Earths Orbit
UNSC Bright Dawn
November 2542
The room was dark, the only light was coming from a small light bulb hanging from a wire on the wall, the room was small and cubed shaped, the walls were as cold as ice making me shiver as I leaned on it with my arms crossed, I stared at the door waiting to see what they wanted with me next. They had taken me from my home when it was dark, we were on some sort of ship for a while, and I didn't know where I was, finally we stopped down somewhere and a guy who was wearing a uniform that looked like a guards came to take me away, I tried to get away, I attacked the guard and ran down a bunch of metal corridors but was eventually captured by a couple of guards who held me down and injected me with something , I blacked out after that, next thing I knew I was in this room, it took me a while to get my footing and stand up, whatever those guards injected me with was strong. And now I'm here , standing up against one of the corners of the room, they gave me a orange jumpsuit and some black combat boots, the orange jumpsuit had some writing on it, I squinted trying to see what was on it; the light bulb not helping much. I managed to see that it said "Mason 096" I guessed that they didn't want me to use my last name, and frankly I didn't want to either, too many bad memories of home. Suddenly the door slid open and a girl about seven years old, the same age as me accompanied by two male guards wearing blue security uniforms stepped through. The girl walked into the room with a stern look on her face, her skin was tanned white, her hair was straight and brown, cut short to her shoulders and her eyes were an odd greyish blue color and were constantly alert as if she planned every step she made, she wore the same orange jumpsuit and black combat boots like me, from the look of her she was my height , lean and sharp. The guards left and the door slid behind them, the girl suddenly noticed me, in the corner, she stared at me and I stared back. She suddenly walked forwards and stopped when she was an arms length away. "Nice to meet you."she said in a calm tone, her voice was mildly deep making her sound more older than she was, she raised her hand in an attempt at a hand shake "Whats your name?"she asked. I simply pushed her hand away sternly, and stared at a different corner of the room "Fine."she sighed, and walked to the right side of the door, staring at it intensely.
The door slid open again and a large boy was hurled into the room by two male guards wearing the same uniform as the others but they looked like they had taken quite a beating. The door slid closed and the boy stood up "Yeah you better run!"he yelled, he's voice was deep but he said it as a child would say it to a bully and as I looked at the boy he looked about eight years old he was tall and large , either fat or muscular , he had black skin, short black hair and brown eyes and had the same uniform as me and the girl. He looked around the room and noticed the girl standing beside the door. "So they got you to?"he asked with a grin on his face, he seemed to have taken a beating from the guards but from the looks of the guards he'd given them worse, "Yes." the girl answered, raising her hand the same way she did with me "Nice to meet you."she said like she did to me again, something told me this girl didn't get out much. "Whats your name."she asked, I half expected the boy to do what I did, but he just grabbed the girls hand and shook it "My names Tyrone."he said cheerfully, now that I listened carefully he had a slight Irish accent. "Whats yours ." he asked, the girl was thrown off for a second by Tyrone's straight forward attitude but quickly contained her composure "Erva 101" and your number?" Erva asked. "Oh!"he said looking over his orange jumpsuit, it had become dirty from the guards but he found it eventually "Tyrone 058."he said annoyed "Why do we have to have these numbers, why cant we use are sur..."he suddenly stopped, staring at me "Oh hello there ." he said walking towards me. "I'm Tyrone, whats your name mate?" he asked, I stared him in the eyes wondering what to do, he didn't seem as controlled and formal as Erva, so I didn't see a reason not too. I walked out of the shadow of the corner of the room "Mason." I said calmly, suddenly he yelled happily and grabbed my hand and started shaking my hand ruffly "Nice to meet you Mason." he yelled. As soon as Tyrone stopped shaking my hand, I moved back to the corner of the room, Erva walked over to me and grabbed my jumpsuit pulling me closer to her , making me feel uncomfortable "096."she said letting go of my jumpsuit and moving to the right side of the door again waiting for whoever was coming next. Tyrone just sighed and sat on the opposite side of the door to Erva . Time passed slowly, occasionally Tyrone would try to start up a conversation but I didn't want to talk and Erva seemed to be thinking about something. "Come on, someone talk."moaned Tyrone, "Come on, I had a more exciting time with the guards."he joked, beginning to chuckle, 'Shh." hissed Erva "What I was just having a laugh ." he said "No cant you hear that, and stop talking ." she said annoyed, looking at the door. I tried listening and heard it too the sounds of screaming, shouting and fighting, before I could think of what that meant the door slid opened and a male guard was hurled into the room, hitting the wall just a few feet away from me. The guard seemed to be stunned he stood up slowly trying to stand up but was knocked back down as another female guard was hurled in hitting him and knocking him back down. "That's gonna hurt in the morning lads."Tyrone said, beginning to chuckle uncontrollably, a few seconds later two large male guards walked in too the room holding between them in a lock a 7 year old girl. She was shouting uncontrollably, but I couldn't understand, it sounded foreign. She tried wrestling herself free from the guards but these ones were more prepared and bigger and didn't seem intent on letting her go anytime soon, Tyrone walked over to the other guards that were unconscious and checked there pulse, he sighed and turned to Erva "They'll be fine, just need some sleep."he said leaning them up against the wall. The girl continued to struggle against the guards but wasn't getting anywhere, suddenly two medical staff stepped through grabbing the knocked out guards and hauling them out of the room, keeping as far away from the as girl. As soon as the medical staff were safely out the room, the two guards hurled the girl at the wall beside Tyrone , she smacked up against it and lay still "And stay down" one of the guards yelled, before the door slid shut. "God damn guards no respect." said Tyrone, who'd started moving towards the girl, Erva close behind him "Are you alright lass." he said, placing a hand on her shoulder, the girl suddenly shot up and grabbed Tyrone's shirt and through him into the wall knocking him out. Erva quickly shot forward ramming girl away from Tyrone and in to the opposite wall, but the girl just stood up and gave Erva a upper cut to the stomach winding her then following it up with a knee to her head, Erva was quickly on the floor blood dripping from her nose from the girls kick. I couldn't just stand there any longer and rushed forward barreling into the girl sending us both tumbling towards the door, I didn't have much time before she stood up and aimed a kick to my face but I quickly rolled and stood up waiting to see what she was going to do next she gave me a quick stare and said something I couldn't understand but recognized as Russian. She continued speaking repeating the same thing over and over again I tried to guess what she was saying but couldn't figure it out "English I speak English." I said slowly trying to make some sort of contact, which I guessed worked, as she gave me an annoyed look "You do not have to speak to me as if I was a child."she said in a light Russian accent, she stared at Tyrone as he started to wake up "Your friend should know better than to wake up a girl." she said with an smile on her face "Your name?" she asked "Whats yours?" I replied trying not to show any emotion, "I asked you first." she said still continuing to smile, "Mason 096."I told her, "Sheira Trushan" she said obviously not aware we weren't supposed to use are surnames. I gave the girl a quick look over, she had the same orange jumpsuit as me and the others, hair the same length as Erva s but incredibly black and curly, her skin was mix-raced and her eyes were emerald green, she was a bit small but lean and muscular. "Did you have to knock them out?" I asked noticing Erva waking up, knowing all hell was about to break loose, "She attacked me." she said trying to defend herself, "After you knocked out Tyrone." I said, gesturing too Tyrone, smiling at how she could dismiss all she did without a care, "Alright you got me there but."she was suddenly cut short as Erva tackled Sheira, holding her up against the wall "You better tell me who you are. Now!" hissed Erva not like her same stern voice, "Now calm down, the lass is probably scared." said Tyrone, who had woken up, calmly pulling Erva off Sheira "You got quite a strong grip there, whats your name?" Tyrone said, no sense of anger in his voice, he started rubbing he's sore shoulder, "Sheira Trushan"she answered. "Tyrone Higgins, or as they've named me Tyrone 58." he hissed the last part ,gesturing to his name-tag, Sheira quickly looked at her name-tag "Sheira 199." she whispered. Tyrone began to ask a bunch of question on how Sheira dealt with the guards, I used this as a distraction for me to move back to the corner, I glanced at Erva she had moved to the right side of the door, keeping an eye out for whoever came next, the bleeding had stopped but it had dried making a smear of dried blood run across her lip, she seemed to be in thought and seemed to be depressed, I felt sorry for her, but she occasionally would glare at Sheira whether she was looking or not and that reminded me she could probably take care of herself.
Eventually Sheira got annoyed with Tyrone's incessant yammering and shrugged him off moving next to me, Tyrone simply shrugged and moved over to Erva and tried to cheer her up, I was glad Tyrone was talking to her, he seemed more caring and also it means I didn't have to talk to her, "Whats her problem?"Sheira asked me, still oblivious to what she had done, "You beat the crap out of her, destroyed her confidence and her pride." I said plainly, now staring at the door. "Oh yeah well, when you say it like that it does sound bad."she said, standing up, "Ill go talk to her."she said starting to walk towards Erva, she said something to Tyrone , he then said something to Erva and she nodded, he then stood up and walked over and stood up beside me. Time passed slowly as Erva and Sheira talked, occasionally one of them would shout at the other, but we couldn't hear anything else, "What do you think there talking about." asked Tyrone, trying he's best to hear what they were whispering about, "Maybe there talking about how to keep you from talking." I said jokingly, Tyrone erupted with laughter "Ha ha your funny mate, I'm gonna like you."while me and Tyrone were talking, Erva and Sheira were walking towards us. "So you two we need to talk."she said in her old stern voice,she sat down cross legged, her face showed she had some sort of plan to feet away from me and Tyrone who were standing, Sheira sat down next to her with her legs crossed but didn't seem that interested in what Erva was going to say .Erva gestured with her hand for me and Tyrone to sit down, Tyrone sat down beside Erva but I just stood still "will you sit down please."Erva asked calmly but I caught a slight hint of irritation in her eyes, "No." I said plainly, "Oh stop acting tough and sit down."said Sheira obviously wanting this over with. I stared at Sheira not wanting to back down but, the glare she gave me told me that I either sit down or get beaten the stuff out of me, so I sat down next to Tyrone who was trying hes best to hide his smile. "So what you got to say?" I asked, bored already "Well its about what these people want with us."Erva said "I mean what could ONI want with us, were just kids?"Erva asked, "Wait a minute, how do you know its ONI?" I asked, I mean ONI may be harsh at times, but to kidnap children, "When I was being led into the room, I noticed their crest on the guards uniform." explained Erva.
"The Office of Naval Intelligence." Tyrone said, then saluting a big grin on his face "Protecting us all from harm ."he said ironically, beginning to chuckle, "Biggest crap I ever heard." Sheira said chuckling too, "So has anyone got any ideas." Erva asked everyone, I began thinking I mean what could the ONI want with kids are age, as I continued to think about this, the door slid open again and a boy was pushed into the room by a male and a female guard. When the boy was pushed into the room he stumbled and fell over and smacked his forehead on the floor, "Could have walked in."he hissed at the guard just before the door slid shut, still staring at the door the boy stood up and rubbed his now red forehead. Erva stood up began quietly began walking towards the new boy, the rest of us just stared at him, he had brown hair, blue eyes and wore the same orange jumpsuit as the rest of us, he didn't look like much, he was only slightly taller than Sheira, was thin and scrawny and looked about 7 years old. "Hello."Erva said politely, staring at the boy, hearing this he turned around and almost jumped, Erva still had the blood on her face from where Sheira had hit her and probably did look a bit scary to the new boy, "Hello."he said in a high pitched voice "Is your face okay?"he asked, staring at it "Yes its fine."Erva answered "Would you like to join us."she asked the new boy then gestured to the rest of us at the other end of the room, the boy looked at us, he nodded and Erva began walking towards us, the boy walking right behind her. Erva sat down next to Tyrone and the new boy sat down next to me, looking at me for a second then shying away when I gave him a less than friendly stare. "Whats your name."Erva asked the boy, he looked at the floor for a second before answering, "Tim."he said so quietly it could have been a whisper, "Well Tim, my name is Erva" she replied, "This is Tyrone." Erva said, gesturing to him, "I could have told him myself." Tyrone said, "But we want to get the introductions over quickly." Sheira said, before snickering as Tyrone gave her an annoyed look. "That's Sheira." Erva said, Sheira just raised her hand at an attempt at a wave, "And he's Mason."she said, gesturing to me, I just continued staring at the door, waiting for the next kid to walk through.
"Whats your number." Erva asked, then lent forward and grabbed his jumpsuit, like she did to me "184."she said, she then let go of his jumpsuit and sat back down. We sat there for a couple hours, Tyrone had managed to bring the Tim out of his shell and both were now having a discussion about the Spartans. "They like came out of nowhere." Tyrone said "I heard that just one of them could lift a warthog with one hand." Tim said.
They continued talking about this for awhile until the door slid open again and a girl around my age was pushed into the room, but didn't trip, by the two guards that had thrown Sheira up against the wall, "Hey I got a bone to pick with you!"yelled Sheira, beginning to sprint towards the door, on the way knocking over the new girl, making her yelp in surprise. The guards just stood there, they had big grins on there faces, what are they up to I thought. Shiera was only a few steps away from the guards, suddenly both of the guards rushed forward, Sheira caught of guard, was rammed into the wall by the two guards. When Sheira hit the wall she hit it face first making her scream in pain, the two guards just looked at her, and began laughing deeply, "Not so tough now are you!"the guard yelled in a heavy American accent, "You sons of a bitch!"Sheira screamed, clutching her face In her hands, obscuring it from view, as the two guards continued to laugh at Sheira, me and Tyrone had got up and were running towards them at top speed. Tyrone went for the one to the left, I went for the guy to the right. When Tyrone tackled he's guard they both tumbled into the door, when I went to tackle my guard it was tougher, I wasn't as tall and strong as Tyrone, so all I accomplished was ramming forward and making him stumble away from Sheira. As the guard stumbled backwards, he managed to trip over the new girl making her yelp again and causing the guard to fall backwards. Tyrone was having a scrabble on the floor with the guard he tackled and the other guard was trying his hardest to stand up which gave me the chance to see if Sheira was okay, she was still on the floor clutching her face still, "Sheira you okay." I asked, I could hear a girls yell behind me, realizing Erva must have jumped into the fight too, "I'm fine."Sheira said trying to hide the pain in her voice, "Common let me see." I asked nicely, hoping I could see how bad it was and if she needed medical help, Sheira moved her hand and I tried not too show my expression.
Sheira's nose was bent to the left side of her face and blood was all over her left cheek and dripping on to the floor, "Come on lets move, aah!" I yelled as the guard I tackled pulled me away from Sheira and slammed me up against the one of the walls. "All right you little brat."growled the guard, he was holding me at arms length up against the wall with his hand around my throat and his other hand balled up into a fist, only a couple inches from my face. "Your dead meat."he said, hes breath was heavy and smelled like the breath of a dog, I tried to get free by punching and kicking him but he was built like a brick house. "Let go of me, you dog faced bastard." I yelled at him but he just continued staring at me with an insane smile and began tightening his grip on my throat, I tried to wrestle myself free but he was built like a brick house, I began to panic, I couldn't get any air in to my lungs, was I going to die right here in this cell away from my family, friends. Home.
Suddenly the guard let go off my throat I fell to the ground and took in a big breath of air, I began looking around and to my surprise found Tim on the back of the guard and saw that he was biting on the guards ear, the guard was screaming and charging around the place like a mad bull, "Mason are you alright." someone said behind me, I turned around and saw that it was Sheira, she looked better than she did before but she still had blood dripping from her face and her nose was still bent, "Yeah I'm fine." I said, I was a little light headed but I could move. I looked around and saw that Tyrone and Erva were circling the guard Tim was biting, leaving the other guard knocked out in the middle of the door preventing it from closing and repeatedly smashing into him. Suddenly a high yell pierced the the sound of the fighting and Tim flew through the air and crashed through the door. I saw my chance to get out of here and ran towards the door leaving others behind, I jumped over the guard and landed on the other side, even though Id been drugged I recognized the metal corridor where I had been brought through and began running down it passing a confused and dizzy Tim on the way. I ran down along the corridor and came to the end of the corridor it then went into two more corridors so it looked like a T, I looked around the edge of the right corridor and found two guards throwing a boy into another room, the guards then turned around and headed in my direction I crouched down and held my breath not trusting myself to breath the, the guards passed me and went down the left corridor. I looked at the door and ran over to it, the door had a small glass window at the top so I peered through and found three boys and one girl. The girl was crying and banging against the door but the glass was one way and she couldn't see me two of the boys were fighting and had blood across there faces and the last boy was rocking back and fourth in the corner. I couldn't believe what I saw those kids where insane they didn't even remind him of kids anymore. I looked at the door and found the release button my hand stretched out to it but I couldn't press the button because these kids couldn't be saved but the others could. I heard someone scream back at the room and sighed. I turned around and ran back down the corridor, instead of passing Tim I pulled him up and shook him, making him vomit on the knocked out guard "We gotta move." I told Tim, putting his arm around my shoulder, and treading on the guard despite the vomit. The situation had worsen after id left, when id left Tyrone and Erva were circling the guard and were about to end it, but now Erva was holding of the guard and avoiding punch after punch but she seemed to be tiring, Sheira was trying to help but was more wary of the guard after her last attempt at attacking the guards went wrong and was keeping a safe distance, only punching or kicking the guard when she saw a safe opening but not doing any damage, the new girl was next to Tyrone, who was at the other end of the room, a big cut on his head. I left Tim on the wall and charged forward but instead of tackling the guard, I went for his weak stubby legs, making him fall over on his back and making me tumble forwards. I turned around ready to finish the guard off but didn't get a chance because Sheira had already kicked him around the temple, instantly knocking him out "And stay down." she hissed, spitting on his head "Nice to see you." Erva said sarcastically "Sorry I left." I apologized, surprising Erva and Sheira "Oka..okay lets grab Tyrone and move." she said trying to keep her voice from sounding more surprised. We all walked up to Tyrone and the new girl "Is he okay Ellie." Sheira asked the new girl, probably getting her name from when Sheira tried to get her up. I looked at the new girl she had long black hair and was my height, with white skin, brown eyes "He's stable but he needs to see a doctor." Ellie said, in a gentle but intelligent British voice, "Calm down, I'm fine." Tyrone said, I looked at the wound, it was a cut across his forehead not fatally deep but enough to draw out blood which was all over his hair and most of his face, the wound would probably make a scar but if he didn't get medical attention he could bleed to death. "How did you get that big guy." I joked "Stupid mug, kicked my head." he laughed "She's been helping me." he said gesturing to Ellie, "No problem."she mumbled, inspecting the cut more closely "Do you know about cuts." I asked curious "My mothers was a doctor." she said cheerfully, I turned around to Erva "No time for introduction we gotta go." I told her, she nodded "Mason you get Tyrone, Ellie grab Tim check him too and stay in the center."she ordered "Sheira stay at the rear, and I got the front." she ordered, beginning to walk towards the door, I picked up Tyrone his weight heavy but I could carry him falling in to steps behind Erva. Ellie walked over to where I left Tim and picked up Tim, gave him a quick look over and put his arm around her shoulder, dragging his legs on the ground towards the door behind us. Sheira quickly fell in to step behind us keeping her eyes open and alert. As we stepped over the guard who blocked the door I stared at us working together, fighting together we were more than just a group of random kids, we were much more, we were a team and thats when when they hit us with tear gas.