Halo_ Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe - Eric Nylund [57]
“Think about what?” Sita asked, joining us. “You’re not seriously thinking about taking them out?”
I was horrified. “How can we not? These are children!”
“They’re dead,” Sita said. “They were dead the moment they chose to hole up down here. It is only a matter of when, and how. The fact that we stumbled across them doesn’t change the fact that we can’t evacuate everyone off an entire planet. It doesn’t work like that.”
Dale and Orrin were looking up from the dolly as they guided it toward us, paying attention to our body language.
“What the hell is the point of being a soldier if we can’t save anybody,” I snapped. The worlds I’d retreated from suddenly flashed through the back of my mind.
And then I thought about what Felicia had said. When was the last time I’d talked to a civilian? Julian was the first since the bombing that put Eric in a coma.
Maybe I’d spent too long being removed from civilization.
Maybe we all had.
But I still had a heart. I still knew what was right and what was wrong. “We can’t abandon these children to the Covenant,” I said. “I refuse.”
“If you refuse, that’s a problem,” Sita growled. She had her BR55 raised slightly. Orrin and Dale, still observing, looked ready to jump forward and back her up.
Felicia stepped forward slightly, trying to regain control of a situation going bad, and quickly. “Shut up, all of you. We can save some of them, and just take less gold.”
“How much less gold? How many of them will fit?” I asked. “You willing to do that kind of bloody math?”
Sita finally raised the rifle up high enough to slide her finger into the trigger guard. “I’d relax a bit if I were you,” she said. “We’ll do what we have to do.”
“What we have to do is get them out,” I insisted. “We’re going to have to leave the gold. The plan can’t go forward.”
Sita raised the rifle. “No one’s leaving any gold.”
“Lower your weapon,” Felicia ordered. Orrin and Dale had drawn M6 pistols, and Sita was stepping back.
“I don’t think Sita here wants any compromise,” I said.
“Shut up, Gage.”
I had my assault rifle up as well now. A real standoff. “I’m not backing down. I’m a human being, not an Insurrectionist, not some damn, cold-blooded alien. I’m not going to leave these children to die.”
“What did they ever do for you?” Sita asked. “When the UNSC was bombing civilians in the Outer Colonies, did they care about children then?”
“The Outer Colonies don’t exist anymore, Sita,” I said levelly. “It’s not about that anymore.”
“The Colonies don’t exist anymore because the UNSC wouldn’t protect them,” Orrin hissed.
“Really? All those Navy ships lost to enemy fire, all those friends I saw die out there, that was for nothing?” I moved my aim from Sita to Orrin to Dale. I couldn’t bring myself to step to the side and include Felicia.
If she was going to shoot me, it was all over anyway.
The arguments the old Colonials made were ones that could sway us in an academic discussion over beers. But right here, right now, there were people that needed our help. And I was not going to turn my back on them.
No matter what I believed, or what I’d seen, I knew where I stood on this.
“There’s not enough gold in all the worlds to make this worth it. You’ll wake up at night thinking about these kids you condemned to death for your own greed,” I said. “It won’t be worth it.”
“It’s worth a try,” Orrin snarled, and raised his M6 higher. I saw what was in his eyes.
It sounded like all the shots happened simultaneously. My body armor crumpled as it absorbed the shock, but I’d gotten Sita first, as she’d had the real firepower.
But M6 rounds from Orrin and Dale slapped me to the ground. I was bleeding from the arm, the leg, and a near miss by my ear.
“Felicia?” I called out, aching all over. I’d seen Orrin slump over the gold bars, the red blood seeping in down between the cracks.
Dale lay