"Mayday, mayday, mayday! This is UNSC Leeward requesting immediate assistance! We're venting atmosphere and spinning out of control around two million kilometers off Hargentine. Mayday, mayday, priority four-three-three-dash-Sierra-dash-Gamma-dash-one-n iner-seven! We have Spartans aboard, repeat, we have Spartans aboard!"
"Sounds like we're in for it, Lead. If we're spinning, the inertial stabilizers've failed."
Ordinarily, Callum G-197 would have bumped her team-mate's shoulder, but ordinarily, her Spartans didn't give up so easily. Instead, she slapped him. Hard. "Pull yourself together, Five! Are you a man, or a mouse?!" She shook her head and then pulled her helmet on over her short platinum hair. "All right, Regal! I make it five minutes before there's no air left in this Prowler, but one before the atmosphere is too thin to breathe. Twenty, at least, before assistance arrives. It's our job to make sure all the men and women aboard this Prowler are in sealed, pressurized EVA suits in time. They will survive. Now get your asses ready, because we've got a big job ahead of us! Two, you're with me, we've got fore. Three and Four, cover the aft. Six, make sure Five keeps his head and cover amidship. MOVE!"
Five acknowledgement lights flicked green and five voices shouted, "SIR!"
Callum allowed herself a small smile as she watched her Spartans mobilize, then nodded to her second. "We're Oscar Mike, Kit."
The other Spartan nodded, easily keeping stride beside Cal as she sprinted for the front of the Prowler. The largest and most important portion of the crew would be up there, probably on the bridge, and she had never been one to allow other people to do important jobs.
An alarm went off in all six Spartans' helmets at once. Callum and Kit both cursed violently. The slipspace drive was overloading and when it blew, nothing wanted to be anywhere near it. They sprinted onto the bridge without waiting for permission to enter it and Cal skidded to a stop just inches from the Captain, who already wore an EVA suit.
"Sir, we need to leave! NOW!"
Captain Williams stared her down, meeting her eyes with an even gaze. "Negative, Spartan. The Cole Protocol must be enacted."
"Captain, with respect-!"
"Captain nothing, Lieutenant! By all means, evacuate my crew, but I will not abandon the Leeward. According to the Cole Protocol, the destruction or capture of a shipboard AI is unacceptable." He glanced at the holographic form of a young man riding a wave of data. "Locke, get ready."
"Yes, sir," the AI said, his cool, professional voice completely at odds with his appearance. The wave disappeared and he stepped off his surfboard, taking one last look around the bridge before locking eyes with Callum. "Pull me."
The Captain nodded and slid a datachip out of the AI port, holding it out to Cal.
"Sir, I-"
"You're taking him and that's an order, soldier! Get. Him. Out of here."
Callum nodded and took the chip, slipping it into the slot at the back of her helmet. The cool liquid presence she expected did not happen. Instead, the AI washed into her brain like the biggest king tide you ever saw and almost made her black out before he pulled himself back and washed into her armor's systems instead.
"Sorry. I do try not to do that," Locke said. Cal ignored him and saluted sharply, turning away from the Captain. It was a shame the man was refusing to evacuate, especially since in about ten minutes' time the slipspace drive would blow and there would be nothing left of the ship. There would be no databanks to mine for information.
Not a moment had been wasted. Kit had the entire bridge crew in EVA suits and ready to evacuate. That was one of the many reasons Callum had chosen him as her second; he was efficient, cool-headed and never needed to know specifics. He always got the job done and he always did it right.
Another alarm went off in Cal's helmet and she clicked her status light green and then yellow, a demand for a status report. Only three lights responded. Regal Two, Five and Six were A-okay. But where are Three and Four? "Regal Three, Regal Four, what's your status?"
Nothing.
Not good.
"Regal Three! Regal Four! Respond!"
Finally, a light flicked on, but Cal felt no better. It was amber. And it was Four's.
"Three is dead," Four said over the comms. "And my suit is breached. Air pipe blew, pushed a fire onto a crate of explosives. Permission to enact Plan Omega, sir."
Not again, please, not again! Callum cursed and then sighed. "Granted. It's been a pleasure working with you, Jack."
"Same, Cal. Goodbye." The sound of a gunshot, transmitted over the comms, made Cal and Kit both duck as they ran for the escape pods with the crew in tow. There was no time to mourn their fallen comrade. The time for grief was when the mission was over and everybody was safe. Until then, there was work to do. Cal bundled crewmen into escape pods six at a time, launching each pod as it was filled, until she and her surviving Spartans were standing alone in the hallway.
She stood completely still for almost a full second - completely ignoring Five when he asked her if she was okay - before stalking towards the last escape pod with Kit following her and two stunned Spartans staring at her back.
"MOVE!" she snarled. "There's no time to stand around slack-jawed! Get into the pod so we can get the fuck off this ship!"
Five and Six jolted into action and as they entered, Cal hit the door controls and then the eject button, watching out the foot-thick Perspex door as they shot away from the crippled Prowler. She pulled off her helmet and allowed a single tear to slide down her cheek. All the hours of combat her team had endured and she lost two men to an accident.
"Assist crews be advised the Leeward's slipspace drive has overloaded and is set to blow. All personnel have been evacuated. Cole Protocol is in process. Find and assist escape pods, but leave me. Captain Jacob Williams… over and out."
Cal sighed and moved two names over to the MIA list, and the tears came thick and fast. She couldn't see through them. A large hand fell on her shoulder, too large to belong to anybody but Kit.
"I'm sorry," he said gently. "Ils ont servi l'humanité."
"They served humanity," Cal whispered, repeating Kit's sentiment if not his words. Then, so that the others could hear her, "Yes. They did."
ONI was going to try to make her take on two new team members. So help her, God, she thought, but there was no way in hell that was going to happen.
A/N: Been a while since I've submitted anything on here! Not entirely sure I like this but I like Callum [who is, yes, female]. Locke only appears briefly in this chapter but he will be a fairly major character.
Yes, this is very early for characters to die, and their deaths don't really tug at the reader's heartstrings. They're not meant to. They're meant to set things up for the story.
On the team we have five Gamma-class S-IIIs, and one S-II, as follows:
LEADER: Callum G-197, F THIS IS AU AND THEREFORE ANY "ERRORS" IN NUMBERING ARE NOT IN FACT ERRORS AT ALL.
2IC: Kit-011, M
THREE: Khalid G-122, M
FOUR: Jack G-099, M
FIVE: Ashley G-215, M
SIX: Amberleigh G-102, F