2552
Earth
New Mombasa
Tunnels beneath the New Mombasa Police Department Headquarters ( NMPD HQ )
12:20am
..This was just bat*** crazy.
This...was just completely mental.
Crazy, mental, and absurd. What recruitment ad covered this ?! There wasn't one, was the answer- and that was after over 20 years of hard drops as an ODST !
Over the course of that many drops, on worlds that were years worth of sublight travel away from the nearest UNSC colony, Buck had already seen things. Mostly those of the ultra-violent variety...such as dismembered limbs ( human and otherwise ) , whole and entire city blocks that easily could've come out of downtown Tokyo or Dallas reduced to nothing but mangled and twisted forests of melted metal and crumbling duracrete. He'd also done ultra-violent things, such as taking a knife that you might use for chopping tough beef , and stabbing somebody through the chest of a member of the Sundered Legion terrorist group during the course of a hand-to-hand combat encounter. Or, launching Jackhammer rockets that'd exploded a Wraith so thoroughly, it'd burned itself to just an unrecognizable hunk of partially-liquefied metal- it, and its crew.
Then, there was how he'd been surrounded by all that, rather than doing any of it himself.
Like the eye of the hurricane.
He'd been, at one point or another, at a place like that: Administering first aid to a wounded brother/sister under arms behind something that was plasma-proof ( which few things counted as...aside from rocks ) as the Covenant unleashed everything they had right at them. Or, such moments had come while rding aboard a Pelican as it came hot to an LZ, with plasma bolts whipping toward them from below, looking like fiery Christmas bulbs moving faster than you could hope to track and making that eerie chooom, choom, choom noise as they did. Or, replacing them, the crak, crak, crak of bullets getting spat from the guns of the terrorists that he'd also slugged it out with over the course of a long career than he'd been blessed enough to have survived...
Point was...after doing both for so long, he'd been led to believe that there wasn't anything left that could shock him. Or catch him off guard...or seriously give him pause. At least...for longer than a few minutes. The opposite might've been true though...once. Long ago. Back when things looked like they might actually end alright for the human race, as opposed to getting exterminated to the last.
A thick skin, and a stoic acceptance of things as they were was required to stay sane...aside from the equally critical ability to recognize that this- all of it- wasn't for nothing. That there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and that fighting for it would all justify it by the end.
But, for all that.
For all of that hard-won knowledge, and experience...
What Buck was confronted with now...was...
" Ahhhhhhh...agghh...! "
The screaming ? Well...that wasn't it. On its own, it wasn't. But, who it was coming from was.
And for once, after over 20 years, that someone wasn't a fellow ODST with a Needler shard though the thigh, or a civilian with plasma burns over their face...
But, rather...
"...Hey- hey, we're all right here, ok ?! You got good folks looking out for ya ! Our baby's gonna be ok ! "
" You'll be allright...!"
" I...well, I know you always keep your promises...but...I...! "
..Yeah.
..Yeah, providing a protection detail to a pregnant woman giving birth was definitely so low on the list of " What to expect when you were going outside the wire against the Covenant, that it just didn't even register ! It was either buried-to-your-neck with bad guys slinging plasma at you, carrying out a fighting fall-back for the hills when said bad guys' sheer numbers began to sweep you away, or both.
Yet, here Buck was..doing neither one.
He was staying put.
Deep underground...
Under a burning, half wrecked police HQ building, overrun and chock full of murderous, bloodthirsty aliens..
Herding about two dozen frightened Civvies ( frightened ? More like freaking terrified, to put it exactly ), around some damp, badly lit, and kinda chilly tunnels buried about a hundred feet under the crater-and-debris smothered streets above, with about a thousand Covenant soldiers brandishing enough energy weapons to melt the Golden Gate bridge clawing their way down through the depths of the building, borrowing their way toward this position at this moment...
" Ohhhhhh...agh ! "
With a pregnant woman, who needed his help ! Yeah...that right there was the icing on top of this overly decorated, richer-than-Fort-Knox cake...
He could see her, right now- just out the corner of his right eye. Out ahead, Marines Dubbo and Dekker were still holding point, crouched with their muzzles leveled downrange, aimed squarely at the only attack vector from the main heavy metal doors that led from the NMPQ HQ basement to their current position. They were ably pulling forward security , while Buck himself held down the forward right flank.
None of them were good positions, though. They were freaking exposed out here ! Mostly, anyway: all they'd been able to to scrounge together for cover was some miscellaneous supply crates that'd already been sitting around the tunnel space past the doors...which wouldn't stand long against some hinge-head spraying them down with a sustained volley of plasma fire...
Or some of those blasted grenades. A bad second fiddle to some Absorbent Packs that could be used to form a real barricade...but this was all they had.
It would have to do. It would have to...
If the enemy found their way here, that is. Which they hadn't...
Yet. Emphasis on yet. The unshakable reality of that, on its own, made Buck's grip on his MA5C tighten that much more.
Well, that, and-
" Ow..ow, ow,owwwww...ahhh ! "
..The...other " that ".
Really put us behind the 8 ball, lady...
I know, I know...you're following someone else's schedule, but come on...!
He couldn't help it. Buck knew it was real scummy to harbor frustration toward a woman who was literally giving birth, but...here ? Of all places ?!
It had to happen here ?! Man, that door right ahead could blow open at any moment, and then they'd be face to face with enough plasma to melt a super-tanker ! Buck couldn't stay silent on that any longer...
" Hey-Officer ! ", he bellowed, addressed the extremely-soon-to-become dad. " Officer- how's it going over there ?! "
There was a pause- just a few milliseconds long- before a terse, but also highly excited response came back. "...Going...ok, I think ! Baby hasn't crowned yet, but...we're getting close..! "
...Wonderful.
Hey, I mean it ! Wonderful ! Just has the slight problem of taking place smack dab surrounded by a Covenant army...!
Just a slight problem. That's all.
" ...Copy that ! ". Despite his limited knowledge of the whole childbirth process, Buck did still remember one bit of terminology: " Crowning " equaled " One foot out the door ". Or rather...the head was.
Either way, that kid was pretty much on the threshold of his or her grand entrance. This was actually happening...
Yeah.
Yeah, it really was.
"...Gunny ! Gunny, this is Korsan ! Give me a sitrep ! "
With a crackle of static, the Captain's voice filled Buck's ears from his helmet's speakers. " I don't like that racket comin' from the top floors ! Hostiles may be about to carry out a breach- can you move ?! "
...Can I move ? Sure ?
Can mamma over there move ? Only a couple pounds of baby, and that's it !
Buck shook his head. " Ma'am, she's less mobile than the Grand Canyon right now ! "
" You want us to just grab her and move her ?! We can, but we might leave the kid behind along the way ! "
The officer on the other end of the line swore, as Buck spared a glance toward Dekker, on the right. The Marine was still as posted as before , his BR55HB aimed at the door, and barely a twitch with his stance...
Well, at least he was ready for who/what might be coming through...and that was probably gonna be real important any second now.
Just as Buck was turning to check on Dubbo, though...there was a sudden...surge of screaming and shouted oaths from the pregnant woman behind him, and all way louder than anything that'd come before by at least 3 levels. On top of all that, Korsan added another layer of noise to everything by shouting a follow-on to all her cussing:
" Gunny, I've got 20 people back here to look after, Covenant breathing down our necks, and you're hanging out there like bait on a hook ! Unless that kid's literally halfway out , you will flip her over your shoulder, and carry her pregnant ass out of there yourself ! Understood ?! "
For God's sake...!
This is just a perfect cluster...
Perfect !
Frustration with the whole aforementioned " cluster " was getting pretty strong around now- and Buck couldn't even really blame Korsan for it. She was right...because all along while Buck been pulling this hastily thrown together protection detail, there'd been a pretty constant train of rumbling explosions going on all over the floors overhead. The Covenant were busy there , doing their usual routine of brute ( literally) forcing their way through the world around them by killing the heck of it-whether it was dead or alive already. God alone knew if all that wrecking actually had a plan it was following, but it didn't even matter to Buck, or Korsan, or any of the Marines, Civvies, Cops, Soldiers, and so on down here...
" That's the rub, Captain: kid's knocking on the door as we speak ! I send again: She can't move ! We gotta hold position ! "
Bosswoman won't like it, but that's the deal here...!
Love it or hate it, Cap
Love it or hate it.
Momentarily, it became pretty clear the officer didn't love it, because she cussed again , and harshly enough to have immediately gained the admiration of any career ODST-or offend the daylights out of a pastor. " ...Alright then, Gunny. Here's what's gonna happen: The millisecond that child is 100 percent out, wrapped, and cord cut, I'd better be hearing you shouting down my ear that the lot of ya are beating feet to my position ! "
" .. We're still screening the rest of the civilians back here, but with all the racket from the Covenant's advance, they're getting more and more rowdy ! Might panic soon, unless we push toward the deeper tunnels !
...Because, those explosions were getting closer.
They were...and the bits of duracrete coming off the ceiling and raining all over the place ( such off the top of Dubbo's battered helmet, as Buck finally got a visual on him, and found that he was also looking squared away ) alone was more than enough of a " You might wanna shift it, Marine ! " hint from the Lord almighty that this particular neck of the woods was getting a bit too hot for comfort.
But...they were really between a rock and a hard place. Lyda was literally...having a child , and right the living heck now. She was pinned down-literally-, and more vulnerable than a munitions depot getting used by collage students for a midnight bash !
Another glance on his six from Buck confirmed that, and twice over:
Laid down on the cold, duracrete tunnel floor, Lydia was positioned the way all pregnant ladies throughout history are: Legs splayed wide open, propped to a sitting position by something ( or, for this scenario, someone...her cop hubby, specifically ) behind her, and head bent forward from the repeated wails of pain and exertion. She was , at least , facing away from the blast doors, which was good for more reasons than one.
Veronica's the only lady who's nether-regions I wanna see...
...soon as I can get her to say yes to marrying me. I asked...and STILL didn't get an answer.
A fleeting thought, but a painful one, and Buck couldn't have been more grateful that it was gone..
Besides, he had things to deal with now. That is, he was still protecting a woman who-
" Keep going...keep going ! You're doing great ! You're doing great ! "
" One. More. That should get the head clear...! "
" ...S-Should ?! Ahhhh..! "
...Who was kind of...busy, right now.
Surrounded by a veritable squad that consisted of her husband, a pair of other NMPD officers that'd been " voluntold " to serve as assistants, and to cap it all off...a " midwife " via the presence of an Army medic named Samantha Haise. How much experience she had this, Buck didn't know, but given that nothing catastrophic had gone wrong yet...
" Only way out now is through, ma'am ! You can do this- push, push, push ! "
" I...its...agh, its like getting stabbed, though...! Ahh..! "
" Ahhh...! "
" Everything you've got...! Dig ! Deep ! "
Talk about rubber meeting the road...
The ODST NonCom turned away then, though the sounds of what was going on back there was as loud as if he hadn't. It was ok, though.
Long as he could see what was coming towards him-towards them- then he was ok with just listening. His job was to keep them all safe, after all. Gawking and spectating ? That was the job of the tight knot of helpers and assistants, all around her.
Plenty to listen to, anyway...and it wasn't as if Buck could lend a hand on that front.
With the rumbling, and the crumbling overhead, steadily creeping closer and closer as the Covenant chewed through the building with their plasma weapons. Pulses of those sound waves traveled all the way to him, deep here underground, right through the plating of his armor ! The sound waves were hammering him as well, with a drumbeat of throaty chw, chw , chw staccato crackling of energy guns discharging, and the even heavier thunder of grenades detonating..
They were bulls running though a chinashop, for sure...but that was...that was actually just outright odd. This was the Covenant, after all ! They burned whole planets for a hobby...whole planets ! But, here they were just blasting away through the confines of one skyscraper of one city ?!
Then again...
If it slowed them down from busting though that door that Buck had been staring down through the cyan blue crosshairs of his MA5C...then it was fine by him. More distance between the most vulnerable and the bloodthirsty monsters the better.
Speaking of which-
"...Dubbo ! Dekker ! " . He rose, all the way up from behind his cover, while simultaneously examining the terrain ahead. " On me- we gotta bump out more space for them back there ! "
Any amount of extra space was worth it, frankly, when there was a child concerned. Any at all...even with the tunnel as confining as it was. If they could force the Covenant to meet them even a couple of yards further out from the vulnerable woman than before, then that could be all the difference that mattered.
Good news was, though, that the same confines of the tunnel that had it so restrictive also helped them out ! The Covenant would have to get funneled down here to get at anyone past them, and with all the storage crates and boxes that'd been left down here for God-knew how long, it wasn't much of a stretch to get another barricade set and ready closer to the other set of doors.
...Just doesn't feel secure enough here...
It just doesn't. There's a freaking baby about to get born back there ! And those aliens might come bursting though those doors at any second ! WE have to what they encounter first, and with as much distance as we can get on our side !
We're their only defense...and we gotta hold the line.
" Now, Marines ! Shift it ! "
" What the- Roger that, Gunny ! ", came a Aussie voice. Slightly confused, but it didn't matter. He knew what to do with a direct order, and so did Dekker...
A pair of bootfall patterns on a hard surface proved it, as the other two Jarheads began to move with him. They surged ahead, leaving the ramshackle wall of crates and debris behind, to race about 50 yards down the tunnel to another jumbled mass of crates and boxes they'd gone past headed the other way earlier.
It wasn't as prepared as the other position, but...it had distance. More distance than the other one, and the crates were made of military-grade durasteel...likely for the purpose of shipping weapons for the NMPD's SWAT units. They could soak some volleys of plasma fire...
Probably. It would have to do, though...
" Hold ! Hold...here ! ", Buck commanded, stopping by skidding to a knee position.
He braced his rifle, reading the glowing number 36 on the back of the counter...and the faint crackle of the live comms line from both ears.
Still linked to the escorts around the future momma...
Open channel, with a lot of chatter, but necessary...
" Ready to rock, Gunny ! ", yelled Dubbo. " Let those monsters come ! "
" Ditto...! ", supplied Dekker, succinct as always.
A moment of satisfaction was enjoyed by the ODST- few things, for him at least, were as good as having a good team. For another nanosecond longer, he thought of the rest of Alpha-9, and how much he was chomping at the bit to find them all again...
...But, even with things as they were, these men here with him were top notch, anyway.
ODSTs, or otherwise...
Buck looked over at them anyway, under the partial gloom of the overhead's patchy lighting. There they were, crouched and ready, weapons as leveled as his was, and all attention focused at the ( now noticeably closer ) blast doors..
Altogether...it was as fine a subpar situation as he could as for.
Fine, that was...unless that 7 pound ( probably...most babies were around that size, weren't they ? ) brand new member of the species arrived after the aliens came boiling through that door.
Unless they didn't at all..
Or...
Buck's molars ground and clashed against one another, as the world reverberated all around. The echoes of the Covenant's rampage on one side. and the screaming , wailing, plus gasping and crying courtesy of Mrs " Gonna become a mom at any second now " back there on the other...
They were both going at it pretty hard, and neither one was backing down.
But, there was nothing else to do , except to keep manning his post. He had to..
And, so he did, until-
"...Whhhaaaaaaaa...! "
"Whha...whhaa...! "
...
My God...!
...That's...that's a...!
Yes.
Yes, it was !
It...it actually, for real...was ! Amid the thunderous rumbling of distant blasts, and the guttural cracking of so much duracrete...this new sound stood out so starkly and strikingly that it was nearly painful.
Actually..it was. But...it was the good kind of pain. And, it still couldn't take away from...
...from how beautiful it was. It was a sound Buck couldn't ever remember hearing personally, but he still knew what it sounded like.
Everyone who'd ever lived did.
Everyone knew...even over a comms line...
..What the sound of a crying newborn baby was.
" ...Gunny ?! "
" Hey, Gunny ?! She really did it ?! Her kid's actually here ?! "
Dubbo. His Australian accent automatically gave just about everything he said an edge of excitement, and when he was actually excited/pumped about anything...it only got even stronger.
Like now.
"...'Cause that sounds like a flipping baby to me ! "
" You heard right, Private !", Buck affirmed, feeling the same abrupt surge of adrenaline, and even euphoria that was was pulsing through him How couldn't there be ? A baby had just been born. A real, honest to God, bonna fide baby...amid a Covenant attack !
" That's 5 seconds of life back there, for sure ! "
He stood , weapon held tight, and turning around with one fluid motion. " Hold the line, Marines !- I'll go get 'em ready to move ! We definitely can't stick around now ! You get me ?! "
There wasn't a need to wait for words of acknowledgment from either of them- they both switched on, alert, and heads on tight Jarheads who knew how to handle themselves. They knew what to do...
And, they did again.
" We get you, Gunny ! ", they shouted back, with overlapping voices.
" Leave it to us, Gunny..! ", Dubbo added, as Buck began to sprint back down the tunnel's length.
I know I can, he thought, as he raced toward the knot of cops and Marines surrounding the woman who'd been with child until about...10 seconds ago. They were still there, jostling and moving, with one standing over the others holding an emergency flashlight to chase away all the heavy shadows.
Under its glare, as Buck drew close...
Getting lifted, ever so slowly from the floor by a pair of eggplant purple surgical gloves that were stained Magenta from blood..
...Was a small, wriggling body.
A human body ! Skin reddened, and with a layer of dark hair plastered slick against a tender scalp, and a mouth that was wide open ( revealing, even with the bad lighting , only gums ) with the strain of unleashing endless wailing and crying.
Weak, but powerful crying. As if there was barely any capacity of that person's lungs, but all they were capable of doing at that moment was crying.
A perfect description of a newborn...from what limited knowledge Buck had of them. But...here one was ! An actual, honest to God baby...right here !
Right. Here...!
A stab of...something, went straight through Buck's center torso. Euphoria ? Shock ? He wasn't sure...but it was one of those two things, or both put together !
That...and how extremely helpless they were even on days when you didn't have a literal alien army knocking on your door , who you knew full well was there to kill, kill, and only kill. Exterminate, specifically. Exterminate everyone and everything that wasn't one of them...with as much pointless excessive violence as they could muster.
They were coming, and they were close.
So close, you could hear them- the echoes of their wanton weapons fire. The kid would be crying from that alone...they had to get-
By then, Buck had reached the knot, and stopped dead. They were still there, and hadn't moved- the woman, laid back, exhausted to the point of blacking out, cradled by her husband's concerned arms, the two cops hovering nearby to keep the light burning, and finally, the Army medic, who by then was hurrying- yet, with great and visible care-to wrap a thermal blanket around..
"...How he doing ?! ", the ODST yelled, as he gazed down at the scene before him.
"..Or she ! Which is it, anyway !? "
" Oh my God... Oh my god... " Haise , without taking her eyes off the newborn she held, answered him with more than a slight amount of pure, girlish , breathless delight cracking through her otherwise professional tone.
" ...She's...She just had a boy, Gunny ! She just had a boy...!
" Cord's cut ! Toweled him off...just gotta get him swaddled now...!"
" Ok... we gotta make tracks ! Don't have a scale to weigh him, anyway- would if I could. Estimate...6 pounds, though..! ", she briskly continued, as she carefully tucked and pulled the folds of the blanket tightly around the little, delicate body of the yet-unnamed baby boy.
" Birth went pretty well, overall. Mom's completely drained, though ! Barely even awake. Her husband and one of his badge buddies are gonna have to carry her outta here. "
Saves me the task. I'd have done it, though
For a split millisecond, Buck didn't say a word, but then he nodded, having already gotten the bullet points of everything. The miracle of birth had run its course, the aliens were getting closer and closer with plans to murder them all, and he had an officer ready to pounce all over him if he didn't get this group on the move yesterday- though she had good reason to want that taken care of, and so did Buck.
Everything had finally gotten synced , though, for that to happen at last.
And so, it would.
" ..Roger that ! ", The ODST nodded again. " I'll pull my men back, and let the Captain know. We're pulling back ! "
" Heck yeah we are...! "
Switching focus, Buck called to the man who had just become a dad. " Hey, Officer ! Officer...you ready ?! "
Hearing the shout, the Officer looked the ODST's way, and Buck met his gaze for a split second. He looked freaking proud, and so joyful- also scared stiff. All 3, all at once, and all cranked to 11. Made sense, though, all things considered.
Made perfect sense, though. He had...this was his son that was a stone's throw away from a Covenant army. A Covenant one...! That right there...it was just one of those things that just eclipsed words alone, and was just about the most raw, primal thing that existed, ever.
Aside from sex, that is.
Raising a hand as he turned away, Buck found himself switching by pure reflex to multitask mode, as he pitched his voice loud to yell at Dubbo and Decker: " Marines ! "
Two helmeted heads turned around, and the ODST bellowed again. " Marines ! On. Me. ! We. Are. Leaving ! "
A series of fierce , snapping knife-hand movements hammered the point home, as the Southerner and the Aussie complied. They sprang from their crouched positions, and hustled right over, rifles held close and muzzles down.
" Let's go ! Let's go ! Let's go ! Move your asses ! ", the NonCom roared, as the two Leathernecks finally skidded to a stop . " This AO is lost, and we got a baby to save ! On me ! "
" Roger that, Boss ! Where do you need us !? ", asked Dubbo. Somehow, the Aussie had come even more alive during all of this than he had before ! Buck had noticed it before, and it had puzzled the heck out of then as it had now...but he didn't question it then either. And he didn't now.
He just used it, and rightly so.
" Cover the flanks ! ", the ODST directed, as he watched, via the corner of his field of view, the men around Lydia leaping to action themselves. The man that was hers was already cradling her head and shoulder via the crook of one arm, bodily lifting her from the floor, her head lolling against his right shoulder..
As he didn't have enough reasons to kill these aliens, and get everyone he could to safety from them ! Well, now Buck had another.
As strong a reason, as anyone could have to fight for..
"...Captain ?! Captain, this is Gunnery Sergeant Buck ! ", he hollered down the Comms line, as Haise stuffed the last of her med gear away, and beckoned the other cops to run point. " You copy ?!
" ..Loud and clear, Gunny ! You Oscar Mike yet ?! ", came the shouted response.
" Affirmative..! The kid's here ! He's here ! Out, cord cut, all wrapped...and we're all leaving with him ! I repeat...we are Oscar Mike, towing civilians , headed to you ! "
Only the briefest of pauses followed, and then:
"...Well, Hallelujah, Gunny ! Now you get those folks out of there, understand ?! You get them out of there, and back to our tunnels ! We gotta evac them from beyond the city limits before the Covies begin flooding them with Drones ! You know their MO-that's what they do ! The clock has run out for us here, Gunny- we. Need. To. Leave ! "
...That was about the long and short of it, yeah. Urgency and purpose hung from every syllable of what she's said, and Buck didn't have a problem with that. Maybe if she was an ODST, but...only some diamonds had perfect clarity, so to speak. Besides, there was still a whole Covenant army ( one that was at least 50 percent Brutes ) within spitting distance of them right here and now...so...
Yeah. Understandable she'd be like a maverick. More so than usual.
" Solid copy, ma'am ! ". Buck pivoted again, and began to walk sideways to keep one eye ( and his MA5C ) trained on the distant blast doors ahead of him, and the other eye on the matching set of doors behind him. " 1 minute- we'll be there ! "
" Holding you to it, Gunny ! Hustle ! "
Oh, he would.
Buck absolutely would, because he already was- he and all of the others, even the brand-new mother, who was getting carried like a rolled rug by the NMPD officer she was married to. They were both moving fast, as were the other Cops covering them on the sides, with Dubbo and Decker proving even more security there, and last but nowhere near least, medic Haise was sticking close to the new mom, having fitted her with an IV to replace all those lost fluids.
It was an unorthodox, un-elegenat, cobbled-together squad, this, but it was all Buck had, and he was going to get them outta here.
Come Covenant or high water. Or both.
" Keep it moving, everyone ! ". Buck leveled his rifle's muzzle at the doors, but he didn't slow his pace beneath the dimmed overhead lights. " Keep it moving ! "
Electric currents- highway power conduit strength-worth of adrenaline flooded their way all through him, and so strongly that it was as if there were sparks coming off of him. As if he was actually riding a SOIEV down from low orbit...and while under fire.
Which might actually happen, and real soon, given how many Covenant there'd been swarming the outside of the HQ building before they'd ducked down here. Hundreds, that was the answer. There's been literal hundreds of the scaly beasts there, and they'd been packing an actual Scarab.
A Scarab !
Yeah...yeah, they had to get the living heck down to the depths of the evac tunnels, and yesterday. There wasn't a snowball's chance that they could even slow down a horde like that, even with a chokepoint like this tunnel here on their side. But...the main tunnel network was one giant freaking labyrinth...and one the Covenant didn't have a map for. Sure, they could flood it with drones, those nasty flying, oversized mosquitoes, but by then, the civilians and their armed escort would've found their way all the way out of the New Mombasa limits, and either to Old Town, or even beyond. Either way, way safer there then here for them.
...That was the plan, anyway. Roughly, as Buck understood it. Hardly any guarantees they could pull it off, but they were kind of out of space on the clock to find anything else. It sounded good, though, anyway.
All they could do was push it as much as humanly possible.
So, they would.
So, Buck was filling his role, as he literally ran the gauntlet. The others were all doing the same, save for the ( probably ) out cold Lydia, who was still riding the husband train to freedom. They had to keep moving now...and they had to keep this pace. They couldn't afford to slow down...
Couldn't afford to slow, even a tad...
But, eventually...
" Ok...ok, ok, hold here ! "
At Buck's shouted command, and accompanying knife-hand, the tightly- packed mixed band stopped, right outside the blast doors that formed the entrance to the municipal evac tunnel network beneath New Mombasa. Soaring, gunmetal grey, and slightly coated with dust as earlier, the doors remained closed.
And for good reasons. Half were terrified green grocers, collage students, laundromat janitors, and so on hiding on the other side of that door, and the other half was a bunch of giant gorilla-looking aliens with guns that shot white-hot spikes that were ransacking and trashing the rest of the HQ building looking for/hunting for God knew what/who on their way down here. Oh...and the assorted NMPQ cops/ UNSC Army soldiers/ Marines playing guard for the aforementioned terrified green grocers/ laundromat janitors/ collage students. Couldn't forget about them...ever.
As if they'd forget about the others, though..
" Hold here ! Dubbo, Decker, Officers ! Set security ! ", directed the ODST Sergeant, gesturing as needed. " Haise ! Stay with the Mr and Mrs !"
Without missing a beat ( mostly because he couldn't afford otherwise ), Buck then got on the horn. " Captain ?! Captain, we're at the doors ! "
The response wasn't long to come, whatsoever: " ...Copy that, Gunny ! Corporal Gunn's got the locks ! "
" And...there ! Now haul ass, Trooper ! "
Right on the end of " there ", the doors emitted a baritone thrmmmm sound, and began to vibrate. Dust flew off left and right, as the twin halves began to slide away from each other.
Barely had they gotten going, then Buck was waving the others toward them with another volley of knife-hand gesturing. " Go ! Go ! Everyone, move ! Right through the doors, and don't stop ! "
" Dubbo ! Decker ! Maintain security ! "
A flash, and a blur of motion exploded on his left, as he swung back around to re-level his rifle toward the now-distant-but-still-pretty-close doors at the other end of the tunnel, with their dulled silver colored plating standing out brightly against the shadows of the tunnel. Meanwhile, the Officers carried the young mother through, with the Army Medic Haise the last to follow. They didn't move smoothly, or elegantly, given that they were carrying a woman who had literally just given birth, and was still pretty rotund and heavy, but they managed.
They had to...
And, they did.
Just a few seconds later , they were through. All of them.
Every last one...leaving just the 3 Marines.
Only them...but Buck didn't plan whatsoever to linger there.
Without removing his gaze from his scope, he barked fresh orders. " Ok- Dubbo ! Decker ! Your turn ! Get going ! "
" Roger that, Sarge...! "
" Got it- moving ! "
Boots rattled out a rhythm, as two pairs of them sounded against the floor. They raced past the ODST, who remained there, covering their 6...
That was always the job of an NCO, and one that thousands on thousands of the UNSC had fulfilled eagerly. Buck wasn't any different. That's what they were there to do: be the backbone of the ground forces, and get things done for the brass...because nobody else could.
A great job to have...but they still had to look out for themselves as well.
They're clear ?
...They're clear.
Ok...
Time to save yours truly...
Finally lowering the MA5C's muzzle, Buck twisted left, and with head tucked, ran like a pro-football linebacker through the doors himself. With legs and arms and pumping, he sped on, running off the dizzying power of adrenaline that usually only came along with a SOIEV drop...whether a combat one or otherwise. It was an elephant dose, as all of those were, but the rivers of icewater that'd replaced his blood still served a vital purpose..
Giving him that extra jolt of power, that is. He knew those doors- the ones waaaaay down there- were going to get breached, and breached soon. All the racket from the main floors had been too loud, and going on for too long for the Covies to have fallen behind. Whatever they were doing out there, it was going to lead them here soon enough, and to come though those doors with all guns ( literally ) blazing.
Best to go somewhere else before then.
Which he did, clearing the doors at a dead run. Korsan yelled something he didn't quite catch amid all the hubbub, but he got the gist of it anyway, because the doors immediately began to slide closed behind him.
Buck didn't waste energy spinning to just stand and watch, though...he had to keep track of his team.
He searched for them automatically, amid the dimmed lighting of these new series of tunnels he'd now run to. They were even worse off, lighting-wise, than the one he'd just left, but with only milliseconds spent there, and with his helmet's VISR mode having been activated automatically, he quickly spotted the entire herd of civilians who'd been sheltering on the HQ's lower levels with them. Hovering around their flanks, was the assortment of Cops, Soldiers, and Marines who were still playing shepherd , all either crouched or standing with weapons poised...
" Doors sealed ! Doors sealed ! We're secure ! ", boomed the Captain, as the aforementioned doors finally slammed shut with a set of thudding boommms of steel on steel.
"...Clear ! ", Buck seconded, as he regained a visual on Dubbo and Decker. The two Marines he'd found hunkered behind that M12 the day before were still here- right over there, actually...
Closest to the doors ! They'd stopped, right there at the top of the set of steps that led from the main platform out of the blast doors down to where the tunnel's tarmac ran parallel. Both were on defensive mode, kneeling behind the ledge with rifles sticking out over its top- as were several other Soldiers/Marines/ heavily armed Cops ( emphasis on " heavily armed ", as their standard issue M6K handguns wouldn't be enough against a Covenant assault force ) lined out on either side, presenting a line of death ready to greet the Covenant with lead.
And-yes, there was the new family, as well. All the way at...nearly at the opposite side of the wide tunnel. They were all crouched and kneeling, low and hunkered, with the still-securely-wrapped form of the newborn boy standing out against the adult forms around him as clearly as could be.
...They're all here , the ODST NonCom realized, allowing himself a ( brief ) moment of gratitude.
Covenant- too slow !
They'd have to freaking reach us though a couple yards of pure armored steel, though..
Even for them, that'd take a shipload of elbow grease
Which those freaks are probably packing...
Quickly ignoring what he was already aware of via years of experience, Buck didn't waste another moment with getting a handle on his improvised unit again. " Dubbo ! Dekker ! You good ?! Squared away ?! "
They looked like it, sure- alert, poised, and ready...but that wasn't an excuse to throw aside protocol.
Besides, it all came back around, and perfectly.
" Yeah... freaking locked and freaking loaded, Gunny ! ", the Australian shouted back.
He rose, slightly, as the heavy sliding doors finally closed, with a thunderous thrummm that drove pain through one's eardrums.
" How's it lookin' back there ? Covies rumbled us yet ?! "
" Give it a minute- we'll be buried under 'em soon enough ! " Buck didn't want to dampen anyone's hopes, but again...honesty was the best policy when it came to dealing with soldiers who were between a rock and a hard place...and right now, he was one of them.
Buck couldn't show what he was feeling, though. He didn't have that luxury, as an ODST NonCom. They needed him, as their rock. Whether they knew or otherwise.
And, they did...by now, at least.
" Alright...good ! ". Buck nodded again, as the corner of his view caught Korsan striding his way, with her weapon of choice ( or opportunity ) held at the ready- a VK78 Commando. Something must've happened to her old MA5B, ( God knows what that was ) but it was still potato-potahto, given that the Commando was also a solid weapon.
Buck wouldn't give away the ever-trusty MA5, but...anyway..
He pointed its muzzle down, and stood at the ready as Korsan reached him. " Hey, Gunny...! "
She called out to him, stopping with a quick glance at the crowd of nervous civvies. " Good job back there, getting 'em out. That death funnel was getting too hot. "
" Like a diner's skillet ", Buck agreed. " But we can't stay here either, ma'am. Got a new waypoint for us ? "
The officer nodded briskly, clearly on the same wavelength. She fished out her personal TACPAD, tapped its screen for a few seconds, then spun the screen around so Buck could see it: " Actually, yeah..."
" I got an X locked down for us..."
Stepping closer, Buck canted his head down a bit to see. On the screen there, glowing a shade of burnt orange against a cobalt background, was a snaking line that wound its way through what was clearly the entire underground evac tunnel network of New Mombasa, given the obvious extent of how many pathways were outlined here that the line wasn't going though. Somehow, to someone who didn't have an background with city planning, it managed to look both organized and messy as heck all at once, which was actually kind of impressive.
That aside, though, what mattered here was he was already seeing a pattern emerging...
Reaching out, he pointed a gauntlet-clad finger at the traced path on screen. " That one , there ? "
" Right on ". The officer sounded confident enough...though, there was an undertone of tension lurking around as well. It was too sharp to hide, but...it was understandable. She was the ranking authority here, and via that, responsible for over two dozen civvies, Marines, Soldiers, and even these NMPD officers-they'd basically been conscripted.
If anything happened to them, it'd be on her. Buck, for the life of him, didn't get why anyone wanted that kind of responsibility. One squad was enough for him.
But, they mattered as well, and just as much. If he was gonna get them outta here ( which was still the plan ), then...he'd have to follow hers.
" That one- we stick to it, as much as we can, and all the way. ", the Captain continued, tracing the path with a fingertip. As it moved, Buck caught a brief glimpse of what looked like...
...A gold ring ? Well, it was golden colored, whatever it was. Maybe it was one of those " BattleBands " that the UNSC had stocked some of their base stores with for married service-members. They were designed real thin, so they could fit under combat gloves...
The ODST's subconscious began to speculate, wondering about who the man she'd tied her life to was, but...the rest of him stayed on task.
Willfully ignoring the aching from his legs, and the cottony dryness of his mouth, he continued paying attention as Korsan added, " At the terminus, we'll emerge to a factory complex, where Old Mombasa' outer limits are. Covenant haven't taken that side of the city yet, so if a staging area hasn't been established, at least we'll have gotten the civilians clear, and can get signal out for evac. "
She fell silent after that, for a second or so.
But, then...
...As if she could read the ODST's mind...and just as he was cobbling together a response to her plan, which he technically didn't have any real objections to-
"...Then, barring higher orders, I'll release you to go find your squad, Gunny. Take Dubbo and Dekker with you, if you want. "
As " unexpected surprised " went, that definitely qualified. The good kind, though.
You sound serious.
Like you actually want to follow through with it if you got the chance..
You know I can't leave them behind..
Buck met her gaze though his visor, though he kept it polarized. It was better- easier, that is- for him to keep exactly how much he cared about that bunch of wild cards to himself...and besides, Korsan clearly already had some kind of handle on it. She knew- had known for while, actually- that ODSTs always stick together, and didn't take lightly to leaving one another behind enemy lines.
Covenant lines, that is.
Here, with said Covenant coming at them , and so many Civvies depending on them to save their lives, with the soreness of overworked muscles screaming at him beneath his armor plates...it was...appreciated, to have that kind of support. And, from someone who actually lived outside the wire, so to speak..
He kept it under wraps, though. Automatically, and without a hint that it'd been done. Outwardly, all he offered was what was needed:
A nod, and a succinct ( but, deeply emanating ) :
" 'Preciate that, Ma'am. They're my boys. I have to back for 'em, one way or the other. "
There was...a flicker of understanding from the Captain, and maybe even a twitch of a smile, unless Buck was seeing things...and given that he was getting dangerously close to a state of sleep deprivation, that wasn't entirely unlikely.
Better to just accept things as they looked, and keep going.
Stay focused, on the task at hand..
"...Till we get clear, though...request permission to run point...or guard our 6 ", he continued. " Task us wherever you need, though. "
Patronizing ? Maybe, but he had to strike a balance here. An officer might need a reminder of their most valuable assets, and how to use them best- and/or maybe said " best assets " needed to assert themselves just a tad as a reminder themselves.
" Spoken like a true ODST ". There was clear, and palpable respect carried on Korsan's response...something did tend to happen when even officers were confronted with how raw the spirit of the ODSTs really was.
She already knew, obviously. But there could only be more to follow..
" Just like I had you pegged. Well, I've covered the plan with my command staff- had to with you, though. You're my Ace, Gunnery Sergeant Buck. I'll be relying on you as we get this done. And, we're going to get this done. "
Saying that last bit with dripping conviction, she shut off the pad's screen , and tucked it away before facing the taller ODST , with more of that same determination setting her jaw.
...Kinda like how Veronica did. Except without the typical aggravatingly stupid ONI rhetoric of " classified " this, and " classified " that. It was her only real flaw, frankly...
One shared by pretty much all ONI...and one that this O-Club goer ( probably ) didn't have to worry about at all.
"...Gotta say, Ma'am "..
Buck didn't bother with a " Permission to speak freely "- it was completely pointless. There wasn't anything about what he was about to say that any officer worth his or her salt would have even the slightest issue with. He had to say it, though..
He had to. Korsan had earned it by now.
"... You should consider switching to the ODSTs, when the dust settles. We could use more like you ", Buck suggested.
It wasn't casual; he was serious about it. 100 percent. If good NCOs were the lifeblood of the rank and file Marines and Soldiers, and triple for the ODSTs...then having good Officers as well was often the final cherry on top. Bad ones were the sheep leading the lions, so to speak, but the opposite ? Matched with good NCOs ?
That...was a force to worry about.
And by now...he could tell Korsan was one of them.
Maybe she knew it too, from her reaction. "...One day, Gunny. One day, I just might. "
" But that's then. Let's take care of now ", she finished, smoothly taking on a hard, determined edge that few female officers could manage.
" Rally your Marines, and let's get the Civvies ready to roll ! We're leaving, and we're leaving now. "