his eyes tracing the arc of a mortar shot.

The explosion happened several meters in front of us, not close enough to harm or even shake us.

"Maybe that would be a good idea," I said. "Does the tunnel have those barricades that pop up?"

"On it," he replied, dashing towards one side of the tunnel. I hadn't seen a terminal, but those things tended to be hidden. I wondered if Caboose even knew the override code for all of the city's machinery. What was I saying? Of course he knew it.

"Alright, accessing," he said.

"Good," I replied, beginning to walk backwards as a second Wraith fired at us, this time with even less success. "We've got Banshee's coming up. Shit, Shadow troop transports."

"Frank, we can go through the storm drains and into the Kilindini Park Cultural Center," Pavel radioed in. "We're almost there."

"Radio for extraction," I ordered. "We're on your ass. Caboose?"

"And- shit!"

I looked towards him as a beam nearly severed his arm and hit the terminal.

"You've got to be shitting me!" he exclaimed as the terminal collapsed upon itself and once again hid in the wall.

"Shadows," I said. "We gotta move!"

We began running as the turrets on the troop transports fired on our positions. Plasma flew just a little bit slower than a regular bullet did, giving the appearance of leisurely travel almost. We both knew that a single one of those heavy bolts would bisect us or at the very least sever a limb. Caboose and I ran as fast as we could, weaving through the cars and vehicles that had been abandoned or wrecked as the civilians tried to escape. None of us were professional practitioners of parkour, but we'd been on the run in similar scenarios enough times that moving through the cars seemed like a fairly routine thing to do.

"Frank, I'm raising the barricades to block off the tunnel," Pavel said. "Just give me the word."

"Not yet," I said. "We need to get there."

More and more plasma bolts rained around us, hitting the walls and cars nearby but miraculously missing. I allowed myself a quick look over my shoulders as the lead Shadow transport plowed through two small sedans. The enemy vehicle slowed down before getting partially stuck. A dozen jackals jumped out of the Shadow and began firing at us.

Up until this point both of us had been hopping on car's hoods and roofs, avoiding the more tiring job of climbing up and down. We had to jump down to street level once they entered the mouth of the tunnel, decrease our profiles. Another quick look backward showed that the Shadow was once again plowing through the abandoned cars, pushing them to the sides.

"Almost there," I told Pavel.

"Longworth and Snark are waiting for you," Pavel said. "It's a climb."

"I see it," I heaved, shooting a look at the sidewalk-like thing on the side of the tunnel. "Almost there."

"I see you El-tee!" Snark exclaimed. "Hurry!"

I scoffed even despite my fatigue. I had probably been running for just over a minute, but it felt like a lifetime. Climbing over and under cars while heavy bolts hit everything around you wasn't particularly pleasant.

"Take Snark," I told Caboose.

Once we got to the storm drain we both jumped to the side. I couldn't help but mentally wince as Snark offered me the tip of his rifle. Had any firearms instructor seen the action that was unfolding he probably would've cried himself to sleep. I grabbed the barrel with my left hand and pulled myself up as Snark yanked. Caboose and Longworth did something similar, hopping into the sidewalk and then through an open storm drain.

"Close the barricades," I ordered Pavel. "Now!"

The four of us jogged through the storm drain, trying to regain our breath desperately. I came out the other end and into the sun just as the Army platoon disappeared under what appeared to be like a short cliff. Pavel waved at me and jogged towards me.

"I've got us a Pelican for evacuation. Army boys are moving out through the reserve and into the city."

"Good job," I said. "Where are we getting picked up?"

He gestured at a weird circular sculpture-like thing with ramps up the sides. It was a weird design, but everything seemed like art nowadays.

"Ok, let's move up," I said. "When's the Pelican due?"

"About five," he said.

"Establish a perimeter and all that," I sighed. "Snark, I want your sights primed on the storm drain, we'll keep watch for anybody else that tries to show up."

Suddenly I was feeling really horny. I don't know why, but I was. Katie was in the system, which was closer than she was to me for the majority of the time, but my penis wasn't that large.

Snark fired.

"Jackal," he said. "Hold on to your trousers."

"Miri, back him up," I ordered. "Everyone else, ready for exfil."

There were some uncomfortable minutes of near silence. The only noise was the sound of the Scarab approaching. Foreboding shit.

"Pelican inbound," Pavel said. "Did you report to Omondi?"

"Shit," I cursed, trying to contact him. "Line's still busy. By now he knows we are either dead or fell back."

The Pelican began approaching and to our surprise it was loaded with a Gauss 'Hog and fifteen Marines. I began wondering what the hell Command wanted to do by sending the complement here until I realized that it made sense to hold this area. The Covenant would have to come through the drain, forming a bottleneck of sorts. Unless of course they made use of their rather sizeable air assets, which wasn't outside the realm of the imagination.

I tried contacting Omondi again. Unsurprisingly, he was busy.

"Who the hell is he talking to if he doesn't have time for me?" I wondered out loud.

"Probably something more important, eh?" Longworth joked.

"Preparing for approach," the Pelican pilot said. "Clear the- oh shit!"

The Scarab appeared over the walls of the reserve.

"Get down!" I shouted, waving at the Pelican. "Down!"

The pilot complied with my order just in time. A green blast nearly killed the pilot and everyone on board as the Pelican ducked until it almost hit the ground. The pilot strafed sideways until he was safely under a small bridge. The fifteen Marines hopped out of the bird and the Warthog was unlatched. My men began moving towards the dropship as small arms fire from the Scarab peppered our position. I heard more than a couple of curses as Miri and Longworth fired back at the aliens on the deck of the Scarab.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked as three Marines rushed from underneath the round sculpture thing. "Stay down!"

The Marines ignored me, one of them aimed a rocket launcher up at the Scarab but didn't have the time to fire before two fuel rods incinerated him and his two companions. I shook my head and pressed myself against the walls as the walker made its way through the cultural center. We suddenly found ourselves under fire as Covenant infantry poured out from the storm drains.

"Should've stayed down," a Marine sergeant said, shaking his head. "El-tee, we were told to bail you out."

"Not the words I would've used…" Schitzo muttered angrily.

"We didn't have the weaponry to take out the Scarab or hold the tunnel," I said.

"I've heard. Name's Stacker by the way."

"Castillo," I reciprocated. "Want to use that big jeep of yours?"

"Not until that walker's gone. I'm not risking any more of my men. In the meantime, could use your help to slow down the flow."

I raised an eyebrow. Not because the request was unreasonable, but because of the way it was phrased. Noncoms were known for being smartasses and oftentimes disrespectful towards superior officers. While keeping an exterior appearance of civility, that is. However, it wasn't very common for a sergeant to talk to a lieutenant in Helljumper armor like he expected him to do as he said.

"Wanna throw in a sir there for good measure?" I asked.

"Sorry, sir," he apologized. "It's been a long day."

"Damn right it has," I grunted. "Dotsenko, Pavel, suppressing fire. Snark, help out."

For now those three could handle everything. The rest of my men moved to the hatch of the Pelican and began resupplying. I once again tried to contact Colonel Omondi, but this time he was there.

"Lieutenant, glad to hear from you."

"Colonel," I acknowledged. "We've got a bunch of enemy infantry coming out of the tunnel, should we stay and help?"

"Negative. We're getting reports of a secondary push by the Covenant. We're sending spare units their way."

"Sir, with all due respect, my team is most useful stopping the Scarab."

"Negative, Lieutenant. Troops from the In Amber Clad are handling the Scarab."

"You sure that-"

"Yes I'm sure. Now get your asses on that Pelican."

"Yes, sir," I replied with a roll of my eyes. "AAG-7, board the Pelican."

The pilot only had to wait for a quick nod from me before taking off once my men were inside. That left Sergeant Stacker and his men against a lot of enemy infantry. Pavel used the rear gun to fire at the enemy, hitting several of them and buying the Marines some time. The pilot moved to give us a longer window, but just as he did that a Phantom arrived, hitting us with plasma and preparing to drop troops.

"Get out of here!" I shouted at the pilot.

The man happily complied and accelerated out of the Scarab's range and away from the Phantom. As we approached the target I saw that Colonel Omondi had been understating the situation when he said he was spending spare units. Two Scorpion tanks were rolling down the street alongside several trucks full of troops. Only a couple of Warthogs were with the convoy, but we were the third out of four Pelicans moving in between the buildings.

"Where are we headed?" Crow asked.

"To war," Longworth said dramatically.

Dotsenko bumped his shoulder and shoved him back into his seat. Longworth began to complain, but the glare he got from Lady shut him right up.

"What about the police?" Caboose asked suddenly. "NMPD are renowned for their… efficient brutality."

"And corruption," Lady threw in. "Easy to do business in here. If you have the money for it."

I rolled my eyes. For all her skill, she did enjoy being the center of attention. The sad thing is that it worked; everyone in the Pelican was no wondering just what kind of work her father had done. I didn't have to wonder, I could've asked for her files and gotten every last bit of information about her, but for some reason I hadn't. Her dad was a trillionaire; he could build his own personal space elevator if he wanted to. Once again I asked myself how the hell she had ended up doing the dirtiest work known to mankind.

"The Covenant are making the push near the docks," I said. "Amphibious landing combined with dropships and some limited air support. Doesn't seem like they have artillery for now."

"Amphibious? We don't get many of those," Crow noted.

"Typically there's no need for a beach landing when you've got a kilometer long ship that can hover," Snark said.

"But we're getting one now," I cut in before the two went at it again. "We've got the usual job of leading the way. It should be good marksmanship practice."

My men nodded slowly to themselves, small smiles forming on their faces.

The smiles were wiped off when we were dropped next to a gigantic wall. I mentally slapped the back of my head. Without any polar caps left, most of Earth's cities had built massive walls to keep the water at bay. Mombasa was no exception.

"What now?" Pavel asked.

"Lieutenant, I was told you'd set explosives to blow the wall," a captain radioed in. "We're placing units on either side and above. The water surge will draw in the enemy."

It was an amazing plan. I'll be honest with you.

"We can do that," I said. "But we don't have the explosives for it."

"Shit. Alright, I'm sending a Mongoose your way."

The small vehicle was at our position within a minute. The poor man was carrying several pounds of C-10. I would've preferred to work with the more powerful C-12 explosives, but the C-10 would do just fine. I gave the order for my men to spread out and fall back and began placing the charges at regular intervals. I wasn't sure about the exact width of the water wall, but it couldn't have been more than a couple of meters. I had enough explosives to make several holes in the base, but I wanted the whole thing to collapse, bringing in a hellish storm into the city.

"Captain, half the sector will be flooded," I said as I worked.

"Negative, we've sealed off the area."

"Roger that," I acknowledged.

The wall in question, or at least the section we wanted to blow up, was one hundred meters long. About a football's field worth of meters. Not the longest wall in the history of the world, but long enough that I found myself breathing heavy by the time our window began to close. I got more and more requests to hurry up and even my own men began asking if it was going to take much longer.

"Alright, bombs are set," I said. "Give me the word when-"

Something went wrong. Two Banshees hit our positions on one of the sides and brought down a section of the road, sending dozens of Marines falling down to their deaths. A series of booms and noises followed as the two Scorpions returned fire. Three dropships appeared over the walls and descended behind us, just a few dozen meters behind us.

"Shit," the Mongoose pilot cursed. "Sir, hurry!"

I ran faster and jumped in the back as the man began accelerating.

Then something else went wrong.

To be honest, I should've been expecting it by now. It was something different, but within the realms of possibility. Someone panicked and detonated the charges too early. The explosions were enough to take out the nearest dropship, but it was the following wave of water that really did in the other two. The Marine floored it, but the water caught up with us. I felt like a sledgehammer hit me in the back and for a moment my vision blacked. I did my best to hold onto the Marine, knowing that he didn't have an airtight helmet like I did. I gripped his body tightly and then up was down and everything became a blur.

I hit something and the Mongoose was torn from my feet. Something hit me and I slammed into something else. The murky water blocked my vision as I tried to make sense of everything, but the only thing I knew for certain was that the man in front of me was responding to my squeezing and held tight onto me. I almost blacked out when the water currents made me hit a building wall pretty hard, but I managed to remain conscious and keep my grip on the poor man. By now we had been under for at least forty seconds. The guy must've been getting nervous.

I let go of him with one hand and used my other hand to grab onto a ledge in the building. My eyes could make out shapes going through the current, some of them were unmistakably alien. There was some minor fascination as I saw them twist and turn by, certainly going to their deaths.

"Come on, Frank, poor guys' going to die."

I turned the man around. He looked at my visor, squinting his eyes. I tapped him in the shoulder and made the ok sign with my right hand, still holding onto the building with the left. The Marine let go of me with one arm and used his free hand to shake his head violently. I couldn't tell, but he must've been purple by now.

I pointed up and propped my feet against the wall. I gave myself a moment to feel where the current was going and jumped upwards and towards the light. I was immediately yanked sideways by the water, but my upwards momentum remained. I kicked violently and felt the other man doing the same. It seemed like forever, but we both made it out of the water. I heard him gasp and then we were back under again. I looked through the water and made out a street lamp.

I kicked towards it and reached out with my hand. I managed to grab onto the corner where the pole bent sideways. My arm was nearly torn from my socket, but I held. I used my considerable strength to hold onto the Marine and pulled him up before he kicked and fought his way to the pole and held onto it himself.

"You alright!" I shouted.

"Yes, sir!" he managed to croak back, water coming out of his mouth. "Thanks for-"

A beam cut through his mouth and he let go of the metal, leaving behind a trail of blood that was quickly engulfed by the water. I cursed and went underwater after noting the position of the jackal. The fucking bird had survived and now was clinging on for dear life to a windowsill of what had previously been four stories above ground. I had to commend it for its aim though, not a lot of people could've pulled that one off.

I drew my rifle and pulled myself back up. Two bursts was all it took to kill it.

"Fucking hell," I grunted.

I craned my neck towards the wall, but it was out of sight. I could see, however, several enemy vehicles just around the corner, most of them were rapidly sinking, but I could still hear gunfire.

"Pavel, do you copy?"

"Shit Frank, don't scare me like that," he said. "Put a beacon up."

"Negative," I said. "I'm waiting for the current to die down. I'll get inside a building and make my way towards you."

Water bubbled around me, but it was now less vicious than it had been before. A few grunt corpses popped up, some of them weren't completely dead, something which I quickly remedied. The plan had been good and nothing short of spectacular, but there was room for improvement. I waited two more minutes until I was sure that there weren't any more whirlpools and then pushed myself towards the nearest building. I swam under the water in an attempt to minimize my profile. When I emerged to bash in a window my choice was proven wise. Three needles shattered against the building's side and I had to duck underneath the water again. I sighed and fired at the window on the floor below. The glass shattered and I was sucked in. I kept my feet down current and prepared for impacts. I hit a couple of desks and struggled to hold onto my rifle before I finally came against a wall, but everything turned out fine. Once the water had all poured in I moved to the emergency stairs. It was easy, the floor hadn't been completely flooded yet and the water was sliding through the doors into the stairs. I reached the doors and opened them, once again holding tight against the surge of water. It took a few seconds for the levels to even out, but once I managed that I swam towards the stairs and climbed out. The next floor was on the same level as the road where we had set up the ambush.

"On my way," I told Pavel.

"Hurry up, this is a turkey shoot."

I had been in enough of those, but every time it was a very good experience. Enjoyable and therapeutic.

"Hell, we've got Pelicans with supplies coming in."

I kicked open the stairwell doors. I could've opened them by hand, but I was angry and tired. I jogged through the offices, only just realizing how tired I was. I came into a secondary lobby and walked out to the street. A few squads of Marines were moving into position to join the turkey shoot and I followed after them. I immediately located my men and rushed to join them.

"Get down!" Pavel shouted.

I could only hear it through the radio, but I could see as Snark fell backwards. I couldn't tell whether it was a carbine or a needle round, but something had gone through his body. I began running faster and just as Pavel turned around to pick up Snark he too was hit.

I lost sight of them as a Pelican landed in between us. The dropship was immediately stripped of the ammunition boxes it was carrying. I jumped inside and commanded the pilot to stay where he was, overriding all his complaints with rank and threats. The man finally complied and I walked back outside. Pavel and Snark were unconscious and bleeding on the ground, but their vitals marked them as alive. Longworth and Caboose picked them up and dragged them back behind the edge of the street-bridge before I ordered them to get them in the Pelican.

"I need you to drive us to the hospital!" I shouted at the pilot.

"I've got orders to return to the In Amber Clad, sir!" he yelled back.

I cursed. "That'll do. Everybody, get on board!"

"Sir, you're not authorized to board the-"

"Two of my men are dying!" I said, this time letting pure anger color my voice. "You will get them to the ship and make damn sure that they live."

"Yes, sir," the pilot said uneasily. "Prepare for takeoff."

My men secured the two wounded as Miri began administering first aid, first on Snark and then on Pavel. My friend had been shot through the chest, a little bit to the left of the heart. Snark had been shot right through the middle of the chest. The shot could've nicked the heart, but it didn't seem like it had severed one of the several important breathing tubes down there.

"Lower trachea or bronchus," Schitzo helpfully threw in.

I said nothing as the Pelican sped off towards the UNSC frigate. The ship was small and keeping its distance from the assault carrier, which in turn didn't seem terribly worried by the presence of a small frigate about a tenth of its length. We entered one of the hangars and several of the mechanics preparing to load additional boxes of ammunition into the Pelican loudly complained and objected as my team poured out of the hatch.

"Attention all personnel, close down the hatches and prepare for takeoff," the loudspeakers blared.

I didn't stop to wonder why the hell we would be doing that, all I wanted was to get Pavel to the medical wing of the ship. One of the mechanics was level-headed enough to realize that two men would die if they didn't give us some help and emptied a pair of trolleys upon which we propped up our wounded. We began running through the small hangar and then into the hallways before we reached an elevator. Once again I ignored the loudspeakers and the alarms that were typically activated before a ship started moving in atmosphere. It had been a long time since I had been stationed on a frigate, but I remembered the sound from my days in the Inconvenience.

Everyone fell down as the ship accelerated violently. In space this wouldn't have been an issue, but inside the atmosphere it was too hard for the inertial dampeners to neutralize. Miraculously, neither Snark nor Pavel fell from the trolleys, but some of their blood sprayed around. I pushed Pavel out of the elevator, hoping that the ship's captain hadn't gone insane and decided to attack the assault carrier with a little puny frigate. Hell it seemed to be a Stalwart-class from what I had seen of the outside.

More alarms sounded as we entered the infirmary, which was surprisingly empty. This time it was the alarms that were typically used when you expected an impact of sorts.

"Son of a bitch," Crow cursed.

And suddenly my stomach lurched.

"Did we just…" Lady began.

"Holy shit," I said.

"That was a jump," Caboose confirmed.

"We didn't initiate it," Miri noted.

There was only one possible explanation, no matter how impossible it was.

"In atmosphere… holy shit," Dotsenko said, whistling.

We had just piggybacked a slipspace ride on a Covenant assault carrier into who knows where.

Ah, fuck.

---

Thanks to Colonel-Commissar2468 for proofreading this chapter.

Well, that was all of Mombasa that we get to see, at least for now. We all know what's going to happen next, but sadly it means that there will be no dreary night fighting in the city. So Halo 3: ODST will be pretty much completely bypassed, which is rather unfortunate. At least according to my beta here, he would've preferred if we stayed in Mombasa a bit longer. So it's Mombasa vs. Halo... I know damn right which one you prefer.

As for just spending one chapter here I apologize, however, you must remember that the Prophet of Regret spent only a couple of hours on Earth before bugging out. True, thousands of reinforcements arrived just minutes later, but we're not interested in that. I could potentially have kept Frank and Co. in the planet and dragged out the battle for a lot of chapters much like I did with Reach and Paris IV, but I've been wanting to go to Halo for a long time, which means that the story will have to be just a little bit shorter. I have some entertaining plans for Delta Halo, and there's one particular event that will allow me to have out beloved gang have their own set of adventures without having to play second fiddle to Master Chief (although to be honest, everybody pretty much does that already). It'll be fun.

I believe that some questions were answered, which is my way of saying that I do indeed read your reviews and will occasionally go out of my way to address them in-story. Am I not just the greatest guy ever? Damn right I am. It took me only nine days for an update, not my best time, but better than what I've been doing recently. Again a quick apology for not making this chapter insanely long, but I had to skirt around the canon elements of Halo 2 without directly involving AAG-7 in the main plot and it was insanely hard to fit a lot of action to the short timeframe. Also, if you picture that water dike coming down it's one of the most awesomest things ever if I do say so myself.

Stay strong.

-casquis

PS: Actually, there's no PS, just hope you enjoyed this chapter.