Chapter 1
"Director, there is no denying that Project Freelancer is on the verge of collapse."
"I am aware, Counselor. I should be the one person in the universe that knows that better than anyone."
"Sir, you do know that there is another AI fragment still in the field, correct?"
"Were you under the impression that I had forgotten? It is in the possession of Agent Delaware."
"Should we not recover it while we still can?"
"No, Counselor. I have ruined the lives of enough innocent agents. Zeta has a higher purpose than what we could ever use it for. I trust that Delaware will use it wisely."
"A higher purpose, sir?"
"Our last resort. Operation Earthbound."
Delaware awoke to the sound of static in his helmet radio. It crackled and hurt his ears, like the ringing of an explosion. Words soon became decipherable.
"...Has been obliterated. I repeat, Project Freelancer Battleship Asgard has been obliterated. We are now deploying ground troops to scavenge the wreckage. We will capture any survivors and kill all who resist."
"You hear that?" asked a familiar voice. Zeta. "They'll be coming for us soon. You'd better get it together, or the UNSC will use you for target practice."
"Shit," Delaware groaned as he held his forehead. He was beginning to remember. He and Vermont had managed to escape the Asgard before it exploded, only to be gunned down in a Pelican. Talk about close calls.
His sight began to return. He was still at the controls of the Pelican, but they hadn't been as lucky as him. All of the instruments were completely marred, some beginning to catch fire. He unbuckled himself from the seat and put his feet against the cockpit door. He forced it open and regained his balance. Before he climbed out, he turned to see the passenger seat.
"Vermont, are you okay-"
Vermont's head hung forward and showed no signs of movement. Her seatbelt was still buckled.
"No," said Delaware, "no, no, no, no!"
He desperately fiddled with the buckle and managed to release it. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her back and forth, trying to rouse her.
"Danny, listen to me! Danny! You can't die on me now! Not here!"
No response. She remained limp. The harsh sunlight caught her green armor and reflected in Delaware's eyes.
Zeta's cerulean hologram materialized next to him.
"I've already scanned her vitals, Del. She's passed. There's nothing you can do."
"It won't end like this," Delaware insisted. He picked her body up out of the seat and stepped out of the Pelican onto desert sand. Wreckage surrounded him on all sides.
Zeta's hologram moved closer to him. "This is pointless. Carrying a corpse will only make it easier for the scouts to catch you."
"I don't give a damn!"
"Del, you're distraught at the death of a comrade. Think about this-"
"I SAID I DON'T GIVE A DAMN!"
Zeta remained silent. His hologram disappeared and Delaware began to slowly trek across the sand. He carried her through the wreckage until he reached a nearby structure. An ancient temple of some kind, he didn't care. What mattered now was finding a place to rest.
"Del! Over here!"
He turned towards the sound of the voice. In the shade of one of the structures, an agent waved to him while another sat in the driver's seat of a warthog. Their respective suits were yellow and white. California and Alaska.
California ran over to meet him. "You're alive! We were wondering how many managed to make it out. What happened to…"
Delaware walked past him without speaking, determined to lay Vermont's body in the shade. California realized what Delaware's cold shoulder meant.
"Aw, hell," he muttered.
Delaware reached the wall of the structure and laid her body down on the ground. He knelt over it and felt sadness rush through him.
Alaska moved behind Delaware and attempted to put his hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Del. We all know how much she meant to you…"
California held his hand back.
"Don't. Let the man be."
Delaware felt tears roll down his face inside his helmet. Why? Why did it have to be this way? What had he done wrong? What crime had he committed to receive this kind of cosmic punishment? Were he and Vermont never meant to be in the first place? His mind was plagued with questions that he couldn't escape from.
He heard Zeta make an observation while he knelt there.
"I still have yet to understand why humans take death so seriously."
"That's IT!" Delaware yelled. He got up and took off his helmet, throwing it in the sand. The bright orange reflected back at him.
"Del, what are you doing?" Alaska asked. He didn't answer and stormed away from them, walking along the wall of the structure.
"What's your problem, Del?" Zeta asked in his ear. "I was just stating my thoughts." Zeta materialized next to him as he walked.
"You want to know what my problem is?" he yelled, "YOU'RE my problem! I didn't ASK to be implanted with an AI fragment! Ever since I got you, you've done nothing except make snarky remarks and point out everything I've done wrong! In the middle of COMBAT, no less!
"That's my job!" he replied. "I'm suppose to help you evaluate your skills in order to adjust for the next mission!"
"You're suppose to ENHANCE my performance! If anything, you've slowed me down!"
"Perhaps if you actually follow my advice, you wouldn't get into such messes! You were lucky that the scouts didn't find you, carrying dead weight in your arms like that!"
Delaware stopped mid walk. "You don't know ANYTHING about humans, do you?"
"I'm an AI! I'm here to learn about you, but how can I deduce anything when you act so erratically?"
Delaware pulled a knife out of a holster on his waist and put it to his chest. "They put you in me, I can take you out!"
"You couldn't! Self-operation is incredibly stupid, not to mention dangerous!"
"Try me."
Zeta paused. If he'd learned anything about Delaware from their time together, it's that he was a man of his word.
"Forget it," Zeta said. "If you want to cut yourself open, go ahead."
His hologram disappeared. Delaware stood there, holding the knife to his chest. He lowered it and studied the blade. At the bottom of the blade, "D.V." was inscribed into the metal. Danny's initials. It was one of the blades Vermont had made for him.
Delaware realized that the blade was a hunting knife, not meant for combat. At least, that's what he was told. He scolded himself for being incorrectly equipped yet again. He ran his thumb over the initials, cleaning off the dust from his holster.
In that moment, Delaware was proud of everything he'd done as a Freelancer. The missions he'd completed. The firefights he'd survived. He knew that Vermont would be proud of him too. He began to regret being so harsh to Zeta.
On the opposite side of the building, he found a ramp leading to the top of a raised platform. He walked up and saw that the weathered structure was long and flat like a landing strip.
To his left was the Asgard's graveyard. The UNSC troops were very thorough, he gave them that. The main body of the ship had been completely broken apart. It was broken into so many pieces one would never guess that it was once Project Freelancer's second best vessel.
A desert wind blew through his black hair. Vermont would have scolded him for it being so messy. Delaware's appearance was often unkempt, but his superiors didn't complain since he was one of the top agents aboard The Asgard. Or, was, to be more accurate.
He ran his finger along the scar underneath his right eye. A souvenir from a mission in his early days that had nearly gone sour. If Vermont and California hadn't been there, he'd probably wouldn't be standing where he was now. His teammates were so important to him, he was glad that others had managed to make it out besides him…
That's what Zeta was, too. A teammate.
"Zeta, are you there?" He asked.
Nothing. All he could hear was the crackling of flames in the distance.
"Come on, Zeta, I'm sorry for what I said." Zeta's voice appeared in his head.
"Why are you apologizing to an AI? It's not like I'm human."
"Well, you're not like other AI. You and I both know that."
"That doesn't mean you should treat me any differently than you would another computer."
Delaware sighed. He looked back at the wreckage for a moment, then turned to face the main building of the temple. It rose high in the air, like a monument of some kind.
"You're my friend, Zeta."
There was silence for a moment. Delaware couldn't see Zeta's expression, but he guessed that he'd been stunned. Zeta materialized in front of him.
"Wait… What?"
"I said you're my friend."
"You can't be… Humans and AI aren't 'friends,' Nathan!"
Delaware looked him in the eye. "How long have we been partners, Zeta?"
"Two years, three months, seventeen days, and five hours."
"What have you learned about me in that time?"
"Your name is Nathan Julius Draco. You were given the designation 'Agent Delaware' upon joining Project Freelancer by Director Leonard Church. You are one of the Project's top agents, almost on par with the agents aboard The Mother of Invention. You are a skilled fighter and often acknowledged as such by both superiors and teammates. You have participated in a total of 64 official missions as an agent, half of which I was present for. You are headstrong and sometimes impulsive, but your skill in combat makes up for it. You have earned the name "The Crimson Knight of The Asgard" for your performance."
"And what else?"
"You are a loyal teammate and you always follow through on your promises."
"When I say you are my friend, I mean it."
Zeta closed his eyes, pausing for a moment, then reopened them and looked directly at Delaware.
"Del, you always complained that I never assisted you in combat. Never helped operate your equipment. That's because it's not what I was designed to do."
Confusion broke across Delaware's face. "What do you mean?"
"I mean I don't have the capability to actually enhance your performance. I was forbidden from telling you, until now. Protocol dictates that I'm only allowed to reveal my true purpose in an emergency. And I'm almost certain that this counts as an emergency."
"True purpose… Zeta, what are you talking about?"
"The mission that the Director tasked me with. Operation Earthbound."
"Earthbound?"
"A backup plan, of sorts. The Director wagered that Project Freelancer wouldn't last forever and that some of his more-questionable activities would be brought to light. My memory contains all of the necessary plans and schematics for mapping an escape route to your homeworld. Planet Earth."
Delaware took a moment to process the info. A backup plan?
"What sort of danger are we in that we would need to get back to Earth?"
"The UNSC has put out a warrant for the Director's arrest, as well as the total annihilation of Project Freelancer as it exists now. They're hunting down agents, Del. He knew that the agents were innocent, but that the government wouldn't see it that way. If we can get back to Earth, I can help you go undercover. Start a new life. It's what I've been programmed to do."
They both stayed silent for awhile. Delaware thought about what the Director could have to hide from the agents that would warrant the total destruction of their organization. He supposed that he would have time to ask questions when they were somewhere safe.
"Okay," he said, "Let's get out of here."
Delaware walked back down the slope and around the structure to see that California and Alaska were taking inventory on what they had managed to escape the crash with. They had begun laying out guns and supplies that were previously Warthog cargo. Alaska counted medpacks while California loaded his rifle. California looked up to see him coming.
"Hey, look who managed to come to terms with himself. So what are we going to do, chief? It's your call."
"He's right," said Alaska. "You're technically still our captain. You decide whether we leave or stay."
"UNSC scouts have probably finished scavenging The Asgard by now," said Delaware. "We should move out at the first opportunity."
"Sounds good to me," said California. "What are we… Going to do about Vermont? We can't really carry her with us."
"I'll handle it." The tone in Delaware's voice became deeper with his last statement. He picked up Vermont's body and carried her back around the structure.
There was a large entrance into the main building of the temple. The inside was an open corridor with a patch of sunlit sand at the very center. Delaware laid her body down on the sand and removed her helmet. Her long, dark red hair moved with the helmet. Her blue eyes were still open.
He lifter her head up and pressed her hair against the bottom of her head. With two fingers, he closed her eyes and laid her head back down on the ground.
Delaware carried sand in armfuls and covered her body entirely. Before he left the temple, he turned back to see rays of sunlight shining down on her grave.
Zeta appeared next to him. "Will anyone ever come here and find her?"
"No one needs to," Delaware said, "As long as I remember her."
A wind echoed through the temple as he passed through the archway.
He went back to the Warthog to find the two waiting for him. Alaska passed him a spare rifle as Delaware climbed in the driver's seat.
"Hop in, we're leaving."
"Captain, don't forget this," said California. He handed Delaware his helmet. He held it in his hands for a moment, staring at the visor. The bright desert seemed to make the orange of his armor more intense. He turned the helmet around and slipped it on his head.
Alaska climbed in the passenger seat while California stood at the gun mount in the back.
"Sir, what's our destination?" asked Alaska.
"Home."
Delaware put the Warthog in gear and drove away from the temple, crossing over a dune and spraying sand in the wind behind them.