―We couldn‘t have known there would be children," Eric said.
―We have to do something."
Eric sighed. ―Gage, there‘s nothing we can do. Look, we can try and fit a few of them where we can, but let‘s not throw away our futures, what Felicia worked for."
The speaker in the cockpit crackled. The attack was withdrawing. Not just a single artifact, but several artifacts had been stolen from the Covenant dig site. ODSTs were in full retreat with hundreds of Grunts in full pursuit.
―They‘re able to track the artifacts somehow!" a hysterical private reported. ―We split up into several groups, and all the Covenant are coming after just us!"
No battle plan survived contact with the enemy.
Eric shook his head. ―There‘s not much we can do now. We just poked the Covenant nest and it sounds like they‘re swarming."
Our fellow ODSTs were calling for the Pelicans to get them the hell out of the hot zone.
I waved the sidearm at Eric. ―Get out."
―What?"
―Get out. I don‘t want to shoot you. But I know how to help them. So get the hell out."
―Do you know who you‘re dealing with? You know me. But Teller, Amey, Charleston? They‘re
old school CMA. Watts loyalists. And they‘ve done it all. We‘re not crossing them. I‘m not getting the hell off my own ship," Eric gritted. I smacked him in the head with the pistol butt three times to knock him out, then dragged him to the back of the Pelican and rolled him off into the street.
Charleston and Amey were manning the mounted machine guns, but hadn‘t looked over and down
into the street.
It had been another lifetime ago that I watched Allison Stark fly a Hornet through the night, but I remembered the controls she‘d shown me and seen it done a hundred times since.
Standardized.
I‘d stood in the back of the Pelican cockpits enough, too.
That didn‘t mean what I was going to try next would work.
I switched to an encrypted channel that the other pilots weren‘t monitoring and patched into the cruiser in orbit. ― Chares, we have what we came for, but we need more transport. This is urgent. We need Pelican backup, right away. Three Pelicans took incoming fire and are down, repeat down.
Scramble immediately."
I tried to remember what was what. Stick, collective throttle . . . all the buttons and switches in front of me.
But a Pelican was enough like a second home that I got it started.
Amey and Charleston would no doubt be wondering what was happening as the Pelican‘s engines gunned to life. The craft lurched, clawing for air, pregnant with gold in the green-gray ammunition chests.
I scraped along a building, knocking down balconies and brickwork as I struggled to get the Pelican higher.
I was tense, waiting for the mounted machine guns to open up on me, but they never did. I got on the radio to try and find out where the group with the artifacts was. I‘d been moving on instinct, trying to figure out how I could buy time for the children.
A small idea had occurred to me.
I CLUMSILYlanded the Pelican heavily and awkwardly in the middle of the chaos that was the
ODST retreat back up the river toward the city.
The first ODST who clambered in looked around. ―There‘s no space!" he shouted.
I leaned back. ―Where are the artifacts? Get them loaded in here, now! We need to get them clear and back up to orbit."
He left and shouted, and soon a set of boxes were being taken off the back of a mongoose quad bike and loaded in.
―What about the Shiva?" he asked.
―The nuke?"
―We didn‘t need to set it off, but we‘re not sure where we should leave it if they‘re coming after us."
I nodded. ―Stick it in here, I‘ll save you from hefting it about."
―Yes, sir. Be careful up there, there‘ll be Covenant aircraft support on the way now that they were attacked." The ODST trooped up toward the cockpit. ―You sure we can‘t just shove this ammo out and get some of our guys back out?"
He leaned forward, and then looked at the blood on my armor. ―Sir, you‘re shot?"
Then he frowned. ―I need to check . . ." But he stopped when I pushed the M6 against his neck.
―There are thirty or so kids in the bottom of the bank in the middle of the city," I rasped. ―If I take whatever‘s in those boxes the Covenant‘s so hot for and are tracking, I can make a run for it, away from the city. The Covenant forces will chase me, and maybe I can buy you guys some time to help the children. You understand what I‘m saying?"
The ODST nodded, and as he backed slowly out, I pointed at the ammo crates. ―Open it."
He did so, and his jaw dropped. ―Now shove that out the back onto the ground. Take a bar each, and next time you‘re on leave, have a drink for Gage Yevgenny."
The moment he hopped off I struggled back into the air.
I couldn‘t see any Covenant forces, but I didn‘t understand half of what the readouts were I was looking at. I banked left, skirting the river only for a few moments, before I headed for the mountains.
My goal was to get over them, but the Pelican could barely climb. A Banshee suddenly swooped in, firing just ahead of my nose. I focused on the mountains, ignoring it, hoping that the artifacts were too precious for the Covenant to risk blowing me up.
Rockets slammed into the Banshee from the direction of the city. Before the debris even began to fall, another rocket slammed into the rear of the Pelican. Charleston, Amey, or maybe even Eric: They‘d claim they were trying to hit the Banshee.
The craft bucked and spiraled as I struggled to control it, but with all the gold and my own ineptitude, I could barely keep it in the air.
I flew as long as I could, but the Pelican was shaking herself apart.
I remember the world spinning, slamming into the ridge, bouncing. I remember seeing the
mountain pitch toward me. I know I made it over the ridge, because I hit the top of it and bounced.
And then it was like the bomb in the club again. A tremendous blow, my senses reeling, and I woke up on the ground, my armor on fire.
Since then, I‘ve been waiting.
THE ROOKhad sat next to the ODST, scanning the horizon for threats, listening to his tale. Any attempt to leave or call for help had been thwarted by the dying man.
But now he understood, at least, why he‘d been sent down with a second wave of ODSTs by
SOEIV, and why extra Pelicans were on their way.
It was all due to this man. Gage Yevgenny.
Who was most certainly going to die here.
The sound of an approaching Pelican began to rise in volume.
―There‘s a reason I‘ve been keeping you here, talking," Gage said. ―Not just to comfort my dying self. They‘re almost here. The Covenant, and Eric with his friends. I‘m surprised you got here before them all. They‘re going to want to salvage the gold they can from the wreck. What I want you to do is head up the mountain now. All out. Drop your pack, everything but comms and your weapon.
―Get through the cut there in fifteen minutes, and you get on the other side of the mountain. Don‘t flag down that first Pelican that‘s coming. In fact, hide from it as best you can. I had you here because if you‘d taken off up the mountain, the Covenant would have seen you from the other side.
But the Grunts are on canned methane; instead of using it all up by panting their way over the mountain, they‘ll have worked their way around to get close to this wreck. So head up the pass and over the mountain, and run like you ran in boot camp, rook, run like your worst drill instructor is right behind you."
―Sir, I can‘t just leave you . . ."
―They‘re all going to arrive, rook, and I‘m going to blow the Shiva up the moment all the bastards show up." Gage held up a control pad that would let him wirelessly detonate the nuclear device.
―Years ago, I told my father it was ‗just dirt.‘ But it‘s not dirt. It‘s where we live. It our dirt, dammit.