Reygi,
Kandahar, Afghanistan
Secronom
Research Facility
April
21, 2001
2310
Local Time
“Spread out, watch your sectors!”
Zyrok panned his flashlight on his XM8 at the dark halls.
Nevarez held a SA80 and scanned the
room beside them while Frederick
waved at her team to follow her as Zyrok walked down the hall.
“Frederick, central room is this
one. Go and activate that self-destruct. We’ll meet at the stairwell once we’re
done.” Zyrok pointed at a door marked “B5535”.
“Okay Zyrok. We’ll meet at the
stairwell once we’re all done.” Frederick
replied.
Frederick took out her datapad and began to
prepare for another system bypass while Cookson unscrewed the panel. Zyrok took
a quick glance at Frederick
before continuing down the eerie halls. After a short walk, the three marines
made their way to B5532 and stopped as they heard the growls and moans of
zombies in the room next door.
“Get ready gentlemen.” Zyrok shifted
his gaze from his gun to his men as he double checked the magazine.
“Ready.” Nevarez replied quietly.
“All set Captain.” Schmidt patted
his XM8.
Zyrok waved his arm in a forward
motion and the marines silently shuffled in a single file. Zyrok’s flashlight
illuminated the room and noticed four spiders on the ceiling. Immediately after
shining the light at the zombies, Zyrok didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.
While Zyrok fired a fury of bullets into the closest zombie’s chest, Schmidt
and Nevarez took care of the normal zombies strolling about in the room.
Bullets flew everywhere and muzzle flashes lit the room up. It was a massacre
of zombies as the three marines peppered the undead to oblivion. In a matter of
minutes, the UNSC marines had cleared the room with their new weapons. Blood,
guts, and brains were everywhere on the walls, tables, and computers.
“Hello?” Zyrok called out.
“I’m here.” Tanya crawled out from
behind a metal desk covered in blood.
“Did we shoot you?” Zyrok wondered.
“No, I had to bash the zombies with
an iron pipe as I was waiting for you. There were so many of them.” Tanya
shivered.
“Are you okay?” Nevarez asked.
“I’m okay…” Tanya wiped blood off
her face.
“Take this.” Zyrok offered Tanya his
water bottle.
“Thanks.” Tanya took the bottle
graciously and poured the bottle over her head.
The water washed the blood-caked
face and dripped into red puddles at Tanya’s feet.
“Let’s get out of here.” Nevarez
suggested.
“I feel cold.” Tanya shivered.
“The adrenaline rush must be over.”
Zyrok exclaimed.
“Zyrok, this is Frederick here. We are about to set the
self-destruct sequence. Are you guys done?” Frederick spoke on the RaidComm.
“Yeah, we’ve just got the soldier.”
Zyrok replied.
“Tanya…name’s Tanya.” Tanya spoke
quietly.
“Ok, copy that. Once we prime the
sequence, we only have ten minutes to get out of here or we’ll be history.” Frederick replied.
“Roger, regroup at the stairwell
when you activate. We’ll be heading there now.” Zyrok looked at his watch.
“Got it.” Frederick ended the RaidComm transmission.
Zyrok waved at Tanya and his marines
to hurry out of the room. As the team quickly jogged towards the stairwell, red
lights began to flash at the top of each door.
“Attention! Attention! Quarantine
procedures Pappa Romeo Yankee initiated. All personnel, please evacuate.
Self-destruct in ten minutes.” the alarm blared.
“Move it marines!” Frederick called out at the end of the
hallway as Zyrok and his team entered the stairwell.
“Come on.” Nevarez replied slightly
agitated as the alarm blared.
Zyrok held the door open for Frederick’s team to get
inside and then looked up the stairs.
“Double time marines. Let’s go. Go!”
Zyrok ran up the stairs to take point.
After a few flight of stairs, the
group had reached the second floor.
“I think the zombies are on this
floor too.” Schmidt looked out the stairwell doors and heard a thundering of
footsteps.
“Attention! Attention! Quarantine
procedures Pappa Romeo Yankee has been initiated. All personnel, please
evacuate. Self-destruct in five minutes.” the alarm blared.
“Let’s get going.” Zyrok ran the
last flight of stairs and pushed the stairwell doors to the first floor open.
The team of marines sprinted down
the hall and came to the blast door. The door beeped and slowly began to close.
“Blast doors closing. Blast doors
closing.” the panel on the door spoke as the red lights flashed on the wall.
The marines looked at the door and
quickly got through and pressed the elevator button. After a few seconds of
waiting, the elevator the elevator doors opened and five militia soldiers stood
inside armed with AK47s. Hariprasad showed no hesitation as he fully unloaded
his M60 into the crowd.
“Crowd control…check.” Hariprasad
joked as he saw the pile of bodies in the elevator he had created.
“Get inside people.” Frederick ordered.
Once the marines got inside, Zyrok
pounded on the elevator button.
“Attention all personnel! Quarantine
procedures in effect. Self-destruct in three minutes.” the alarm blared inside
the elevator as the elevator ascended.
“This is going to be close.” Frederick looked at her
watch.
* * *
“Okay marines. We are going to
extract our marines out of here. Sierra 12, you ready?” Forester called out on
the RaidComm in the cockpit of Kilo 11 as another Pelican flew beside them in
the dark sky.
“All geared up and ready Forester.”
Foo spoke on the RaidComm.
“Light them up!” Forester commanded
and pointed at the vehicles parked beside the Secronom Research Facility.
“Got it.” Pruett acknowledged and
fired three missiles at various vehicles.
Unbeknownst to the marines, the
Russians had turned the defenses back online. A couple of flares flew into the
sky and countered the missile assault. In return, the sentry guns turned and
aimed at the sky.
“Damn, the defenses are online.”
Pruett swerved the Pelican as the sentry guns fired a blaze of bullets.
“Take the guns out.” Forester
ordered.
“Can’t, the flares will counter the
missiles.” Pruett spoke with concern.
“Use the GAU-19. Lay down a heavy
assault on each gun.” Forester pointed at a button.
Pruett flipped the button and the
GAU-19 barrel began to spin. He looked at the targeting console and aimed the
gun at one sentry gun. He fired and a hail of bullets pelleted the sentry gun
and destroyed it. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the ground shifted and a missile
flew up into the sky.
“We got a target lock.” Pruett
reported as his computer beeped rapidly.
“Deploying counter measures.”
Forester pressed a button on the console.
“It’s useless!” Pruett replied as the
missile flew past the flares.
As the missile got closer to the
Pelican, one missile appeared from the side and slammed into it. A bright and
violent explosion flashed in the sky.
“What was that?” Forester looked out
the window.
“Kilo 11, we’ve got your back.” Foo
spoke on the RaidComm.
“Thanks Foo.” Pruett gave his
appreciation.
“Get the other guns out.” Forester
directed.
“Yes ma’am.” Pruett nodded and
targeted another sentry gun.
Once again, as the sentry gun got
destroyed, another missile launched from the ground into the sky, but was
easily taken out by Sierra 12’s missile.
“You know the drill now marines! Get
on it.” Forester spoke on the RaidComm as she saw a pattern.
One by one, the sentry guns got
taken out by Kilo 11’s GAU-19 while Sierra 12 provided missile assistance. In a
matter of minutes, the only defense left for the Russian and the militia force
were the flares.
“Sierra 12, switch roles. We’ll be
using missiles to lure out the location of the countermeasure defenses while
you use your turret. Our GAU-19 is low on ammo.” Pruett spoke on the RaidComm.
“Copy Kilo 11.” Foo spoke in a flat
tone of voice.
Pruett fired a missile at a pickup
truck with a mounted turret and noticed a couple of flares flew into the air
beside the facility. The missile missed its mark and hit the ground as the
flares distracted its targeting system.
“I see the flares.” Foo reported on
the RaidComm.
“Take them out Foo.” Forester
ordered.
Forester looked to her right as a
torrent of bullets lit the sky up as Foo fired his Pelican’s GAU-19 at the
location of the flares. Smoke erupted as the armor piercing rounds hit the
defense unit on the ground.
“Target down.” Foo reported on the
RaidComm with satisfaction in his voice.
“Neutralize all ground assets.”
Forester commanded.
Pruett nodded and fired a hail storm
of missiles to the ground below him. A chain of explosions lit the dark sky to
daylight and tore through the silence. Foo fired his remaining missiles in his
missile pod at the rooftop where militia hid with RPGs. The building shook as a
barrage of missiles damaged the foundations.
“Take this.” Pruett squeezed the
trigger and a waved of bullets slammed into the windows of the facility.
The Russians and the militia were
taking a beating and they had no more defensive plays. Debris and bodies
scattered the cold dusty grounds. Just when the UNSC was about to celebrate
their victory, a fleet of missiles flew out of the night sky and slammed into
the rear thrusters of Sierra 12.
“Mayday! Mayday! This is Sierra 12,
we are hit and we are going down!” Foo broadcasted on the RaidComm.
As fire and smoke erupted from the
back of Sierra 12, Forester looked at the night sky and made out a dark shadow.
“What is that?” Forester pointed at
the shadow.
“I don’t see anything on the radar.”
Pruett tapped his radar on the console.
Sierra 12 slowly spun out of control
as the hull began to lose its integrity. Seconds later, the Pelican crashed to
the ground and skidded on the pavement. Two missiles fired from the shadow and
flew towards Kilo 11. Forester showed no fear as she immediately released the
countermeasures and hopped into the co-pilot’s seat. The missiles hit the
flares and flung hot searing shrapnel to the Pelican’s side.
“I’m taking over.” Forester bucked
herself to the seat and grabbed a headset.
“Yes ma’am.” Pruett nodded and gave
the controls over to Forester.
Forester steered the Pelican to face
the threat and pressed a button above her.
“Friend or foe identification
activated.” the computer spoke.
“Oh…that!” Pruett exclaimed.
“If it’s in the air, it’s all foes
now. Sierra 12 is on the ground.” Forester replied.
The radar on the console turned to a
different image as it displayed different infrared signatures nearby the
Pelican.
“I’ll isolate it so it removes
ground assets.” Pruett turned some dials above him.
“Thanks.” Forester thanked and
watched as another missile flew at them.
Forester targeted the incoming
missile with her consoles and fired the GAU-19. A few hundred bullets sprayed
into the air and hit the missile causing it to go off in midair.
“Holy shit…that’s a Mil Mi-24
assault chopper.” Pruett looked at the infrared signature on the screen.
“God damn Russians!” Forester sped
the Pelican towards the helicopter while firing the GAU-19 to light up the sky.
As the Mi-24 came into view,
Forester noticed that the pilot was very skilled. While Forester sprayed the
covering fire, the Russians pilots had missile locked onto her. Two missiles
launched from the Mi-24 and flew directly towards the Pelican.
“Missiles incoming!” Pruett
exclaimed.
Pruett knew it was too late to pull
off any defensive plays and the time to do anything was restricted by the
distance. However, what Pruett didn’t know was that Forester was a skilled
pilot. Her years of training before she entered High Command had taught her
discipline and critical thinking skills. Forester immediately turned off the
vertical thrusters and let the Pelican drop out of the sky using gravity to
assist her fall. Once the Pelican came deadly close to the ground, Forester
pushed the vertical thrusters to the maximum limit and accelerated the Pelican
forward. This sudden drop and acceleration made the missiles lose track of its
target and slammed to the ground.
“Woah…” Pruett was partially shocked
and speechless by Forester’s stunt.
Forester angled the Pelican and
adjusted its turret at the Mi-24 helicopter. She fired one missile and noticed
it was the last one. The Russian pilots were smart as they launched their
countermeasures and blocked the hit. Using the flares as a distraction, the Mi-24
swerved to face the Pelican with its guns ready. Forester fired the GAU-19 and
noticed it was out of ammunition.
“Get on the M60 turret.” Forester
commanded as she turned the Pelican sideways.
Pruett rushed to the rear of the
Pelican and looked at the overhead compartments.
“Hurry Pruett! What are you doing?”
Forester felt a wave of bullets hit the Pelican’s body.
“Hang on…” Pruett sifted through the
items.
There were medic kits, folders,
ammunition, and a RG6 grenade launcher.
“This will do!” Pruett fished out
the weapon and wielded it.
“I’ll fly, you shoot.” Forester pressed
a button on her console to release the hatch at the rear of the Pelican.
Pruett felt a sudden gust of wind
blow at him followed by the sounds of bullets whizzing.
“He’s on my six now. Get him.”
Forester hollered.
Pruett fired two grenades out the
back, but missed as the distance between him and the Mi-24 was too great.
“He’s too far. I’ve got a few shots
left.” Pruett shouted and ducked down as a bullet struck a seat beside him.
“Hang on!” Forester reversed the
throttle and jerked the Pelican upwards.
The hull of the Pelican groaned as it
went against gravity, but Forester was able to maintain a steady upwards
decent. In a split second, the Mi-24 was immediately below the Pelican with its
deadly rotors spinning in the darkness.
“Now!” Forester released the
vertical thrusters.
Pruett aimed the RG6 grenade
launcher and fired three grenades below him. The first grenade went a little to
the left and missed its mark, but the other two slammed into the rotors of
death and exploded. The explosion consumed the Mi-24 into a ball of fire and
slammed into the ground like a meteorite.
“Hell yeah!” Forester cheered as she
leveled the Pelican.
“Kilo 11, this is Foo here. We’ve
survived the crash, but request immediate assistance!” Foo spoke on the
RaidComm.
“Copy, coming for pickup on site.”
Forester steered the Pelican towards the downed Pelican.
Pruett slung the RG6 to his back and
mounted himself on the M60 turret. As Kilo 11 neared the crash site, some
militia hiding behind destroyed vehicles gave the marines on the ground a hard
time. Forester turned the Pelican so Pruett could lay down a blanket of fire.
The moment Pruett had the hostiles in his sights, he fired the M60 without
mercy. Forester descended the Pelican just a meter above the ground next to the
downed Sierra 12. Foo and May ran towards Kilo 11 while Pruett laid a heavy
suppressive fire. As soon as the marines got on, Pruett got off the turret and
pulled the lever to close the hatch. Foo ran inside the cockpit and sat in the
pilot’s seat.
“Thanks for the save.” Foo gave his
appreciation.
“Here, take cover.” Forester grinned
as she handed the controls to Foo and walked out of the Pelican.
“Nice kill with the grenade
launcher.” May complimented Pruett as she sat down on a seat to rest.
“Thanks.” Pruett closed his eyes for
a brief moment to relax.
“That was quite a stunt you pulled.”
May eyed Forester with respect.
“High Command has its purposes.”
Forester replied.
* * *
“Any UNSC personnel copy?” Frederick broadcasted on
the RaidComm as she saw a crashed Pelican engulfed in flames as she looked out
the window from the first floor.
Zyrok and Frederick’s marines had slaughtered the
Russian soldiers and militia forces in their path.
“Frederick, is that you? We’re aboard Pelican
Kilo 11 one kilometer away from the facility. How copy?” May spoke on the
RaidComm with surprise in her voice.
“We need extraction. This place is
going to blow.” Frederick
replied as the alarm blared in the background.
“Head for the roofs. We’ll pick you
up from there.” May replied.
“Copy, on our way. Make it quick!” Frederick commanded as
she looked at the marines.
Frederick pointed at the stairwell and waved
at the marines to follow. Suddenly, Reid opened the door and fell to the
ground.
“Reid!” Zyrok exclaimed as he saw
Reid dripping blood from his chest.
Reid coughed heavily and grasped
onto Zyrok’s arms.
“We have to go.” Zyrok slung one of
Reid’s arms over his back.
“Attention! All personnel must now
evacuate. Self-destruct in one minute thirty seconds.” the alarm blared.
As the marines rapidly got to the
roof while Zyrok and Nevarez assisted Reid, one soldier walked out of the
stairwell with his AK47 ready to fire. Reid noticed that Cookson was unaware
and unprepared of the soldier aiming his gun and had a sudden change of heart.
Reid wasn’t going back to the UNSC if he had made it out alive. His injuries
were slowing everyone and he had betrayed the marines who trusted him. With a
final act of redemption and true UNSC heroism, he lunged himself into the line
of fire. Three rounds hit him square in the chest and he collapsed. Cookson
quickly spun around and fired off four rounds from his Lock 17 sidearm. The
soldier collapsed to the ground and Cookson knelt beside Reid.
“No.” Cookson cried.
Reid coughed blood and wheezed as
his lungs were pierced.
“Tell Sarah that I’m sorry for
everything.” Reid spoke with his dying breath.
“We got to go now!” Frederick hollered.
Still shocked by Reid’s death and
his last words, Cookson snatched Reid’s dog tags and quickly ran to the rest of
the group on instinct as the alarm blared loudly.
“We’re going to make it!” Schmidt
exclaimed as they jumped into the rear of the Pelican docked beside the
stairwell.
“Self-destruct in fifteen…fourteen…”
the alarm sounded.
The Pelican slowly lifted up a
couple of meters when suddenly the alarm lights shut off.
“Self-destruct sequence cancelled by
manual override.” the alarm blared.
“No.” Frederick stomped the ground.
“The Russians…they are going to
release the zombies.” Nevarez cried in horror.
“It must be Dimitri.” Tanya looked
at the roof a couple of meters below.
“Someone has to reactivate it and
it’s going to be a one-way trip.” Frederick
replied.
“You guys are not going anywhere. Frederick has the armor
High Command wants on herself and Forester is in High Command. The rest of you
can live to fight another day. My time is done.” Zyrok concluded.
“What?” Nevarez and Hariprasad
replied in unison.
“Pruett and Foo, fly us out of here.
That’s an order!” Zyrok shouted as he clipped on a belt of ammunition.
“Yes sir.” Pruett replied solemnly
unable to disobey.
The Pelican ascended slowly and the
roof was becoming more distant.
“We have to make it look like we
left.” Zyrok slung a backpack to his back that was stored under a seat.
“Forester and Frederick, you are in
command now. Take these marines home to safety. Cookson, here.” Zyrok shouted
and walked to Cookson with a sad smile.
“Yes Zyrok?” Cookson asked.
“It’s Charlie. Please tell Sarah
that I loved her till the very end.” Zyrok reached into his pocket on his chest
and pulled out a piece of wrinkled paper.
“What’s that?” Cookson exclaimed.
“For her.” Zyrok ripped off his UNSC
dog tag and handed it to Cookson along with the paper.
With that, a tear streaked down
Zyrok’s dusty face and he walked to the edge of the Pelican. The night was calm
as the wind blew gusts of warm air into Zyrok’s face. He looked down at the
roof and jumped off.
“Wait….Charlie!” Frederick called out, but was too late as the
darkness swallowed Zyrok into the dark night.
From the fire and smoke on the
rooftop, a parachute was slightly visible as it slowly landed onto the roof.
“Zyrok…he didn’t take his helmet.”
Nevarez looked at the seat where Zyrok took the parachute and noticed his
helmet underneath it.
At the edge of the Pelican, the
marines could make out a dark figure running past some debris on the roof
before entering the stairwell.
“Incoming!” Pruett noticed two Mil
Mi-24 helicopters appearing on the infrared scanner heading towards the
facility.
“We got to take them out.” Frederick replied.
“We are all out of ammo. We’re
retreating. Let’s hope Zyrok destroys the facility.” Forester replied and
prayed.
“He’ll do it.” Nevarez assured.
“We’re getting to safety. That’s
what Zyrok wanted.” Forester ordered Pruett.
“Got it.” Pruett pushed the throttle
forward.
The Pelican flew away from the
facility while the Mil Mi-24 helicopters circled the building looking for
targets. As the Pelican slowly lost sight of the facility from its rear, a faint
rumble and boom was heard. The facility exploded and lit a small flash of lit
just enough for the marines to see from far away.
“He did it!” Schmidt and May
cheered.
“He did it for Sarah.” Cookson sat
in his seat as he read the writings on the piece of paper.
It was written by hand saying:
“Your glistening
hair,
Flutters so freely in
the warm air.
Those soft carefree
smiles,
Always been seen in
thousand miles.
Your good caring
heart,
Takes my hard body
armor apart.
I like who you are,
So don’t change that
no matter how far.
Please remember me,
Because I love you…I
hope you see.”
“He was not only a hero, but a great
man.” Frederick
sighed.
“A good friend too.” Pruett spoke
sadly.
“A man of his words.” Tanya spoke
tiredly and shivered as the air grew colder.
“Indeed he was.” Frederick agreed and then walked up next to
the hatch and pulled the lever.
As the Pelican neared Fire Team
Kilo’s camp, a couple of vehicles mounted with soldiers attacked the UNSC base.
Pruett noticed the marines on site camped out in the hangar with their Pelican
with a troop pod. He quickly landed next to it and released the hatch.
“Go! Go! Go!” Forester hustled.
“Glad to see you guys back.” Sears
ran up beside the Pelican wielding a SA80.
“Choppers inbound!” Taylor looked at the night sky and heard
spinning of rotors.
“Abandon base. Our operation is
done. Everyone get to the Pelican with the troop pod.” Forester commanded.
“What about Kilo 11?” Sears asked.
“There’s no ammo and not enough fuel
to get far.” Forester waved at the marines.
All the marines including Tanya
quickly boarded the other Pelican marked “Echo 21” on its side.
“Liftoff.” Pruett activated the engines
and lifted the Pelican.
By the time the Pelican reached
twenty meters in the air, the militia had swarmed the camp with vehicles.
“Where to ma’am?” Foo asked.
“San Francisco. Full speed ahead, the choppers
are almost here.” Forester replied.
“Where’s Zyrok?” Casey looked
amongst the seated marines.
“Yeah? Where is he?” Taylor glanced as well.
“He…didn’t make it.” Cookson held
Zyrok’s UNSC dog tags firmly in his fist.
“Ahh.” Casey sighed and hit the seat
next to him angrily.
“Altitude increasing, closing
hatch.” Foo pressed a button on the console.
“We’re homebound.” Schmidt breathed
relied.
“Zyrok’s not coming home.” Taylor shook his head.
“A lot of people are not coming
home. They all made sacrifices and died as heroes for mankind.” Frederick reminded.
“Yeah…a hero…” Cookson muttered as
he stared at Zyrok’s poem.
