Book of short stories

Humanity

   Dmitri-047 lead the small ONI task force through the ruined city streets, sweeping constantly. The Spartan had been assigned to lead a group of ODST's through hostile territory, to destroy a computer that carried the coordinates to countless human worlds.

   Dmitri kept a hard pace, moving fast. "We need to cut through these buildings." Dmitri gestured towards a group of apartment buildings, and promptly kicked down one of the doors and walked through, without waiting for any of the ODST's to say anything.

   The ODST's followed him in, submachine guns at the ready. Dmitri kept kicking down doors, walking forward. "Objective is inside the next building." Dmitri pointed to a thin steel door, which lead to one of the apartments. They'd be able to cross over into the objective from there.

   Dmitri kicked the door off its hinges, the steel buckling under his kick leaving a hole in it. The door clanged against the hardwood floor, sliding and banging against the wall loudly. Dmitri stepped inside, and swept the room, rifle raised.

   The other ODST's stepped inside, fanning out around the room. "Room cle-" The ODST stopped mid-sentence as he realized Dmitri was staring at four very alive, very terrified civilians. This complicated things, and badly.

   Dmitri sighed, and lowered his rifle slightly. The other ODST's all lowered their weapons slightly, but none enough to where they couldn't be readied again in an instant's notice. Dmitri thought briefly. They couldn't bring the extra people with them, the pelican already having a full crew and cargo, furthermore, this was a very classified ONI mission including a Spartan.

   Dmitri only took a few seconds to make his decision. "Let's go." He stepped towards the window, which led to a small jump onto the objective building. One of the ODST's stepped forward, and grabbed Dmitri's shoulder. "Wait! We can't just leave them!"

   Dmitri turned, and brushed the ODST's handoff. "Yes, we can." Dmitri decided explaining his reasoning was better than just ordering the ODST to leave what was probably a family to the Covenant.

   "Look, Corporal. We can't fit them on the pelican. So it's either we take them and leave 4 of you behind, or we leave them here. Furthermore, this is a heavily classified mission. We were never here. These civilians can't be trusted not to talk about a group of soldiers breaking into their homes after the UNSC left. To add to that, they've seen me. If you didn't notice, I'm a Spartan. A rumour."

   The ODST nodded a few times. "I understand that, sir, but they're human too. They have kids, sir! We can't just let them die." Dmitri was glad they'd spoken on team comm, otherwise, the family would've gone off the deep end at that. Dmitri sighed and shook his head.

   "We don't have a choice. Now move out." The ODST planted his feet firmly and refused to move. "Respectfully, sir, there's always a choice. And we'll find another way, one where everyone lives." Dmitri placed a hand on his magnum, as a warning.

   "Corporal, stand down. This is direct insubordination. Which is punishable by death in accordance with UNSC law." The ODST refused to move, and Dmitri watched with despair as the rest of the team did the same as the Corporal. "I'm sorry, sir, but humanity comes first."

   Dmitri promptly raised his pistol, and shot the Corporal through the head. As the ODST's body fell to the floor, one of the children screamed as blood sprayed onto the wall. Dmitri lowered his magnum, and as a final warning to the others, shook his head. "The mission ALWAYS comes first."

   Dmitri repeated the line that'd been drilled into him since he'd been taken by the UNSC. The mission always came first, his instructors had said. Dmitri had done his duty. Dmitri watched the other ODST's who were too shocked to move or say a word.