―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.

And more importantly, it‘s about who‘s standing on that dirt. Those children. Your family. Your friends. And those freaks are going to pay for every piece of dirt they‘ve taken from us."

―We can still get you out of here . . ."

―No. I‘m a dead man, you know it. I‘m not going to waste more Marines."

―And your friends coming this way?"

―They‘re going to die helping protect the dirt, rookie. They‘re going to die doing something good."

He smiled. ―If they‘d stayed back in the city to form up with you guys instead of running out here for the gold, they wouldn‘t have a problem, would they? They chose this path. Promise me

something, rook?"

―Anything."

―You‘ll fight the Covenant all the way. Even if they land on Earth. You‘ll fight them even if you have to throw rocks at them."

―I will, sir."

―Then go now!" He waved the arming device for the Shiva around. ―Or I‘ll set this damn thing off with you still dallying around here."

The rookie got up, looked around, back at the man on the ground one last time, and then ran. He shed his gear as he did so. Everything but the BR55 in his hands.

He ran uphill, not looking back, his visor open and his breath loud in the helmet. He leaped over rocks, gaining height, until he finally spotted the cleft of rock that would let him cut over the ridge to the other side of the mountain, back toward the city that was base camp for this operation.

He paused, looking back down the direction he‘d come, catching his breath in long gasping pants.

Boot camp was just weeks ago. He was relieved to find out he still had that kind of sprint in him.

He could see the developing battlefield far below, in the scrub of the foothills. Grunts in the hundreds poured toward the downed Pelican. They‘d come around the far side of the mountain, as Gage had predicted. They were like locusts swarming across the grass, bumbling along due to the large methane tanks on their backs.

And thundering overhead, flaring out toward the scene: a Pelican. It touched down, and three figures stepped out.

They did not rush to help Gage, but instead started rooting through the ruins of the other Pelican.

The Marine did not wait to see what was coming next. He ran through the cleft, barely glancing up at overhangs, and then slid down the other side.

Loose rock tumbled, and he surfed down the shale and dirt.

A bone-thrumming thump shook the entire mountain, and a steady roar filled the air. By the time the rookie got to the bottom, a massive mushroom cloud could be seen over the tip of the

mountaintop.

It was still rising when a Pelican flew around a nearby hill, coming down to kiss the dirt long enough for the rookie to leap in.

―What the hell happened over there?" the pilot asked.

The rookie shook his head. ―Long story."

Long, indeed.

He was still a bit shaken by the entire thing.

The Pelican shook and bounced. ―The civilians have all been evacuated," the copilot told the rookie, who stood behind them looking out the window. ―We‘re taking them back to Earth with us."

―Earth?" He was surprised.

―The Covenant just attacked Reach," the pilot reported. ―We‘re falling back to Mother Earth."

The rookie looked out at the land under the clouds as they climbed for orbit, stunned. Soon all the ground would be glass, once the Covenant ships started in on it.

All dirt, he thought.

Like Earth.

From there, they would throw everything they had at the Covenant if they were found. Even if he had to throw the last rock himself. He‘d made a promise.

They would make the Covenant pay for every inch of dirt, the rookie thought to himself.

ACHERON-VII

_____________________

It‘s barren here

the air chokes; on dust and smoke

the ground cracks; surrendering to the heat

It‘s lonely here

with only the dead as company,

but anymore, this has become his closest companion;

death

There was once a purpose to all of this;

a specific design

Soldiers sent forth in the name of retribution

In their path; an alien covenant

vast in number

ardent in their belief

Now, but one stands

Only one; survivor

His friends taken by conflict

Their adversaries delivered unto

Alone now, he treks the wastelands

cut off; stranded

Knowing somewhere above;

Out and beyond

His brothers, his sisters, continue to struggle

Continue to fight, to die;

to strive

A million stars between here and home

A million enemies; more

Yet here he stands, ever vigilant

And here he‘ll stay;

A lone warrior, on a desolate plain