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Apocalypse Halo [Chapter Three]
Posted By: elpolloguapo<tom_leith@bbns.org>
Date: 17 December 2008, 11:27 pm
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Chapter III
Manaka Base, Pate Island, East African Protectorate, October 22, 2552
I gave the gas a gentle nudge and eased the hog out of the door. Before us stretched a short road, a perfectly straight line from the door out to a fortified gate. My energy had been drained almost instantly by the sounds and smells that had gushed in as the door opened, and it was with trepidation that I brought the vehicle to the perimeter of the base and past the gate. Marines, their weapons lowered only slightly, watched us nervously as we exited.
The base loomed over us from behind, a concrete citadel extending hundreds of meters up and out to each side. Above it VTOL craft and longswords circled, occasionally darting off above the city. In the opposite direction was the sprawling cityscape. Smoke was pouring up into the sky, creating an ominous pall that hung over everything.
At my command, a GPS marker flickered onto the live map on my HMD. Obeying the arrow, I brought the warthog around to the left and slowly accelerated. The two others followed in a V formation, the turrets turning, scanning for any hostiles. Within minutes we were on a wide throughway in the city, and civilians began to appear.
I could tell the men were edgy. While passive scanners investigated all vehicles for weapons, scanners could fail, and in the end the only true test of whether we were in danger was if we had been fired on. In an ironic way, it had been comforting back in New Mombasa, where if anything didn't have an UNSC comm tag, it was a hostile.
An hour later we were in a large rotary, just over halfway to the Captain's position. The hogs were in single file, weaving between cars both wrecked and moving. Up until that point we had taken no fire, and were optimistic about getting to the Captain without any difficulty. I was maneuvering around a small, burnt hulk when behind me something exploded.
I reacted instantly and without thinking. I slammed down on the accelerator and E-braked the back wheels, swinging the front of the hog around 180 degrees. A brown-black smoke trail, leading from a building to what had been an occupied car in the road, was dissipating into the air. Two charred bodies lay in the wreckage. The transport warthog had flipped, but its crew had jumped clear and was taking cover behind it. The gunners in both remaining hogs were laying down suppressive fire on the building.
"Hold!" I yelled. "These bastards just blew up a civilian car, I guarantee they've got hostages in there." The gunners let up, but kept the barrels trained on the building. "Gordon, keep these two hogs up and moving. Get any remaining civilians clear, and give the Captain a sitrep. You!" I pointed at a private who was in cover behind the flipped transport. "You're driving this hog." I jumped out and unslung my shotgun. The rest of you are coming with me. We're going into that building and clearing it. Just watch where you shoot."
I ran over to the building's entrance, the four remaining privates from the transport behind me. I gave them a few moments to form up into pairs on either side of the door, and then pulled the trigger on the shotgun. In one fluid motion, I kicked in the door and then was blown off my feet.
There was a barricade just inside, and someone behind it had hit me in the chest with a small-caliber round. Not enough to penetrate, but more than enough to knock me off of the one foot I had down. I rolled to the side as two grenades flew gently over my head and clattered to the ground inside. There was a frantic shuffling noise, then a cacophony of agonized screams. I leapt back to my feet in time to lead the leapfrog advance down the hallway into the building, activating my flashlight as I did so.
The stairwell was at the end of the hallway, behind another locked door. This time I was more cautious, taking cover, then firing two shells at the door, the first to take out the lock, the second to blow it off its hinges. This time there was no ambush, and we reached the second floor, where our targets hid, without incident. At the top, we slowly stepped through an open doorway into a large atrium.
We could see the window the rocket had been fired from, and after a moment of crouching by the door, I could hear muffled footsteps and breathing coming from a corner. I switched to infrared and saw two men, clearly armed, and three or four seated figures, who appeared to be tied up. "Freeze!" I yelled.
One of the armed ones jumped for a switch, and I was barely able to deactivate infrared before the room was flooded with light. The other tried to dash to a rifle that was leaning against the wall, but was instantly cut down by Battle Rifle fire from my men. I turned my attention back to the first, who was now holding a woman, tied up, in front of him, with a pistol jammed into her throat. I slung my shotgun as he started to talk.
"All right you bastards.," He was a fidgety man, and his voice oscillated in pitch as his body swayed nervously back and forth. "Get out of here, or she gets it." I slowly moved my hand to my waist and started to back up, motioning with my other hand for my men to stand down.
"Good, good. Now, back down the stairs like good little soldiers, get the fuck out!" His voice suddenly rose to yelling volume. He pulled back the hammer on the pistol and shoved it harder into the woman's throat. "Out!" he screamed.
Something caught his attention. Maybe it was one of my men who sensed my plan, maybe it was nothing, I'll never know. But for a split second he took his eyes off of me. In that split second, I drew my M6D, scoped it in, and pulled the trigger. The .50 magnum round ripped open his skull, splattering red and pink across the walls.
I took a deep breath and turned to the men. "You and you, stay here and help out the hostages. Get medivac in here asap, and see if you can figure out who these two wannabe terrorists are. The other two of you, come with me." I brought the remaining two men back out to the rotary with me, where I took back the driver's seat of my warthog. Three men, not counting the two inside with the hostages, were now without a vehicle. "All right, we're going to continue on to the Captain. Keep this area secure and try to get your hog working again. If any ground units come through, obey orders you get from their officers as long as they don't contradict the Captain's. Above all, keep me updated, got it?" They nodded. "Good. Gordon, let's go."
As we continued on towards the Captain, I filled him in on what had happened. He stayed quiet throughout the sitrep, keeping his comments to a succinct "well done, Sergeant." He seemed unconcerned that we were arriving undermanned, so I put my worries in that regard aside. The Captain, even when not in person, was a man who inspired confidence.
There were no more holdups on our route. If any hostiles were in the area, they kept clear. As we neared him, a clearer picture of what we were up against began to form, both from what the men we had left at the rotary found and what we were told by command. Apparently in several cities worldwide, anti-UNSC organizations had banded together under the banner of one group, which had yet to receive a name. Their stated cause, though, was peace. They believed that it was the UNSC who had initiated and was perpetuating the war, and that humanity, under a different leadership, would be welcomed into the Covenant. Combined with the post-New Mombasa panic, the population had reached a boiling point.
It took close to an hour and a half to finally get to the Captain's position because of the state of the roads. By the time were nearing it, the sun had completely set and a menacing darkness had engulfed the city. When we were within sight of the Pelican, the Captain contacted me. "I can see you on my HUD, Sergeant. Get your men out of the vehicles, take cover, and don't move," he said softly over the radio. Knowing better than to question his order, I swiftly relayed it to the men. "Get ready for some fireworks," he said a moment later. "Just don't hit us."
There were a few seconds of silence, then a flare shot into the sky above the Pelican. I could see the Captain and his squad in a perimeter around it, but more importantly I saw more than a dozen armed hostiles, caught in the open in an adjacent road. As the Captain's men opened up, I started methodically firing on each with my pistol. My men followed suit. Moments later two chainguns opened fire on us from a building, but their rattle was drowned out by the two high-pitched screeches. Their rattle did not resume after the rockets detonated against the building. I approached the Captain as several men ran out to check the buildings nearby. The entire firefight had lasted less than a quarter of a minute.
"Well done, Sergeant," he said as I saluted him. "As you were." I relaxed my salute and once again closed both hands around my shotgun. "I've been in touch with Manaka base, and a contact of mine there is keeping an eye on the men you left behind. The position they're at now seems to be a good one, and command wants them there for the time being. If we need them as scouts, though, they're available."
"Yessir, thank you. How have things been here?" I looked around. In the dying light of the flare, I could just make out piles of rubble and watchful marines.
"Simple enough. A few of them hit us as we came in, but from then until now it's been pretty quiet. Two men are wounded, though. We're leaving them here with the other Marines that joined us-they'll be medivacked asap. You still good to go?"
"Uh, yessir. Where are we going?"
"There's a building at the southwest end of the island I need to get to. Beyond that, you'll just have to bear with me."
I sighed, but quietly. "Yessir. I'll round up the men."
Shortly after, the Captain, the remaining thirteen marines, and myself had formed up. He looked us over quickly, then spoke. "We're going southeast, and we're going on foot. That's all you need to know." He shot a fast, unreadable look at me. "Check your time. Midnight at my mark…mark." He paused for a moment. "All right, move out."
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