Chapter 16 – Urbs
August 18th, 2552 - (08:05 Hours - Military Calendar)
Epsilon Eridani System, Reach
Viery Territory, Eposz
New Alexandria, Csillagos éj Hotel
:********:
Erica was in her office when she heard the sirens. Her space was on one of the highest floors of the hotel. As such, once she swiveled around in her chair, it gave her a bird's eye view of the north side of the city, buildings and all. It also gave her an eyeful of small, blue, purple and red dots off in the distance. They almost looked like a swarm of hundreds of bugs spread out across the horizon. It was only through the bellowing wails of emergency sirens blaring over the cityscape, and the way in which the 'swarm' grew closer by the second, that her heart rose into her throat. They helped her understand clearly what was happening.
The city reacted before she did.
Her perspective granted her the chance to see the results of the sirens as they echoed through the streets and highways. New Alexandria's morning traffic was at a fever pitch with the rise of rush hour. Cars, trucks, vans and other vehicles were stuck in lengthy gridlocks that ran the lengths of entire blocks. That didn't stop some drivers and passengers from stepping outside to see what was going on. Their eyes went skyward for a moment before their legs sent them speeding down the aisles of traffic. Others saw them running, stepped outside to look then eventually did the same, creating a vicious cycle. In little time a trickle of persons became a human stampede. People rushed away from the approaching threat in a mass panic, running over those that tripped and trapping those that hadn't left their vehicles in time. Patrols of Army troopers that the city had by now gotten used to immediately sprang into action. Some took to shepherding civilians off the streets and into the refuge of nearby buildings while others ran to aid the trampled.
Atop dozens of skyscrapers, platoons of soldiers rushed to sandbag positions. Behind them, the array of anti-aircraft guns that had been setup over the last two weeks came online. Long rotary cannons and stocky missile batteries swiveled not just northward but also to the east and west. They took aim at targets she could see as well as those she couldn't.
The moment reality set in, Erica shot out of her seat and rushed through her office door. The outside corridor was filled with movement. Office assistants and members of her staff were storming past, shouting warnings to friends, pointing out windows, casting away folders, briefcases, purses and anything else that could slow them down.
She slipped out her datapad, linked it to her earpiece and pulled up her contact for the hotel's Director of Security.
"Corseaga!? Corseaga, pick up!"
The director replied in a rush. "A little busy here, ma'am."
"It's about to get even busier. Set off the alarm."
"But ma'am, the Army guys are still on my case about the situation with the landing pa-"
Erica didn't hear the rest as the director was drowned out by the low whoosh of missiles. She whirled back around and saw the scene playing out beyond the glass walls of her office.
New Alexandria's anti-aircraft array was beginning its first response to the Covenant. The wave of assault craft swooping in from the north had already passed the city's space elevators when the barrage was unleashed. Hundreds of missiles flew out of their launch tubes. They streamed over the tops of buildings on tails of exhaust that striped the skies, the screams of their passage echoing across the city even as they crossed the ocean. Others went east or west to different targets, creating a confusion of exhaust trails in the skyline. Those heading north did so at a number that almost matched the incoming legions. They came alive the farther they went, diverting from their initial flight path to single out individual targets. Fighters and dropships ducked, weaved and rolled away from them or shot them down with blasts of plasma. A slew were not so lucky. Many were consumed into puffs of orange and blue, spat back out as tumbling fireballs that clattered across the surface of the water or dove straight through it. Only a few dozen suffered such a fate. They were a drop in the bucket compared to the hundreds more that carried on, ignoring the remains of their comrades that pelted their hulls.
"I don't care, get that alarm rolling now!" Erica barked.
"...Yes ma'am."
She backed all the way out of her office. Making sure she was in the safety of the now depopulated corridor, she hung up on her head of security and switched to a new number.
A voice answered from her pad. "This is Lieutenant Walker, who am I speaking with?"
"Lieutenant, this is the manager of the Csillagos. Are you still in the building?"
A calculating pause preceded his answer. "Don't worry ma'am, I'm aware of the situation outside. My troopers are currently working with your HS to organize the evac points for the hotel. We're still-"
"Never mind that, sir. Your plans are going to have to speed up."
"What do you me-"
Erica's automated voice came through the corridor's amplification system and echoed up to her from the rest of the hotel. "Attention all guests and employees, please remain calm. An emergency situation has developed in the city. Please make your way to the central waiting areas of your respective floors immediately. Security and evacuation efforts are underway. Again, please make your way to the central waiting areas as soon as possible. Hotel security as well as armed protection by Army personnel will be available at these locations."
The message stopped ahead of the hotel's own sirens which blared in competition with those going off across Alexandria. After a short spell, her message repeated.
"Ma'am?"
"I don't have any other choice, lieutenant." She argued. "They're here now, there's no changing that."
"Ma'am, that's not the point. I don't believe you consulted me on that message because I don't have enough men to cover every floor."
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Right now, I just need you to work with me. Can you do that?"
Her question was answered by a deafening din that erupted outside, overwhelming the constant whoosh of the missile batteries. She inched her way back towards her office to peer outside.
The fleet of Covenant aircraft had gotten much closer, so close that the city's network of AA guns had finally gotten involved. Their cannons unloaded long bursts that began to overlap as one layer of defense guns engaged after the other, shattering whatever silence remained between missile salvos. The arrhythmic drumbeat cast a net of fire across the skies in almost every direction, catching and ensnaring the first aircraft to reach the city limits. Those fighters and dropships that had survived the opening salvos were followed by bullet sprays that pursued them like schools of fish after larger prey. Sheilds were broken, canopies pierced and wing canards blown off. Their owners twirled away on columns of smoke, plunging into the shallows of the bay or, on the increasingly visible flanks, spiraling apart in fiery destruction across the slopes of the mountains. The casualties were still merely a fraction of the whole.
Erica saw the true scope of things more fully by then. The city was surrounded on three sides by three different groups of Covenant. She couldn't distinguish any formations since they flew so close together. They appeared more like a furious mass of blood reds, shining purples and darkened blues that soared towards the city with lethal intent. The AA guns met them with an equal intent. However, the latter's ballistic net became smaller and smaller as the enemy closed the distance.
Soon the guns were firing straight up in an attempt to catch targets zooming directly overhead. What started as a drip quickly broke into a flood as the dam of the city's defenses leaked, buckled and burst.
Alexandria's airways filled with the thrum of alien engines. The invading swarm suddenly turned into an organized affair of groups and squadrons that divided themselves across the area. Plasma rained down from smaller fighters which strafed the same AA guns that had culled their numbers. Soldiers scrambled away from deadly blue bursts that battered their positions, ducking at green orbs that rocked the emplacements behind them.
The larger fighters descended upon the outermost streets and highways. They dipped into attack runs along the roads, not shooting anything, or so she thought, before they pulled up. They ascended away while pinpoints of silvery blue light arced down into the streets. There were still throngs of civilians fleeing from their cars and soldiers struggling to help them. Many never made it beyond the sidewalks. The incoming weapons touched the ground in blinding flashes, expanding into walls of fire that rushed along highways like tidal waves. In a blink, hundreds of people and vehicles were overtaken by the onrushing plasma, setting metal, asphalt and flesh ablaze.
Within seconds she watched over half-a-dozen highways and adjoining streets turned into infernos, each glowing with an intensity to rival the morning light. Screams arose across the city that melded together so ubiquitously that no single voice could be distinguished. The cries, however, became nothing more than background noise to the raucous fire of the AA guns, the unified screams of outgoing missiles and the wailing of municipal sirens.
"Ma'am!? Ma'am, can you hear me!?"
Erica remembered that she was still on a call. Her legs began to tremble. Her stomach burned. She felt ready to throw up.
She managed to pull herself together enough to take her hand away from her mouth. She wiped the tears out of her eyes as she backed away once more from her office.
"I'm-...I'm here, lieutenant."
"Ma'am, I suggest you get yourself somewhere safe. We'll work out the evacuation as we go, just get moving."
Erica found her throat to be just as trembly as her legs. Hardly able to squeeze another sound out, she nodded and hung up, remembering too late that the lieutenant couldn't see her response. She decided to make good on his advice however and ran for the end of the corridor.
Her feet carried her halfway before they skidded to a stop. She turned back around to spot the entrance to the stairwell on the other end.
"Noah..."
She didn't have to think much after that. Against the design of her high heels, her body carried her into a sprint. A single thought possessed her arms as they pried the door open as well as her legs as they guided her down the stairs.
Her safety didn't matter until she was sure of his.
She raced down the steps in a bid to reach the floor his school was on. At no point was she given a reprieve from the happenings outside. The glass walls at the back of each landing allowed her a clear view of the east side of the city.
The macabre orchestra of screams never stopped. They vacillated with each plasma bomb dropped and strafing run attempted, diminishing in some places while rising like the roar of the ocean in others. The stairs reverberated every so often from far-off explosions that were creeping closer by the minute. Shadows shot past, flashes of purple and blue that briefly blocked out the sun. More detonations deep within New Alexandria followed their passage. She was relieved that nothing struck the hotel, but she didn't know how long that would last.
She considered the Army personnel that she had on hand. As part of the UNSC occupation force, they had invited themselves into her building out of necessity. The hotel's 'strategic position' made it vital for their mission, or so Lieutenant Walker, the leader of the group had told her. His crew was comprised of a company of Army troopers. Their numbers made them easy to keep out of sight of her thousands of clientele. She allowed them to have certain floors for their own use. However, it was Walker's main request for his troops to hold up on those floors that had direct access to landing pads. According to him, they would need it in case an 'emergency situation' arose that required an immediate evacuation. Erica's managerial mind had drawn the line there. The hotel's top-tier guests frequented those pads on their private transports, those of them that remained anyway. The last thing she needed was for them to step off a long flight only to see turrets, rifles and sandbags waiting for them inside. She wanted the Army out of sight and out of mind, giving Walker's men access to floors just beneath those with pads. That way they could at least rush into place if said need arose.
Yet here was that need. She was beginning to hate herself for it now. It left Walker's soldiers out of position when they really needed to be ready. Even though the lieutenant had agreed, it turned out to be a major setback that they were only just coming to grips with. Her best bet from hereon was that Corseaga had already given them the control they needed to save her guests.
Pounding her way down the steps, she knew at least one of her fears was confirmed. There wasn't a soul in Alexandria who wasn't suspicious of the influx of UNSC forces a few weeks ago. What was supposedly a precaution against Covenant action in a neighboring system was in the process of being exposed for the lie that it was.
The Covenant were on Reach.
The UNSC knew that, not that they'd tried to let anyone else know.
How long they were aware of it was hard to say but they had gotten everything in place for it well ahead of time. Everything of course except the evacuation of the city. She wagered that no more than 20% of NA's population was actually removed. The attempt of the local command to transfer everyone out one block at a time had barely accomplished anything. While parts of the city were abandoned, the majority sadly remained inhabited. The failure to reestablish inter-planetary communications and travel beforehand was coming back to haunt them. The price for that failure made itself known with each wave of shrieks that resounded from the edges of the city. Every minute it moved further inward alongside the advance of the Covenant.
All the more reason to leave.
She hadn't had the chance to do so prior. Her responsibility for the lives of those under her leadership was binding, both legally and mentally. She couldn't leave until they left. So today they would all leave right along with her. What other choice was there?
She wasn't alone in the stairwell for long. She ran into the first person about a minute in. By then she was running down the steps. She nearly crashed into a couple that were making their way up to another floor. The looks of terror on their faces stopped her cold. The family of three were carrying a young child. She had pointed them to the central area of the nearest floor when another family came right on their heels. Then another. She tried to direct them to the nearest door as well. Nevertheless, they gradually became a bursting stream that threatened to swamp her. Soon she was forced to give up on trying to help anyone. Instead, she resorted to melding with the crowds, slipping through breaks in the masses to make further headway. Loud shrieks and concerned shouts were echoing up from farther below by the time she swung open the door to Floor 62.
Having navigated almost 40 flights of stairs, her legs came close to giving out once she staggered into the first corridor. It wasn't even the floor she was trying to get to. Nevertheless, the growing numbers pushing against her made her give up on that route. She looked around for the entrance to another nearby stairwell and sighted it at the far end of the passageway. The door to every room in between was left open and clothes lay strewn about. The passage was chiefly occupied by Army troopers. A squad was guiding a handful of people, what she supposed were 62's dregs, down adjacent hallways and towards the main atrium. It was in her favor, providing less people to have to push past.
She took speedy strides down the corridor. The nearest trooper spotted her and called out but she carried on. Another tried to do the same with similar luck. She was almost to the other end when another soldier, a bold-faced sergeant, seized her by the arm.
"Ma'am, you can't go that way. We need you to come with us."
"Respectfully, sir, I can't do that. I need to get to my son. He's two floors down, just let me-"
"We'll find him." He pressed. "Please, follow the others to the main waiting area. We can't leave anyone behind in this section."
"Those are Lieutenant Walker's orders?"
"Yes ma'am, now please, get mov-"
"You should reconsider, soldier. You can either keep me here and I can tell your CO how you're delaying me in helping him with his mission, or...you can let me go."
The sergeant's boldness softened as it must have dawned on him who she really was. To her surprise, he looked ready to say something in her disfavor when he suddenly looked past her. Curious, she turned around to see three semi-familiar faces and one very familiar one walking towards them.
'Alana Simko' as her documentation referred to her, 'Sará' as Noah knew her, walked briskly down the corridor. She was flanked on either side and to her front by her bodyguards. Erica noticed that their charge was the only one carrying a suitcase behind them. More striking was her face. It was contorted into an expression that Erica hadn't seen from anyone up until now. There wasn't fear or despair written there but guilt.
Odd.
Odder still were the guards whose earlier inexpressiveness was broken by a look of purpose. Their stride said the same thing, as did the sidearms strapped to their belts.
The sergeant raised his hand for them to stop.
Before he could get a word out, the lead guard raised his own. He flashed, if for the briefest second, his badge and the pyramidal insignia of the Office of Naval Intelligence engraved on it.
A few of Erica's suspicions were answered right then. More still were raised as the sergeant immediately shrunk back.
He stepped aside to allow the group through. The guilty shadow under Sará's eyes dissipated upon meeting Erica's. She stopped walking. To Erica's shock, the young woman was on the verge of tears.
"I'm-...I'm so sorry."
"Don't talk, keep moving." One of the 'guards' said, taking her by the shoulder to force her onward.
Sará kept looking back even as they ferried her into the stairwell that Erica had just left. She seemed like she was trying to get something across. A message? An admission of guilt?
Erica wasn't so sure, but she didn't have the luxury of time to think about it. With the sergeant distracted, she burst out running in the opposite direction. He called out, started after her at a half-hearted run then stopped. She heard him issue orders to his men behind her to focus on securing the rest of the floor. She was in the clear.
She shouldered the door open and was relieved to find the stairwell mostly empty. She flew down the last two flights between her and Floor 60.
"I'm coming, Noe. Just hold on."
:********:
Noah was sitting at his desk, peering lazily out the glass walls of his classroom when he heard the sirens. He was bored out of his mind with Mrs. Graves' lesson on mixed fractions. The boredom vanished the moment that he and his class all picked up on what was happening. The girls stopped whispering, the boys stopped chatting and Mrs. Graves stopped teaching. Everything came to a standstill as everyone looked outside.
There wasn't anything out of place in the city. He thought so at least until someone pointed past the buildings.
There was dust in the sky. A lot of it. It was multi-colored too, full of blues, reds and purples.
Noah was sure that that was what it was up until the missiles started shooting. He felt his gut catch on fire and his legs go numb at what he realized he was looking at.
Mrs. Graves caught on before anyone else did. "Everyone, come with me now."
Everything afterwards was a blur. The whole class was drained out of the room as well as every other class. They weren't allowed to bring their bags, pads or anything, just themselves. Their teachers led them in a large line towards the main exit. He couldn't help noticing how they did it. No one, not Mrs. Graves or any of the other teachers was calm. Not even Chuck and Hailey, the school's tough looking security guards were okay. All the adults were on edge. He couldn't say the same for his classmates and those in the other classes. For many of them, whatever was happening was going right over their heads. They were still talking and whispering with each other. Nevertheless, there were a few who, like him, seemed to know exactly what was going on. They were mostly kids that he knew were from other colonies. They walked the fastest out of everyone, each wearing the kind of face that made him think they were seeing ghosts.
Maybe they were.
While they were moving towards the exit, he spotted Tommy and Daniel and made his way over. "Hey, you guys okay?
Tommy kept his mouth shut. He stared straight ahead like a monster was breathing down his neck.
"I-, I don't kn-, know." Daniel stuttered. "Back there, wasn't-, wasn't that-"
Feeling his mouth beginning to glue shut, Noah nodded.
Daniel shuddered but said nothing more.
Above the hushed chats of the other kids, Noah heard a low murmur from Tommy.
"Where's mom? I need to find mom. She should be here by now, right?"
Noah reached over to pat him on the back. "It's okay, Tom. She'll be here."
"I don't wanna..."
"You don't wanna what?"
Tommy met his gaze for the first time then broke off as he glanced behind them, back towards their classroom. He quickly looked away again to stare beady eyed at the exit.
"Where's my mom? I need to find her."
Noah stopped trying after that. It didn't feel like he was talking to his friend anymore, more like he was talking at him.
What he'd said reminded him of something else. Where was his own mom? He needed to get back to her before anything else went wrong.
The sound of crackling thunder put an end to his thoughts. The floor rumbled and the walls shook. There were screams all around. The teachers struggled to quiet everyone down. Even after they did, there was still crying and more screams. But the last one didn't come from inside the school. It was coming from outside.
A voice sounded over Starry Night's announcement system. He recognized his mother's tone instantly. The thing he couldn't understand was how she could be so calm as she explained the emergency.
There was another crack of thunder and more screams before Noah's class finally made it out the exit.
Outside was hardly any better. Waiting for them was a sea of people, adults and children alike, that ambled about. Noah could almost sense the fear. He could read it in the way they moved about, flinching or ducking whenever the building shook. They acted just like the kids who some of them sifted through in a quest to find their own. He saw a few of his classmates get picked out of the line by parents that hugged them close. The majority had to keep moving. Since their parents lived on other floors, they had to stick with the teachers, squeezing and shuffling forward along a trail that led through the crowds.
They came to a stop at the railings that circled off the most open area of the floor. Noah managed to get close enough to peer over them. He could see the dozens of floors above and below like it was one big elevator shaft. The same thing was playing out everywhere. Scores of adults and kids were sitting or standing about, some calling up to others on different floors. He saw more than one person shouting to a family member several levels down, telling them to meet-up somewhere in between.
He turned to Daniel and Tommy. "See anybody?"
Tommy was biting his lip. Searching up and down, he shook his head.
After a few seconds of looking here and there, Daniel gritted his teeth. "No, they're not here."
"Wha-, what about yours?" Tommy asked.
Noah scanned the different floors. When that didn't work, he peered over the crowd gathered outside the school. His mom wasn't anywhere in there either. He got on his tiptoes to peer past them and spotted what had brought everyone together. He counted close to 20 soldiers standing guard around the people. They were blocking off other hallways and guarding the exits.
The door to one of those exits just so happened to swing open as he was looking. His mom stepped out. He'd never been happier to see her in his life.
"Mom!" He waved to get her attention. "Hey, over here!"
To his relief, she spotted him and shouldered her way through. He met her halfway and jumped into her arms. She squeezed him tight.
"Thank God you're safe."
"Me?" Noah whined. "I was worried about you. What took you so long?"
She let him go as she breathed a little easier. "I was in my office, honey. I had to take care of a few things first."
"But didn't you hear the sirens?"
"That's what I had to take care of."
Another rumble shook the floor. This time Noah could hear a loud BOOM that echoed from somewhere outside.
Neither of them said anything for a second, too caught up in the sound to think.
"Mom?" Noah said shakily. "It's them...isn't it?"
He saw a glint of sadness in her eye as she focused on him again. Her lips quivered from whatever it was she wanted to say. She kneeled to his eye-level and put her hands on his shoulders, grabbing them tightly.
"Noah, listen to me. You're leaving today, alright? You're leaving right now. You're going on a transport and it's going to take you off Reach, okay?"
A wave of confusion struck Noah in the chest. "Don't you mean-"
"Listen to me. Don't worry, once you leave, you'll be safe."
"Don't you mean we'll be safe?"
He felt a tinge of fear as her sad look deepened.
"That's what you mean, right?" He croaked.
"Noah-"
"That's what you mean, right?" He felt tears slipping out while he waited for her to say what he wanted her to. "Just say 'yes', that's it. You're coming too, aren't you?"
"...Yes."
The tears stopped short and he came close to cheering up.
"But listen, Noe, I might not be able to go with you."
Whatever relief he had disappeared. "Wha-, why-, why not?"
Erica pointed to everyone around them. "You see them? I'm responsible for them, Noe. It's my hotel and I need to make sure they leave it in one piece, you understand?"
He didn't.
His voice cracked in his throat. "But you're just a manager. That's what you said, right? You don't own the place. Let somebody else do it. You can't stay here."
"And what about Mr. Mitchell and Ms. Turner?" She shot back. "What do you think will happen to them if I just leave them here?"
That one stomped him. He inwardly slapped himself for forgetting about them, about everyone else too for that matter. His sight watered over again as he grasped for a way out.
"Let the soldiers do it. They have guns."
Erica grasped him tighter. "They don't know this place like I do. If I don't help them, they'll get even more jammed up than they already are."
Noah felt his heart threatening to beat out of his chest. He looked around the floor, desperate to find any excuse he could in the sea of people. He didn't. He couldn't. Still, he tried.
Already heaving from his sobs, he asked again. "But, what- where am I going? I-, I don't even know where to go. I don't-"
Before he knew it, his mom rushed in to wrap him again in a strong hug. He didn't have the strength to give it back. Instead, he cried into her neck.
"Wherever you go, you'll be safe." She said. "I'll find you again, I swear."
He shook his head. "Don't...leave me...alone."
She hugged him closer, rubbed his back, and did anything she could to calm him down again. "You won't be alone, Noe. I promise. See?"
She gestured to Daniel and Tommy who had watched the whole thing from nearby. "They'll be with you the whole way."
Daniel, swallowing hard, gave a semi-confident nod. "I'll make sure he's okay, Mrs. Iris. No worries."
Tommy didn't say anything. He kept looking around for his parents, hovering on the verge of tears himself.
His mom was also on the edge as Noah turned back to find her wiping away hers. She held him at arm's length and gave him a reassuring shake.
"I need you to toughen up for me, okay? I need you to be tougher than you've ever been. If either of their parents comes to pick them up, you go with them, you hear me? Don't wait for me. When it's time, I'll come find you. Whether it's here or on the roof or...wherever. I don't want you to doubt that for a second, alright young man?"
Sniffling, he forced himself to nod. The best he could do was dip his head.
"Come here."
She reached over and kissed him on the cheek as she hugged him again. "I love you, Noe. Don't you ever forget that, not even for a second."
This time her words gave him the strength to hug her back, clinging so tight that he thought he could keep her there. He didn't want to let her go. He didn't want her to leave.
His mom stood up anyways, breaking his hold so easily that she didn't seem to notice.
She looked like she wanted to say something else. Whatever it was, she didn't let it out and was about to walk away.
"Think dad will be here soon?"
She stopped mid-turn to look back at him. She made a face that made him think he'd hit the nail on the head of whatever it was she wanted to say. And yet she didn't say anything. That sadness he'd seen before came back again. He saw it as clear as day even as she tried to hide it behind a smile.
Then she left.
He watched her slip back into the crowd and disappear.
His teeth chattered in his mouth from what he knew was another urge to cry.
'I need you to toughen up for me, okay?'
He bit down, stopping his teeth and swallowing down what sobs were left. He rounded on the other two.
"You okay?" Daniel asked earnestly.
"...I think so. Did you see your parents yet?"
"No. Tommy hasn't either, right Tom?"
If Tommy heard them, he made no effort to show it. He was still looking around.
Noah decided to do the same. There was nothing left to do except sit and wait.
Hopping from face to face, he eventually landed on a girl from their class. He could tell who she was from her dark, messy braids and her freckles. He usually felt a nervous burn in his chest whenever he saw her. Not this time.
It was Emma.
Seeing her made him remember the advice his dad had given him back when he first came clean about his crush. He had acted on it too to the point he was sure he could call her a friend. Even so, he wasn't thinking about how he could start another chat with her but why it was that she was all alone.
She stood off by herself at the railing, peeking out every so often at the other floors.
"I'll be right back."
"Where're you going?" Daniel asked.
He nodded in her direction.
Daniel spotted her and frowned. "Is now really a good time?"
"Just want to make sure she's okay."
Noah didn't give him a chance to reply. He brushed past him and shuffled along the rail, coming to a stop right beside her. Getting closer made it obvious again, as it always did, the difference in their heights. She was a head taller than him. Then again, who wasn't?
"Hey, you okay?"
"Huh?" She looked over him at first then finally down. "Oh, hey Noe."
He didn't get nervous like he usually did when her light eyes settled on his. With confidence, the kind he knew he would need going forward, he spoke up.
"Did you see your parents yet?"
She shook her head. "They're somewhere here. They have to be, but I don't see them."
"Oh..." He weighed his next words carefully. "Want to come with us?"
"Who?"
He pointed over at Daniel and Tommy. "We're sticking together in case ours can't get us in time."
Emma sized the three of them up. "I-...I don't know. I don't think mines will take too long-..."
"Don't worry about it." He said, smiling apologetically. "Stay safe, okay?"
He turned to leave, taking a few steps before he heard her call after him.
"Wait."
"Yeah?"
Emma eyed the crowd worriedly. "I'll come with you. Do me a favor though, keep looking for mine and I'll keep looking for yours, deal?"
Despite a far-off BOOM that shook the floor beneath him, he felt his nerves burning in his cheeks again. He hoped deep down that he wasn't blushing as he answered her.
"Deal."
She smiled, relieved.
He did too and led her back over to Daniel and Tommy. Ignoring the loud sounds coming from outside and the way the hotel shook every so often, he toughened up for all their sakes.
:********:
Sará didn't want to leave, not while everyone else was still in danger.
She was moving against her will nonetheless. Her bodyguards, ONI agents, were freed by the exigencies of their circumstances to reveal themselves. Their leader, a man whose name she never got to know, repeatedly flashed his ID badge to any soldier that got in their way. The occasional inquisitive corporal or questioning sergeant quickly wised up after seeing the ONI insignia. This applied to every corridor they travelled along and every stairwell they ascended. They regularly chose different staircases whenever they arrived at a blockage of civilians at another. They dashed along passageways and bypassed trooper squads in a race for the rooftop.
The agents had spoken to her a handful of times since her arrival in New Alexandria, and even then, only when they absolutely had to. This was one such instance where she wished they were more open.
"We're heading to the roof." That was all their leader bothered to let her in on as he ordered her to pack her things. She could put the pieces together to some extent. There had to be an aircraft waiting to pick them up. However, that didn't resolve a few other questions she desperately wanted answers to.
How could they hope to fly off while the Covenant were swarming the skies?
What about everyone else?
The last question bugged her more than the first. She'd been asking it to herself as much as she had to her guardians. Neither proved very forthcoming.
Of course, ONI wasn't about to warn anyone in the city of what was coming and they made sure she couldn't either. All the same, she sensed a good deal of the blame falling on her shoulders. She hadn't had the stomach to tell anyone what she knew while she'd gone on her escapade two weeks ago.
She hadn't said a word about it, not even to a kid whose whole world was on the brink.
And who would believe her anyway? Who would believe someone they'd never met that she knew the cause behind the communications blackout, that she'd seen it with her own eyes and barely survived it?
Those questions served as her best defense against the nights that she couldn't sleep. Today, however, they reached their limit. Each step that brought her closer to the rooftop was shadowed by grief that she fought to keep to herself. Every face she passed, young and old, innocent and suspecting, added an additional weight to her trek. She had nothing left to tell them aside from an admission of the guilt that threatened to strangle her inside.
But who would care? The countless countenances she encountered in the stairwells weren't offended or appalled. They were envious, murmuring discontentedly as troopers had them move aside to make way for the four VIPs. Not that she felt very important. Were it not for her parents, their connections and her possible testimony of everything she'd witnessed, she suspected these same agents would've had no trouble leaving her behind too.
Nearly to the top, somewhere around Floor 120, they were brought to a stop behind a wall of people. Sará was exhausted by then. Her once light luggage had grown heavy and her conscience even heavier. She stomped up the last available step right behind the lead agent and peeped over his shoulder.
The mass of people standing in their way was packed tight, too tight to actually see through them to the next landing. The rest of the stairway lay out of sight.
Sará leaned over the railing to peer up the height of the stairwell. For the next 20 floors there was no sign of space within the living traffic jam that stemmed to the very top of the hotel. Neither was there a sign that the jam was about to get underway.
"I think we should go back," She said. "Doesn't look like we'll be moving for a bit if we stay here."
The lead agent ignored her and looked around for a soldier to let them through. After finding none, he let out a sigh and nodded for them to follow her suggestion.
They treaded back down in haste as new arrivals were already piling in behind them. They passed through the nearest exit and entered the corridors of Floor 119.
After a few turns, they came across a two-storied lounge area on the northside of the hotel. Clusters of tables and soft chairs were set in front of an empty bar, and just above it was a balcony with more seats. There were still drinks out, wine glasses left half-full.
The lounge's ever-present glass walls gave them a clear view of the city. However, what she saw made her wish she hadn't.
Covenant aircraft were everywhere. They hovered above like buzzards circling the dying, firing down on parts of the city or receiving returns from the ground. Others buzzed over blazing streets like vectors above a corpse. The greatest infernos remained farther off to the northern, eastern and western city limits. The fighting itself was not so contained nor was the UNSC's defense limited to the ground.
Some of the alien fighters were maneuvering above Alexandria, their arrow-shaped counterparts in hot pursuit. Longsword squadrons descended from the clouds with more following close behind. They weren't as plenteous as the enemy but dove into strafing runs on the invaders regardless, scarring them with rotary cannons and trailing them with missiles. She could make out squadrons of other craft afar off, of Falcons and Pelicans crossing over the expanse of the northern ocean. Their numbers too were a mere fraction of what the Covenant had brought to bear. And yet they had come despite that.
These, she figured, must have been reinforcements.
As the four of them dashed across the lounge she realized some of the dogfights were coming closer than she would have liked. They zoomed by less than a few dozen meters away. The group were several steps shy of the exit on the other side when she spotted a Covenant bomber being chased by a Longsword. They were rocketing straight towards the hotel, straight towards them.
Barely anyone had a chance to react as the two aircraft flashed by. The pursued angled upwards while the pursuer followed its example, arcing up and away from their crash course at the last possible second. The jet-stream in their wake bellowed through the walls in a shockwave of glass, bathing the lounge in flying shards.
Sará managed to get her suitcase up in front of her, sparing her the glass but not the blast of wind that bowled her over. She crashed against a chair and tumbled across the floor.
She felt weak. Her ears were ringing as she slowly picked herself up. The agents got back up as well. She looked to have gotten the better end of the ordeal thanks to her suitcase. The others were bleeding from sliced up cheeks and arms. It wasn't enough to stop them.
After one of them checked on her, the leader got them moving again.
Sará took one last look at the twinkling aftermath. The chilly grasp of Reach's northern winds flowed freely into the lounge through the shattered view. So did the sounds of the fighting.
The shock of the close call gave way to a pang in her conscience. She couldn't help thinking of the people she'd met at the hotel. She thought of Noah and wondered how he was faring, if he was still okay.
She was rushed out the door and into another, emptier stairwell. The agents allowed her no rest as they pushed on one haggard step after the next.
:********:
Duncan didn't move a muscle. Not a twitch of the eye nor spasm of the leg could escape his control. He poured every ounce of his being into an ironclad focus. He made sure not to miss a beat of the briefing, his full thoughts absorbing every detail of Bravo Company's plan of attack.
The E-Deck of the UNSC frigate Fool Me Twice bustled with activity. Over 100 ODSTs, nearly half of the company, were finishing their last pre-mission checks. Around the main bay area troopers were disassembling, inspecting then reassembling their weapons and equipment. Others busied themselves at the ejection tubes of the drop bay, the steely chasm that divided the hangar along its length. They ran diagnostic tests on their pods to ensure everything was on point, ranging from the integrity of their crash cages to the quality of the propellant housed within their braking rockets.
The individual platoons were slowly gathering at tactical planners set up on the port and starboard sides of the bay. Those who finished investigating both pod and gear found themselves sitting or standing around a projection of their destination. Sergeants, lieutenants and captains were the ones directing the briefings. The goals and objectives of each company and platoon were laid out in full. Such was 1st Platoon's, and by extension, Duncan's predicament.
There was something about the light-blue depiction of the city that annoyed him. At first, he couldn't pin it down.
The projection was expansive enough to cover everything, from the Delphi Triple Strand Network in the northern ocean to the encompassing mountains of the south. The labyrinthian mazework of the city stood in sharp detail from the ground up, from the bowels of the lower levels to the multitudinous skyscrapers. What wasn't so clear was the situation in real time. And there lay his biggest qualm.
There was no display of the Covenant aircraft swarming the airspace, of the damage to infrastructure that he was so accustomed to seeing. There was nothing, no real information to go on besides what he was told.
The Staff had everyone assembled at a planner on the portside of the hangar. The mission objectives had been dumped onto their HUDs just 10 minutes earlier. It wouldn't have been an issue were it not for the fact that they were about to approach their drop zone in another 15 minutes. Chalking it up to the colonel being hard-pressed with everything else on his plate, the Staff got to work showing 1st Platoon where they fit into the grand scheme of things.
He strode pensively around the planner with hands on hips as he examined both it and his troopers.
"It's not good." He said plainly. "Now that that's settled, let's get on to how bad it really is. Right now, the bulk of the Army's pre-established positions are under siege. Across New Alexandria, our boys in boots are trying to evacuate the remaining civilian population with one hand and hold back the Covenant with the other. The main dilemma: they're having a hell of a time doing both. The Covies used their head start on us to lay into them. We're looking at the usual play for large-scale urban assaults. There's been repeated bombing runs trying to cordon off those sections of the city that appear the most densely populated or hardest to capture. Phantoms and Spirits have started dropping off hostile ground forces as well. Intel suggests their numbers are already somewhere in the thousands with more on the way."
Duncan stiffened.
Reznik who was sitting close to him wound up asking the question he was too troubled to pose.
"There's more inbound, sir?"
The Staff came to a stop. He briefly glanced at Whiskey's demolitionist, locked eyes with Duncan and gave a grim nod as he waved a hand at the city.
The planner noticed his movement and zoomed out to a view of the wider region of Eposz. Hundreds of red dots appeared in three distinct groups, one to the south, another to the west and the last coming in from the east. Duncan scrutinized them closely. It took a bit of squinting to notice the particulars. The device showed three hosts of Covenant aircraft of varying natures all flying towards the city. Their appearances were oversimplified in a way that only a computer that lacked the proper fear of their capabilities could conjure.
"Satellite reconnaissance confirmed the presence of another wave on its way." The Staff explained. "There's another one coming after that as well. There's no solid estimation for when they'll arrive yet but it's going to be some time after we've landed. It gives us some breathing room to prepare at least. That said, this is going to be an onslaught. It'll be our job and that of the rest of the reinforcements to make sure it doesn't turn into a slaughter."
He paused for a response.
Save for a few looks of mild concern, only Berlin spoke up. "We're really dropping into that mess, sir?"
"Is there a problem with that, trooper?"
Berlin quickly shook his head. "No-no, I was just thinking, sir. What you're talking about sounds the same as building a sandcastle at high tide. I mean, that's-…"
The young ODST trailed off into a nervous silence after realizing he had a couple of hardy smiles aimed his way, namely from Epsilon.
The Staff smirked as well. "Thanks for the reminder, trooper. I forgot this is your first honest-to-God urban combat drop. Whiskey, listen in. You'll find that inserting on top of a moving ship is different than dropping into a city. You've shown you have the kind of skill for sticking the landing on your last mission that not even some of your more experienced comrades managed to pull off. However, this will require another kind of skill. It's not about hitting a moving target as much as it's about not getting hit before you land. Keep your eyes open for buildings, statues, any structures that can cause you grief on your way down. Same goes for the shooting. Sprawls like this are death's playground so you'll need to keep one eye open for civilians and another eye open for the enemy. Do your absolute best not to confuse the two. Put your training as a recruit and as a member of this platoon to good use, clear?"
"Yessir." Sergeant Dalton answered, more so to get his worried squad to wake up.
Daz, Reznik and Berlin parroted his reply.
"Glad to hear it." The Staff turned again to the planner. "We only have a few more minutes so let's use them to get a lay of the land."
He reached his hand towards the projection and received a new reaction. One of the buildings was highlighted in a friendly yellow as well as part of the area around it. It was a skyscraper built near the citified terraces of the waterfront, set beside one of the natural harbors on the city's east side. It was one of the tallest in the city whose shape reminded Duncan of Mito's famed blade.
"This is Traxus Tower." The Staff said. "The Army's 145th Infantry Division has secured it and the surrounding buildings as a safe zone for their operational HQ. It's also bearing the brunt of the action as the city's primary evacuation point. The survival of their position will be key to the UNSC maintaining their hold on Alexandria as a whole. As such, the divisional commander has reserved the right to call any of our companies away from our current objectives should they need the back-up."
The Staff pointed again, now highlighting a smaller yet significantly wider building. Duncan had used it enough times by now to know it by name and sight. The question mark-shaped structure and the tarmac of the apron outside it belonged to the New Alexandria Starport. It was set on the western shores of another natural harbor, lying a kilometer or so west of Traxus Tower. There were still several starships waiting on its apron, yet another reminder of the reality of the evacuation.
"This is the New Alexandria Starport. The 109th Infantry is holding this one down as a secondary evac point. Sadly, as you can see, it's not exactly active. The reasons for that however lie beyond the specs of this mission. The best they can do is manage short-range extractions. However, the goal in the long-term is to get it up and running. From there, we can get those transports away once we clear the air."
He pointed to highlight a third building that lay many kilometers to the southeast, far deeper into the concrete jungle than the tower or the starport. Its dimensions and proportions gave Duncan the impression of a giant gravball stadium. The massive domed roof made it seem more like an oversized mushroom. It sat at the center of scores of groundside and elevated railways that ran to it from the surrounding city, connecting to it as a spider upon its webs.
"And here we have NA's Central MagLev Station. The 77th Armored Division owns the lease for this property. The division's holding its own so they're using the place as a rendezvous point for civilians and other forces in the area. Its central location makes it the linchpin for our hold over the south side of the city. By extension, its commander also reserves the right to call on our aid if he should need it."
With another point of a finger, a new building flashed yellow, one several kilometers southwest of the starport and Traxus. Duncan had seen the crystal-shaped monolith before. It was one of the buildings that stood out to him on his first mission to the city, mainly because it was by far the largest. The thought brought up old memories of when the war was farther away. Those, he thought, were better days. Not easier but better.
"Here's Olympic Tower." The Staff said. "Mark its position, its important. As of the attack this morning, all UNSC forces are currently under the jurisdiction of the command operating out of FLEETCOM HQ. They'll be the ones keeping everyone and everything on task as it relates to the evacuation efforts."
Sporting his best screw-face, Yuri raised his hand. "Navy's running this op, sir?"
"That's right. It's their city so they're in overall command of the situation here."
"So, what about Lochaber?" Nova asked.
"General Montague's going to be working in coordination with them to get them what they need. For the time being, the exchange rate is every soldier Lochaber can provide for every civie FLEETCOM can extract. That's how things are going to be so long as the Covenant keep up the assault."
Hector nodded pensively. "And they don't seem to be ready to quit anytime soon."
"No, they don't." Nova sighed. "I get the general layout, sir, but what're we going to be up to?"
To this, the Staff moved his hand over the projection. The response was a blanketing of most of the rest of the city in a hostile red highlight. Though there were a few dozen holdouts of friendly yellow, the bulk of Alexandria, from the shores to the mountains, stood in crimson.
Eyes widened and shoulders tightened at what they thought the Staff was trying to say.
Nova gawked disbelievingly. "Sir, is this accurate?"
"Not entirely." The Staff replied, causing a slight relief to wash over the platoon. "The yellows are simply those areas we know for certain are secured. The rest is comprised of unsecured locations as well as those under attack. Don't worry, the Covenant's not making us pay rent just yet."
Duncan searched frantically for one building in particular. He found it near the heart of the city, lying many kilometers to the west of the MagLev station. His own relief came like water poured onto a raging fire.
The Csillagos éj hotel was still yellow.
"Here's what's up." The Staff said. "The Covenant are beginning to target the center of the city and any locale that's serving as a gathering point. They've cut off multiple civilian and Army groups from airlift zones on the lower levels as well as in the skyline. The job of the 7th and 22nd Shock will be to deploy to those sectors either being contested or that have already fallen under enemy control. They'll mostly be those in the heart of NA that Command deems a priority, primarily for assisting and expanding the overall evacuation. Moreover, we'll assist any UNSC forces or civilians we encounter behind hostile lines. We're to help the latter escape by the new extraction channels setup in those buildings that Command's designated for security."
The platoon followed his hand as he reached out, bringing the next change. Two yellow lines appeared that arced out from the MagLev station. One marked '7th' curved northwest while the other, '22nd', curved southwest. Both carved a westward path that pushed through the city for several kilometers like a giant pincer, highlighting specific buildings that they passed through with a vibrant green hue. They each arced back towards one another, ultimately converging and bisecting the center of Alexandria.
Duncan couldn't help noticing that the hotel fell about half a kilometer shy of their grasp.
"Each battalion has its area of operations. The same goes for the companies."
The Staff spread out his fingers to zoom in on the '7th'. The northwestward arc separated into five concurrent strands. They ran parallel to one another in some places and diverged far from one another in others, dipping north or south to different objectives yet always moving forward. Each strand was a company. The Staff zoomed in on the one labeled 'Bravo C', expanding the view further. The individual strand resolved into over half-a-dozen smaller, finer strands that likewise dipped and weaved through the cityscape. The platoon set their sights on the northernmost one: '1PL'. Its path was set for more than several buildings. Each was separated by distances that would have made for a long drive or an even harsher PT run.
"The operation's been planned out down to the platoon-level." The Staff explained. "Each has a handful of structures on its hit list, two of which it needs to have under its control within the first two hours of our landing."
Rico arched a brow. "Dos horas, jefe?"
"That's...not very much time." Zack noted.
"Yeah," Nova grimaced. "No kidding."
"Why the rush?" Dalton asked.
A wave of the Staff's hand summoned a new image: two clusters of around a hundred aircraft each. They were noticeably human. The twin bands of Pelicans, Albatrosses and Falcons were flying forward from the east and west.
"That's why. Two hours after our landing, the Air Force's 83rd Auxiliary Wing will be brought in to pull off the city's eviction. They'll be coming in waves too and on an hourly basis at that. We'll have to have the first pair of points under control prior to their arrival. We'll also have to give them more places to land and people to save throughout the day. Once we've gotten out who we can, the battalions will turn their full attention to combating the Covenant. We'll link with other forces to retake NA in its entirety, one block and one building at a time."
The two battalions did exactly as he said on the display, spreading out across the landscape in conjunction with elements of the Army. In under a deceptive couple of seconds the whole of their destination glowed yellow.
"Isn't there a chance the 83rd will run into the next Covenant wave as they're coming, or worse, as they're leaving?" Daz pointed out. "It'd be like sending our lambs to the butchers, no?"
"They won't." The Staff flicked a finger and caused several frigates like the Fool Me Twice to appear. The ships held a stable and reassuring perimeter around the lower atmosphere. "We don't have air superiority at the moment. However, after we land, the battlegroup we're coming in with will be so kind as to use their point-defense guns to our benefit. We won't completely control the skies but we will have our boot on it for the most part."
The answer left a reassured air within the platoon.
"As for our first two goals," The Staff added, "They lie here in Sector 22 and 23 respectively."
At his behest, two buildings appeared along 1st Platoon's path. The first wasn't that far out of the safe zone of the MagLev station. The second, however, posed a solid trek.
"The first is the Galactic Cup Committee Building. It's a municipal sports center a short jog from our starting point. Next is the Császári Cultural Building where the city council used to meet. Either one has sufficient VTOL and executive landing pads for them to be valuable assets. We'll most likely be moving on foot. We take our targets, save anything in our way that's human and kill anything that's not. Afterwards, we move on to the rest of the docket list for the day. Any other questions?"
The platoon stayed quiet for a moment.
Duncan had plenty of questions. There were too many to voice. He wanted to ask those that were the most obvious and most important to him. However, he wasn't sure how to bring them up without stating another obvious truth.
If they went beyond their mission parameters, would they wind up risking the lives of others?
But wouldn't they stand a chance of saving even more?
Though he didn't say it, he could feel a conflict he'd never known before grinding away at his conscience. The morals he had relied on for years were on the verge of being thrown out. Since the beginning of his time in the ODSTs, he knew the best thing he could do was fight for the lives of thousands.
Thousands he didn't know. Thousands who would never know his name nor care, being too caught up in their own survival to take notice.
What was a thousand lives he didn't know and would likely never see again against the two he'd known and loved for ages? The math said one thing, his heart said another. Never before had he had to choose between the two.
Sure, the hotel was safe but for how long?
If his years of service had taught him anything about the Covenant, it was that it was never a matter of if but when.
He remained silent.
Zack stretched his arms with a groan. "No questions over here, I think I'm ready to fight. If we go any longer, I'm pretty sure I'll need a pen and paper."
Mito scratched his head exhaustedly. "Yeah, I-, ugh...I think I caught all that."
"No you didn't." Nova said as she used his shoulder to stand herself back up. "Save anything human, kill anything alien, right sir?"
The Staff nodded. "Good enough."
"Yeah, definitely clear on that." Zack chimed.
Duncan still didn't say anything. He could sense that there were eyes on him. He couldn't have been the only one to notice how far their objectives reached...and didn't reach.
Without warning, an alarm blared throughout the bay. Its familiar droning was like music to their ears. So was the automated female voice that followed: "Attention, attention, arriving at atmospheric insertion coordinates in one minute. All ODSTs please report to the main drop bay."
The alarm blared again, and the message repeated.
"That's us." Zack cheered.
"Alright troopers," The Staff said as he slipped on his helmet. "Move fast and punch hard. Let's roll."
The platoon rose to their feet. They grabbed whatever gear they had lying around and strode towards the ejection tubes that lined the drop bay.
Duncan stayed put. Where he sat, he watched the other platoons drain past him. The tactical planners went dark. Still, he remained where he was.
His head swam with more questions.
Why hadn't the city been evacuated more than it had?
Would they really be able to 'retake' it?
How long could the UNSC maintain air superiority?
What about Noah?
What about Erica?
A finger tapped him on his shoulder and pulled him out of his stupor. He turned around, expecting to see Nova's worried mug.
It was Berlin.
He waved a hand in his face. "Hey, you with us man?"
Duncan started to snap out of it. "Yeah...I'm good."
"You sure?" Berlin grinned. "You look a little scared man."
Duncan grinned back at him. "I could say the same to you."
Berlin smiled embarrassedly. "Well, to be honest, I'm just trying to pawn my nerves off on somebody else. If the sarge catches me freaking out, it'll flip his switch. That's the last thing I need before we drop."
Duncan chuckled at the thought, thinking back on what he'd seen of the old drill instructor during his Ravenport days. "Yeah, I know exactly what you mean."
Nova walked over. "What's going on? You guys good?"
Duncan gave her the thumbs up as he arose and slapped his rifle onto his back harness. "Holding it together."
"Well, hold it together in your pods. It's time to go."
"Copy that." Berlin replied and followed her back to the HEVs.
Duncan rounded on his seat and his helmet that rested on it. The visor seemed to stare back at him as if someone was already wearing it.
His head was clear now. His little kidding session with Berlin brought him back down to earth. All he was left to think about was getting back down to Reach. He considered thanking the younger, shorter trooper for the mire he'd pulled him out of without knowing. He decided against it in the end. They needed to get going. Now was the time for action.
He picked up his helmet, slipped it on and dashed over to his pod just as everyone else was hopping into theirs.
:********:
With a muted thump, the doors groaned open, sucking the last gasps of oxygen out of the drop bay and into the void of Reach's exosphere. The strobing red light of the bay was overcome by the radiance of Epsilon Eridani as it reflected off the planet's surface.
Duncan peered through his pod's viewport to spy out the drop. Waiting below was a sea of clouds that possessed the ethereal glow of morning. There were breaks here and there, giving him eyefuls of the water and the land. Just like they'd been shown in the Beta-1 armory, northern Eposz stretched on at a slant from northeast to southwest. The northern ocean washed into the largest crater that had been bitten out of the coast. New Alexandria was there. He could nearly see it too though it was nothing more than a patch of glimmering lights on the crater's southern shore. It was almost surreal to know he was about to land there, not for a visit but for a fight.
The war was here.
Despite their last mission, the truth of that hadn't settled in for him until right now. The last doubts and disbelief lingering in the back of his mind dissipated at the knowledge of it, at the realization that his battalion was about to deploy to the city. Not just any city either but the one that his family had called home for nigh on a decade.
"Ready to rock." Zack said over squad comms.
"Da, same here." Yuri added.
"Wait for Neptune-Actual." The Staff said. "Nobody make a move until he gives the greenlight. Ep-5, that means you."
The squad's daredevil let out a long sigh. "Ya dazhe nichego ne delal."
"You and I both know that's a lie." Nova replied. "I've got you on my screen. Take your hands off those controls."
Duncan mentally tuned out their argument then tuned right back in at hearing the colonel over the battalion freq.
"Troopers, remember what I told you back at base. This is Reach, our Reach. We've got the homefield advantage and we're going to do everything we can to keep it that way. Secure all objectives, neutralize all targets and save who you can, you copy?"
The 7th's frequency was filled with a uniform "Yessir" from the whole battalion.
A five-second countdown flashed onto one of Duncan's displays and commenced counting.
"Good luck out there, troopers," Garrison finished. "Let's take back this city."
Duncan tightened his grasp on his controls. He clenched his jaw, laid his head back and braced himself.
The final second was marked by an affirmative beep.
Bursts of light went off across the bay as the HEVs were released and shot through the doors. Duncan felt weightless a split-second before his rockets kicked in, propelling him out of the ship.
The thrust pinned him in his seat, the high speeds pushing his cheeks up into his jaws. It was nothing he wasn't used to. Even so, it was the mission itself that made him notice things he hardly ever did nowadays.
Overhead, he watched the Fool Me Twice shrink away rapidly along with several other frigates in the battlegroup. A second battlegroup nearby, the one that had escorted the 22nd Battalion, likewise fell away. In little time both were lost to the obscuring glow of Reach's atmosphere.
Thousands of HEVs spanned out from left to right around him, ranging from fully visible pods to distant black dots. They appeared suspended in midair, as if the world itself were moving and not them. The periodic flares of adjustment thrusters broke that impression, creating a lightshow that lit up his view like a host of glimmering stars.
He centered his attention on the descent. He made the necessary course corrections during the flight through the thermosphere. Meanwhile, there was a conversation going on over squad comms. He could hear it only vaguely. Zack was asking somebody to remind him what their objectives were. Yuri was speeding ahead with Nova and the Staff trying to reel in his inner hothead. The words themselves were lost to Duncan though he got the main idea.
He just wanted to reach the ground. Talking could wait.
"Ep-8? Hey, you good? Say something man."
Duncan broke out of his fixation. Hector was staring at him worriedly on one of his displays.
"Sorry...I'm good..."
No one said a word for a while.
"Hold it together, Ep-8." The Staff grimaced on his other display. "If they're there, we'll find them."
"...Yessir."
Duncan couldn't bring himself to say much else. He didn't find an interest in anything until they passed into the mesosphere. The transition was marked by the first flickers of reentry. Thousands of other pods transformed into a manmade meteor shower before his own viewport was swallowed up by the flames. The familiar rumblings of turbulence began to rattle his HEV.
Without the use of his eyes, he piloted himself along the proper entry course using his sensory systems.
Several minutes later and most of the flames on his viewport died down. Most, not all. He spotted the fleet of other pods falling alongside, above and below him. They had made it through the inferno to the relative calm of the stratosphere and were diving through a dense blanket of cloud cover. Disappearing and reappearing by the hundreds as they passed, those near and far were enveloped into balls of steam as their heated exteriors made contact with the cooler air. To an untrained eye, they flickered in and out of existence like an army of vengeful ghosts that tore through heaven in pursuit of hell.
And there was indeed a hell.
Before he emerged from another cloud, Duncan understood that the fires he was seeing weren't on his viewport. Coming out into the open air again showed him that it wasn't coming from his pod but from the ground.
It was coming from the city.
The last of the day's clouds were too far apart to deny him, or anyone else for that matter, a full view of what they had come to save.
New Alexandria was on fire. Partly, at least. The sea of white skyscrapers, restricted by the mountains to the south and hemmed in by an ocean to the north, was clearly under assault. Towers of smoke billowed from many of the towers of white and blue or bled from fiery wounds that had been carved into the lower levels. These were only outmatched and outnumbered by trails of anti-aircraft fire that strobed the skies. The airspace was filled with a forest of fumes, storms of lead and the scores of aircraft that flashed in between them. Dogfights thrived amidst the chaos like a swarm of greedy flies. Human fighters pursued or were pursued by their Covenant equals. They weaved in and out of buildings to shoot at one another or pulled out of bombing runs, allowing deadly payloads to soar towards the ground. Their ordnance vanished beneath the low cloud cover which, despite the battle, had not missed its routine, submerging the lower city in a lake of fog. Explosions went off intermittently beneath the haze as the payloads found their mark. They flashed bright in different sectors, causing Alexandria to glitter in a manner that rivaled the rolling waves of the ocean.
Duncan was stunned. The contrast between the two was so sharp that he wondered how something so serene could exist next to death and destruction. The thought was brief, interrupted by his rising fear and Colonel Garrison's commanding tone.
"Tighten up people, we've got 20-kilometers left. Set your sights on landing areas around the MagLev station."
A Nav point appeared on Duncan's HUD that pointed him to the more southerly area of Alexandria. Both he and everyone else in the 7th adjusted themselves accordingly. Their brothers and sisters in the 22nd did the same. Adjustment thrusters fired and pods moved about, tightening up first into their battalions, then companies before resolving into their distinct platoons. They oriented themselves into dozens of dark spearheads. Each plummeted down as they fell beside one another like a hail of arrows, piercing through what few clouds remained.
The Staff took the lead at the tip of 1st Platoon's formation. They dove at an angle with the others, heading towards the station whose approaching visage grew more defined by the second. It was thankfully tall enough to peek its head out of the fog.
"I don't like the looks of this." Zack said nervously.
"You don't have to like it." The Staff replied. "Just get through it. Platoon, stick close and keep an eye out for your displays. This is going to be close."
Duncan followed the order without hesitation. He checked one of his screens and zeroed in on the area around the station.
A second Nav point labeled '1PL' appeared in what looked like a spacious courtyard. It was just a short walk northeast of their starting point. The platoon reoriented themselves towards it.
Soon only those of their company were descending alongside them as the rest headed for other landing zones. Seconds later and the rest of Bravo's platoons also broke off, flying in the direction of their own zones.
At the last 5 kilometers, the ODSTs of the two battalions deployed their drag chutes. The metal extensions shot out of their pods like flowering petals to claw at the air, decreasing their speed.
Duncan held his breath as they passed the first skyscrapers and dove into the fog. The buildings became lumbering shadows that whipped past them at high speeds. No one said a word, devoting their focus solely to reaching the ground.
Then, without warning, a building appeared right in front of them.
They barely had time to yank themselves out of the way, breaking left and right.
There was a scream cut short by an explosion.
Out the corner of his eye, Duncan saw a pod missile into the side of the structure, gouging out a fiery scar across several floors before spewing spiraling metal and debris out the other side.
On a display of the platoon's bio-signs, Berlin's vitals flatlined.
"BERLY!" Reznik cried.
"WHERE'D THAT COME FROM!?" Daz shouted.
"FOCUS ON THE LANDING!" The Staff warned. "WE NEED TO GET GROUNDSIDE FIRST!"
No sooner did he say it than the ground came hurtling into view. The world wisped by in a blur of smaller buildings, an opening in the urban foliage and the jarring flare of braking rockets.
With a powerful THUD, Duncan made landfall. Water splashed across his viewport. He swiped his rifle off the rack, primed the explosive bolts and blew off the hatch. He hurled himself forward into a world of light and shadow. To his surprise, he splashed down into water that came up all the way to his boots. Groups of koi fish frantically swam away from him.
He whipped out his rifle to scan the landing zone. Most of the others were doing the same, fanning out from their HEVs across an artificial pond. They had landed in a wide courtyard housed within the walls of a larger building. The space was spotted with tall black stones that stood here and there like pillars, both in the rectangle of water and the similarly shaped outer yard that encased it. To him they only looked like gravestones.
Only 12 of their 13 pods were present. The rush of the drop faded as the reality of that set in.
Reznik and Daz rushed past him, trudging through lily pads and cattails at a desperate run. Once they were sure the area was clear, Duncan and the others turned to watch them.
The pair stopped at the other end of the pond to stare at the far-off building. Smoke rose from the flames raging through the middlemost floors. They slackened at the sight of it.
Reznik stiffened up and made to run towards it.
Sergeant Dalton, who had already come behind them, seized him by the arm. "He's gone, trooper."
Reznik tried to pull against him, still glaring at the scene. "Where'd that-...where'd that thing come from?"
"Trooper-"
"It wasn't on the map." He said, his voice cracking. "It wasn't on the map! We gotta-, we gotta check!"
"Trooper."
"He could've survived that!" Daz seconded, no less anxious than her comrade. "We need to know for sure, sir! We can check, we'll be quick!"
Reznik gestured to her like she was the voice of reason and pulled against the sergeant's grasp. Dalton suddenly grabbed him by the collar of his BDU and whisked him back around.
"There's nothing left to check on!" He pulled him closer, bringing them visor to visor. "He's gone, and we're not getting him back. We need to move before something else marks us off too. Do you understand that?"
Reznik and Daz were taken aback, dazed into an uneasy silence. They stared off once more at the building and the smoke. Dalton did as well for a while before shaking the former by the shoulder and marching off to join Epsilon.
Duncan couldn't believe it either. Was it really that easy? The truth left an unnerving air over the courtyard.
Slowly, other sounds reached his ear. The stutter of gunshots, the whine of plasma weapons and the thunder of explosions echoed off in the distance. The morning fog limited his vision to a few buildings. The haze was occasionally broken by soaring aircraft and sputtering AA fire that illuminated row upon row of abandoned windows.
He heard approaching footsteps and rounded on the source with the rest of the platoon. A squad of soldiers were crossing the courtyard to reach them. The man who looked to be their leader, a corporal judging by the insignia on his pauldron, came up to the edge of the pond.
"Who's the commanding officer here?" He asked.
The Staff stepped forward. "Right here."
"We're here to escort you guys to NA central."
"Escort?"
"Yessir. Our CO told us you were coming. He sent out our company to make sure nobody miss-dropped."
Miss-dropped? Duncan tasted the word in his mouth and came away bitter. If that's what they came for then they were too late, at least for one of them.
"We didn't need an escort." The Staff said. "We can get around just fine."
The corporal shrugged. "Our CO wasn't so sure, sir. The cloud cover makes things hard to see around here, figured it might play hell with your satellite imaging."
It had.
The Staff gave no further rebuttal beyond a tacit agreement. "Alright, we'll follow your lead. Troopers, let's move."
At his order, the platoon got underway, trudging through the pond to step out onto a swath of dry cobblestone. They shook off their boots and jogged after the soldiers. But two lingered behind.
Duncan glanced over his shoulder at the stragglers. Reznik and Daz were taking a final look at the building. Then they pulled themselves away. With labored steps they pushed out of the pond to join the back of the group.
Duncan followed their example and affixed himself on the way ahead. But something else followed him in turn, a grim sense that, armor or not, experience or not, the platoon was fully exposed. The gunfire and rumbling explosions that reverberated from the depths of New Alexandria refused to let him think otherwise.
Urbs - The City